Chapter 18 — Annals of Mewar

It only remains to give a brief sketch of the manner in which, under the a3gis of Great Britain, the restoration of Mewar to prosperity was effected. The picture is one well worthy of study, and particularly by those who are inclined to belittle or ignore the benefits which British rule has conferred upon the subject races of India, or who profess to believe that the permanence of that rule is not essential to their future progress and welfare. The suffering, bloodshed, and oppression described in the previous chapters were not confined to the state of Mewar. They prevailed to a similar extent in every principality in Rajasthan; it is hardly an exaggeration to say they prevailed throughout the length and breadth of India. The destruction of that vast predatory system, under the weight of which the prosperity of these regions had been so long repressed, was effected in 1817 in one short campaign. To prevent its recurrence, it was deemed politic to unite all these settled states in one grand confederation. Accordingly, the Rajput princes were invited to shelter under our protecting alliance, and they eagerly embraced the invitation. The ambassadors of the various governments followed each other to Delhi where the treaties were negotiated, and in a few weeks all Rajputana was united to Britain by compacts similar to that we have already quoted, ensuring to them external protection with internal independence, as the price of acknowledged supremacy, and a portion of revenue to the protecting government. Of all the princes who obtained succour at this momentous crisis in the political history of India, none stood more in need of it than the Rana of Udaipur. On the 15th of January 18 18, the treaty was signed, and, in February, an envoy was nominated, who immediately proceeded to the Rana's court to superintend and maintain the newly-formed relations. The right wing of the grand army had already preceded him to compel the surrender of such territory as was unjustly held by the lawless partisans of Sindhia. Raipur, Rajnaggar, and other alienated districts soon surrendered, and the payment of the arrears of the garrison put Komulmir once more in the possession of Mewar. During the march from Jahazpur on the eastern boundary to Komulmir in the west, a distance of 140 miles, only two thinly populated towns were seen which acknowledged the Rana's authority. All was desolate. The babul and the gigantic reed which harboured the boar and the tiger, grew upon the highways, and every rising ground displayed a mass of ruin. Bhilwara, the commercial entrepot of Rajputana, which ten years before contained 6,000 families, was a city of the dead. No living thing appeared in her streets except a solitary dog that fled in dismay from its lurking place in the temple, scared at the unaccustomed sight of man. The prince Javan Singh, with all the state insignia, and a numerous retinue, advanced to Nathdwara to conduct the mission to the capital. A spot was selected in a grove of palmyras, about two miles from the city, where carpets were spread; and there the prince received the Agent and his suite. His bearing was courteous and dignified; indeed, it might have been said of him, as Jahangir said of the son of Rana Amra, that " his countenance carried the impression of his illustrious extraction." We1 entered the city by the "gate of the sun," and, through a vista of ruin, the mission was escorted to its future residence. Like all the mansions of Rajpiitana, it was a quadrangular pile, with an open courtyard, and suites of apartments on each of its sides. On our arrival here, a second deputation arrived from the Rana to welcome us to his capital, bearing 100 trays of sweatmeats and drieds fruits, and a purse of 1,000 rupees for distribution among the domestics. The following day was fixed for our reception at the court of the prince. At four in the afternoon, a deputation consisting of the officiating prime minister, the representative of the Chondawats, with mace-bearers and a numerous escort, came to announce the Rana's readiness to receive the mission. The procession, with all the "pomp and circumstance" peculiar to these states, was marshalled in front of the Residency, the grounds of which were thronged with gaily dressed spectators, silently gazing at the unusual sight. The grand nakarras having announced the Rana in his court, the mission proceeded to the palace, through streets which everywhere presented signs of rapine, but hailed by the most enthusiastic greetings. "Ji! Ji! Faringhi ka Raj" (Victory, victory to the English Government), resounded from every tongue. The bards were not idle; and the unpoetic name of the Agent was hitched into rhyme. Groups of musicians were posted here and there, who gave a passing specimen of the tuppas of Mewar, and not a few of the fair, with brazen ewers of water on their heads, welcomed us with the suhailia, or song of joy. Into each of these vessels, the purse-bearer dropped a piece of silver; for neither the suhailia nor the tuppas of the minstrels are to be received without acknowledgment. As we ascended the main streets leading to the tripolia, or triple portal, which guards the sacred enclosure, dense masses of people blocked our progress; and even the walls of the temple of Jaggarnath were crowded. According to etiquette, we dismounted at the gate, and proceeded on foot across the ample terrace, on which were being paraded the Rana's horses and state elephants. The palace is a most imposing pile, of a regular form, built of granite and marble, rising at least ioo feet from the ground, and flanked with octagonal towers, crowned with cupolas. Although built at various periods, its uniformity of design has been very well preserved; nor is there in the east a more striking or majestic structure. It stands upon the very crest of a ridge running parallel to, but considerably elevated above, the margin of the lake. The terrace, which is at the east and front of the building, extends throughout its length, and is supported by a triple row of arches rising one above the other from the declivity of the ridge. The height of this arcaded wall is fully 50 feet; and although all is hollow beneath, yet so admirable is its construction that the royal stables are built on the extreme verge of the terrace, on which the whole personal force of the Rana, horse, foot, and elephants, are often assembled. A band of Sindhies guarded the first entrance to the palace, while the Suktawats were on duty in the great hall of assembly. We proceeded through lines of Rajputs till we came to the marble staircase, where an image of Ganesh, the elephant god, guarded the ascent to the interior of the palace. After traversing a number of apartments, each filled with spectators, the herald's voice announced to " the lord of the world " that the English envoy was in his presence, whereon he arose, and advanced a few paces in front of the throne, the chiefs by whom he was surrounded standing. The apartment chosen for the visit was the Surya Mahal, or " hall of the sun," so called from a medallion of the orb in basso relievo which decorates the wall. Close thereto was the Rana's throne, above which was a velvet canopy supported on slender silver columns. The seat allotted to the envoy was immediately in front of, and touching, the royal cushion. The chiefs of the higher grade, or " the sixteen," were seated according to their rank on the right and left of the Rana, and below these were the two princes Amra and Javan Singh. At either end of the front row, and at right angles to it, were the chiefs of the second rank. The civil officers of the state were near the Rana in front, and the seneschal, the keeper of the wardrobe, and other confidential officers and inferior chieftains, formed a group standing on the extreme edge of the carpet. The Rana's congratulations were hearty and sincere; in a few powerful expressions he depicted the miseries he had experienced, the fallen condition of his state, and the gratitude he felt to the British Government which had interposed between him and destruction; and which for the first moment of his existence allowed him to sleep in peace. There was an intense earnestness in every word he uttered, which, delivered with fluency of speech and dignity of manner, inspired deep respect and sympathy. The Agent said that the Governor-General was no stranger to the history of his illustrious family, or his own immediate sufferings; and that it was his earnest desire to promote, by every means in his power, the Rana's personal dignity and the prosperity of his dominions. After a few moments' conversation, the interview was closed with presents to the Agent and suite : to the former a caparisoned elephant and horse, jewelled aigrette, and pearl necklace, and to the latter shawls and brocades. The customary presentation of essence of rose and the pan leaf was then made, and, the Rana having risen, the Agent made his salaam and retired. In a short time the Rana, attended by his second son, ministers, and a select number of the chiefs, paid a return visit. The Agent advanced beyond his residence to meet the prince, who was received with presented arms by the guard, the officers saluting, and conducted to his throne, which had been previously arranged. Conversation was unrestrained, and questions were demanded regarding everything which appeared unusual. After sitting half an hour, the Agent presented to the Rana an elephant and two horses, caparisoned with silver and guilt ornaments and velvet embroidered housings, with twenty -one shields1 of shawls, brocades, muslins, and jewels; to prince Amra, unable from sickness to attend his father, a horse and eleven shields; to his brother, the second prince, Javan Singh, a horse and nine shields; and to the ministers and chiefs according to rank : the whole entertainment costing about 20,000 rupees, or ^2,000. The restoration of order out of the chaos which prevailed was no light undertaking. The institutions of the state had been reduced to a dead letter; the nobles were demoralised and rebellious, the prince's authority was despised, internal commerce abandoned, and the peasantry ruined by the combined effects of war, pestilence, and exile. The valley of the capital was the only part of Mewar over which the Rana's sway was anything more than nominal; and though Chftor and Mandalgarh were maintained by the fidelity of his servants, their revenues scarcely sufficed to provide for their garrisons. The Rana himself was mainly indebted to Zalim Singh of Kotah for the means of subsistence; for, in the general confusion and distress, the chiefs thought only of themselves, of defending their own estates, or buying off their foes; while those who succumbed took to horse, scoured the country, and plundered without distinction. Feuds multiplied, and the name of each clan inspired alarm or defiance in its neighbours. The Bhils descended from their forests, and planted ambuscades for the traveller and merchant, whom they carried to their retreats, where they languished in durance till ransomed; and the Rajput scrupled not to associate, and to divide the spoil, with these lawless tribes. The capital will serve as a specimen of the country. Udaipur, which formerly reckoned 50,000 houses within its walls, had now less than 3,000 occupied; the rest were in ruin, the rafters being taken for firewood. The realisation of the spring harvest of 18 18, from the entire fiscal land, was about ^"4,000. Grain sold for seven seers the rupee, though thrice that quantity was procurable within a distance of 80 miles. Insurance for merchandise from the capital to Nathdwara, a distance of 25 miles, was eight per cent, of the value. The Kotario chief, whose ancestors are immortalised for their fidelity, had not a horse to conduct him to his prince's presence, though the annual value of his estates was 50,000 rupees. The Rana, the descendant of those patriotic Rajputs who opposed Babar, Akbar, and Aurangzeb, in the days of Mogul splendour, had not fifty horse to attend him, and was indebted, as we have already told, for the common necessities of life to the liberality of Kotah. But the elements of prosperity, though scattered, were not extinct; and recollections of the past, deeply engraven on the minds of the people, were available to reanimate their moral and physical existence. To recall these was the main object to which the efforts of the mission were directed, and moral persuasion was the chief, if not the sole, means employed in its accomplishment. The lawless free-booter, and even the savage Bhfl, felt awed at the agency of a power never seen. To such men moral force was incomprehensible, and they attributed its results to another agency — magic; and the belief was current throughout the intricate regions of the west, that a single British officer could carry an army in his pocket, and that his power could animate slips of paper cut into the figures of armed men, from which no precautions could guard their retreats. Accordingly, at the mere name of the British power, rapine ceased, and the chieftains of the mountain wilds, who had hitherto laughed at subjection, to the number of 700, put each the sign of the dagger to a treaty, promising abstinence from plunder and a return to industrious life. In Rajputana, the moral effect of beholding a Peshwa marched into exile with all the quietude of a pilgrimage, accomplished more than 20,000 bayonets, and no other auxiliary was required than the judicious use of the impressions from this and other passing events to relay the foundations of order and prosperity. By never doubting the issue, success was ensured. The British force was, therefore, after the execution of the plans enumerated, marched to cantonments; the rest was left for time and reason to accomplish. One of the main obstacles to rapid progress was the inefficiency of the civil officers of the government. There seemed to be neither talent, influence, nor honesty, left in Mewar. The Rana's character was little calculated to supply the deficiencies of his officers. Though perfectly versed in the past history of his country, and possessed of ability, learning, and sound judgment, his powers were almost completely nullified by his weak points. Vain displays, frivolous amusements, and an illregulated liberality were all that occupied him; and, so long as he could gratify these propensities, he trusted complacently to the exertions of others for the restoration of his authority. The only man of integrity and efficiency about the court was Kishen Das, who had long acted as ambassador, and to his assiduity the sovereign and the country owed much; but his services were soon cut short by death. The first point secured was the recognition of the prince's authority by his nobles, the surest signs of which were their frequent visits to the capital, where some had never been, and others only when it suited their convenience or their plans. In a few weeks, the Rana saw himself surrounded by a court such as had not been known for half a century. The recall of the exiled population was a work requiring more time; for many had formed ties or incurred obligations amongst the communities that had sheltered them, and these could not be at once disengaged or annulled. But innumerable proofs were forthcoming that neither oppression from without nor tyranny within could obliterate the feeling for the bapota, "the land of their fathers." What their deliverance meant to these people only those who had witnessed the day of trouble, and beheld the progress of desolation — the standing corn grazed by Mahratta horse, the rifled towns devoted to the flames, the cattle driven to the hostile camp, the elders of the village seized as hostages for money never to be raised — could realise. To be permitted to see these evils banished, to behold the survivors of oppression congregated from the most distant provinces, awaiting with their aged and helpless the " lucky day" to take possession of their ruined abodes, was a pleasure which memory will not part with. On the 3rd of Sawun (July), 300 people marched into the village of Kupasan, close to the capital. They were accompanied by their waggons and implements of labour, and preceded by banners and music. Ganesh1 was once more evoked as they reconsecrated their dwellings, and placed his picture as the guardian of their portals. On the same day, and within eight months of the signing of the treaty, above 300 towns and villages were re-inhabited; and the land which had for many years been a stranger to the plough was broken up. Well might the superstitious imagine that miracles were abroad; for even to those who watched the work in progress — habitations covering the waste, the verdant corn springing up where but lately they had roused the boar from his retreat — the result was little short of magical. It was a day of pride for Britain. By such exertions of her power in distant lands is her sway hallowed. The settlement of feudal rights was the most difficult and delicate task of all. Feuds had to be appeased, restitutions made, and usurpations redeemed. Such matters could not be arranged without long, and often harassing discussions. In the end, however, conciliation and impartial justice gained the day; and a reform, which in many cases ran counter to the interests and prejudices of the most powerful and refractory section of the community, was carried through without a shot being fired, or the exhibition of a single British soldier in the country. The internal security which followed these reforms may be gaged from the fact that the rate of insurance on the transit of merchandise, which before the treaty had been eight per cent, for 25 miles, became almost nominal, or one-fourth of a rupee from one frontier to the other. As a specimen of the general progress, we may take the case of a single district, that of Shahara. Of its 27 villages, 6 were inhabited in 1818, the number of families being 369. In 1821, 926 families were reported, and every village of the 27 was occupied, so that population was almost trebled. The number of ploughs was more than trebled, and cultivation was quadrupled. The same ratio of prosperity applied to the entire crown demesne of Mewar.

Chapter 18 — After the Treaty