Chapter 4 — Annals of Mewar

The survivor of Chitor, Rana Ajaisi, was now in security at Kailwara, a town in the heart of the Aravalli mountains, and at the highest point of one of the most extensive valleys of the range. Here he gradually collected about him the remnants of the clans of Mewar. It was the last behest of his father that when he attained "one hundred years" (a figurative expression for dying), the son of Arsi, the elder brother, should succeed him. This injunction, from the deficiency of noble qualities in his own sons, he readily fulfilled. Hamir was the name of the son of Arsi, at this time a lad of twelve. Ajaisi, besides being an exile from his capital, had to contend with the chieftains of the mountains, amongst whom the most formidable was Munja, who had on a former occasion raided the Shero Nalla, the valley where the Rana was now concealed, and had wounded him on the head with a spear. Sajunsi and Ajunsi, his own sons, though fourteen and fifteen years old, an age at which a Rajput ought to indicate his future character, proved of little aid in the emergency. Hamir, however, accepted the feud against Munja, and set out in search of him, promising to return successful or not at all. In a few days he was seen entering the pass of Kailwara with Munja's head at his saddle-bow. Modestly placing the trophy at his uncle's feet, he exclaimed: "Recognise the head of your foe." This decided the fate of the sons of Ajaisi, one of whom died at Kailwara, and the other, Sajunsi, departed for the Dekhan, where his issue rose to fame ; for he was the ancestor of Sivaji, the founder of the Satara throne, and his lineage is given in the chronicles of Mewar. Hamfr succeeded in 1301, and had sixty-four years granted him to redeem his country from the ruin which had befallen it. The day on which he assumed the ensigns of rule, he displayed in the tika-dour an earnest of his future energy. He made a rapid inroad into the heart of Balaitcha, the country of his late enemy, Munja, and captured its principal stronghold, a circumstance which his followers regarded as a sure omen of his future greatness. The tika-dour signifies the foray of inauguration. It is a custom that has been observed from time immemorial, and is still maintained where any semblance of hostility affords opportunity for its practice. On the morning of the installation, having received the tika of sovereignty, the prince at the head of his retainers makes a foray into the territory of any one with whom he may have a feud, or with whom he may be indifferent as to exciting one; he captures a stronghold or plunders a town, and returns with the trophies. If amity should prevail all around, a mock representation of the custom takes place. When Ajaisi died, Maldeo, with the imperial forces, was still holding Chitor ; but he was not left in undisturbed possession. Hamfr desolated the plains and left to his enemy only the fortified towns which could be occupied with safety. He commanded all who owned his sovereignty either to quit their abodes and retire with their families to the shelter of the hills on the eastern and western frontiers, or be reckoned amongst his enemies. The roads were rendered impassable from his bands, to whom the intricate defiles of the hills offered a means of retreat which baffled all pursuit. He made Kailwara his residence, which became the chief refuge of the emigrants from the plains. The town was admirably situated, being approached by narrow defiles, while a steep pass led over the mountains to a still more inaccessible retreat, where at a later time the fortress of Komulmir was built, well-watered and wooded, and with excellent pasturage. This tract, above 50 miles in breadth, is 1,200 feet above the level of the plain and 3,000 above the sea, with a considerable quantity of arable land, and free communication to the west by which supplies could be procured from Marwar or Gujarat, as well as from the principal Bhil tracts, to whose inhabitants more than one Rana of Mewar was indebted for assistance in the hour of need. The elevated plateau of the eastern frontier contained places of almost equal security; but Allah-ud-din traversed these in person, devastating as he went. Such was the state of Mewar; its fortresses occupied by the foe, cultivation and peaceful pursuits abandoned in consequence of the persevering hostility of Hamir, when Maldeo endeavoured to conciliate his persecutor by offering him in marriage the hand of a Hindu princess. Contrary to the wishes of his advisers, Hamir directed that "the cocoa-nut should be retained," coolly remarking on the dangers pointed out, "my feet shall at least ascend the rocky steps trodden by my ancestors." It was stipulated that only five hundred horse should form his suite, and thus accompanied, he set out for Chitor. On his approach, the five sons of Maldeo advanced to meet him, but on the portal of the city no torun was suspended. He, however, accepted the unsatisfactory reply to his remark on its omission, and ascended for the first time the ramp of Chitor. The torun is the symbol of marriage, and its absence would be regarded as an omen of the worst description. It consists of three wooden bars, fastened together in the form of an equilateral triangle, and surmounted by the image of a peacock. This emblem is suspended either from the gate of the city, or the portal of the bride. The bridegroom on horseback, lance in hand, proceeds to break the torun, which is defended by the damsels of the bride, who, from the parapet, assail him with missiles of various kinds, and especially with a red powder made from the flower of the paldsa, at the same time singing songs fitted to the occasion. At length the torun is broken amidst the shouts of the bridegroom's retainers, when the fair defenders retire. Hamir was received in the ancient halls of his ancestors by Maldeo, his son Banbir, and other chiefs. The bride was led forth and presented by her father, but without any of the solemnities customary on such occasions; "the knot of their garments was tied, their hands united," and thus they were left. It was the princess herself who revealed to Hamir the significance of the barren ceremonial. He had married a widow! His wrath at the insult thus offered to him was great; but when he learnt that his bride had been married in infancy, that the bridegroom died shortly afterwards, and that she could not even recollect his face, he grew calmer ; and as he listened to her vows of fidelity, and to a scheme which she revealed to him for the recovery of Chitor, he became more than reconciled to his fate. It is a privilege possessed by a bridegroom to have one specific favour complied with as a part of the marriage dower, and Hamir was instructed by his bride to ask for the services of Jal, one of the civil officers of Chftor, and, with his bride thus obtained, and the retainer whose talents remained for trial, he made his way back to Kailwara. Kaitsi was the fruit of this marriage, and a few months after his birth, the princess, feigning some defect in the household gods of Kailwara, obtained from her parents permission to bring the child to Chitor and place him before the shrine of his ancestors. The time had been well chosen, for Maldeo, with a large portion of his troops, was absent on a military expedition. Escorted by a party from Chitor, she entered the city, and, through the medium of Jal, succeeded in gaining over the troops that were left. Hamir was at hand; and a few hours later he was master of the fortress. Maldeo, on his return, was met with a " salute of arabas," and his force being too weak to attempt an assault, he carried the news of his loss to King Mahmud, who had succeeded Allah-ud-din on the throne of Delhi. The " standard of the sun " once more shone refulgent from the walls of Chitor, and the adherents of Hamir returned from the hills to their ancient abodes. But it was not long before Mahmud advanced to the recovery of his lost possession. Fortunately for Mewar, he directed his march by way of the eastern plateau, where the intricacies of the country robbed him of all the advantage his superior numbers would have given him had he entered by the plains of the north. Hamir, supported by every chief in Mewar, marched to meet him. The armies met at Singoli, and after a bloody encounter Mahmud was defeated and made prisoner. He was confined for three months in Chitor, and only released when he had agreed to surrender Ajmir, Rinthambur, an important fortress in the south-east corner of the state, and Nagor, and to pay an indemnity of six lakhs of rupees and a hundred elephants. Banbir, the son of Maldeo, offered to serve Hamir, and was given a post of honour and an estate for his maintenance. As he made the grant, Hamir said: " Eat, serve, and be faithful. Remember that you are no longer the servant of a Toork, but of a Hindu of your own faith." Banbir shortly after carried by assault the ancient fortress of Bhainsror on the Chambal, which was incorporated with Mewar, whose boundaries were now more widely extended than they had ever been before. Hamir was the sole Hindu prince of power left in India; all the ancient dynasties were crushed, and the ancestors of the present rulers of Marwar and Jaipur paid him homage and obeyed his summons, as did the princes of Bundi, Gwalior, Chanderi, Raisen, and Abu. He died full of years, leaving a name still honoured in Mewar, as one of the wisest and most gallant of her princes, and bequeathing a well-established and extensive power to his son. During the two centuries which followed the recovery of the capital, the strength and solidity of the power of Mewar were greater than at any other period of her history. Though almost surrounded by Muhammadan kingdoms, Delhi in the north, Malwa in the south, and Gujarat in the west, she successfully opposed them all. The dynasty in possession, for the time being, of the imperial throne, Tughlak, Khilji, or Lodi, courted the favour of the Ranas, whose power was so consolidated that they were able not only to repel the invader, but to carry their victorious arms abroad to Surashtra in the west, and in the north to the very walls of the Mogul capital. Besides a long repose, their subjects must have enjoyed high prosperity during this epoch, if we may judge from the magnificence of their public works, when a single triumphal column cost the income of a kingdom to erect. The Ranas were invariably patrons of the arts, more especially of architecture, and every year saw the capital enriched with new and costly monuments. That it was possible to set aside vast sums for works of this nature, and at the same time to provide adequate means for the defence of her constantly -increasing territories, shows how very considerable the revenues of the state had become. The annual military expenditure must have been enormous ; for it included not only the maintenance of a large standing army, consisting almost entirely of cavalry, but the upkeep and garrisoning of no less than eighty-four fortresses. Khaitsi succeeded in 1365. He still further extended his boundaries, adding to his dominions Jahajpur, Patan, and the whole district of Chappan, and he gained a signal victory over the monarch of Delhi at Bakrole. Unhappily, his life terminated in a family broil with the vassal chief of Banoda, whose daughter he was about to espouse. His place was taken by Lakha Rana, whose first act was the subjugation of the mountainous region known as Merwara, embracing the upper portion of the Aravalli range, forming the north-western boundary of the state. But an event of much greater importance, and which most powerfully tended to the prosperity of the country, was the discovery of tin and silver mines in the newly -acquired district of Chappan. Lakha was the first to work them, and the profit resulting therefrom was expended on the excavation of reservoirs, the erection of strongholds, and the rebuilding of the temples and palaces demolished by Allah-ud-di'n. A portion of his own palace yet exists, in the same style of architecture as the more ancient one, the abode of the fair Pudmani. A temple which he built, and dedicated to the creator, Bramha, an enormous and costly fabric, is also in existence; being the shrine of "the One," and consequently containing no idol, it may thus have escaped the ruthless fury of the invaders. Lakha encountered the emperor Muhammad Shah Lodi, and on one occasion defeated an imperial army near Bednor, the fortress erected for the defence of the recently-subdued Merwara tract. He lived to an advanced age and gave up his life in an attempt to expel the " barbarian " from the holy city, Gya. Such an act of devotion was by no means uncommon among the early princes of Rajasthan, many of whom, at the approach of old age, sought to make their peace with heaven "for the sins inevitably committed by one who wields a sceptre " by embarking on the holy war, in which to meet death was to secure beatitude in the next world, and exemption from second birth.

Chapter 4 — Recovery of Chitor