Mewar 26: Ratan Singh defeated
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Mewar 26: Ratan Singh defeated
Cessions made to Sindhia
Thirty-three lakhs in jewels and specie, gold and silver plate, and assignments on the chiefs, were immediately made over to Sindhia, and lands mortgaged for the liquidation of the remainder. For this object the districts of Jawad, Jiran, Nimach, and Morwan were set aside to be superin tended by joint officers of both governments, with an annual investigation of accounts. From S. 1825 to S. 1831 [a.d. 1768-74) no infringement took place of this arrangement ; but in the latter year Sindhia dismissed the Rana's officers from the management, and refused all further settlement ; and with the exception of a temporary occupation on Sindhia's reverse of fortune in S. 1851 [a.d. 1794], these rich districts have remained severed from Mewar. In S. 1831 [a.d. 1774] the great officers of the Mahratta federation began to shake off the trammels of the Peshwa's authority ; and Sindhia retained for the State of which he was the founder, all these lands except Morwan, which was made over to Holkar, who the year after the transaction demanded of the Rana the surrender of the district of Nimbahera, threatening, in the event of non-compliance, to repeat the part his predatory
1 Mutasadi kharch [rmitasadi, ' a clerk, accountant ' ; kharch, ' expenses '] or douceur to the officers of government, was an authorized article of every Mahratta miCamala, or war contribution. coadjutor Sindhia had just performed. The cession was un avoidable. Thus terminated, in S. 1826 [a.d. 1769], the siege of Udaipur, with the dislocation of these fine districts from Mewar. But let it be remembered that they were only mortgaged : 1 and although the continued degradation of the country from the same causes has prevented their redemption, the claim to them has never been abandoned. Their recovery was stipulated by the am bassadors of the Rana in the treaty of a.d. 1817 with the British Government ; but our total ignorance of the past transactions of these countries, added to our amicable relations with Sindhia [434], prevented any pledge of the reunion of these districts ; and it must ever be deeply lamented that, when the treacherous and hostile conduct of Sindhia gave a noble opportunity for their restoration, it was lost, from policy difficult to imderstand, and which must be subject to the animadversions of future historians of that important period in the history of India. It yet remains for the wisdom of the British Government to decide whether half a century's abeyance, and the inability to redeem them by the sword, render the claim a dead letter. At all events, the facts here recorded from a multiplicity of public documents, and corroborated by living actors 2 in the scene, may be useful at some future day, when expedience may admit of their being reannexed to Mewar.
Ratan Singh defeated
Amra's defence of the capital, and the retreat of the Mahrattas, was a deathblow to the hopes of the Pretender, who had obtained not only many of the strong holds, but a footing in the valley of the capital. Rajnagar, Raepur, and Untala were rapidly recovered ; many of the nobles returned to the Rana and to their allegiance ; and Ratna was left in Kumbhalmer with the Depra minister, and but three of the sixteen principal nobles, namely Deogarh, Bhindir, and Amet. These contentions lasted till S. 1831 [a.d. 1774], when the chiefs above named also abandoned him, but not until their rebellion had cost the feather in the crown of Mewar. The rich province of Godwar, the most fruitful of all her possessions, and containing
1 Little Maloni, now Gangapur, with its lands, was the only place de cidedly alienated, being a voluntary gift to Sindhia, to endow the establish ment of his wife, Ganga Bai, who died there. 2 Zalim Singh of Kotah, and Lalaji Belal, both now dead. the most loyal of her vassalage, the Ranawats, Rathors, and Solankis, was nearly all held on tenure of feudal service, and furnished three thousand horse besides foot, a greater number than the aggregate of the Choudawats. This district, which was won with the title of Rana from the Parihara prince of Mandor, before Jodhpur was built, and whose northern boundary was confirmed by the blood of the Chondawat chief in the reign of Jodha, was confided by the Rana to the care of Raja Bijai Singh of Jodhpur, to prevent its resources being available to the Pretender, whose residence, Kumbhalmer, commanded the approach to it : and the original treaty yet exists in which the prince of Marwar binds himself to provide and support a body of three thousand men for the Rana's service, from its revenues.
Assassination oS Rana Ari Singh, a.d. 1773
This province might have been recovered ; but the evil genius of Arsi Rana at this time led him to Bundi to [435] hunt at the spring festival (the Alieria), with the Hara prince, in spite of the prophetic warning of the suttee, who from the funeral pile denoimced a practice which had already thrice proved fatal to the princes of Mewar.1 Rana Arsi fell by the hand of the Bundi prince, and Godwar, withheld from his minor successor, has since remained severed. The Bundi heir, who perpetrated this atrocious assassination, was said to be prompted by the Mewar nobles, who detested their sovereign, and with whom, since the late events, it was impossible they could ever unite in confidence. Implacable in his disposition, he brooded over injuries, calmly awaiting the moment to avenge them. A single instance will suffice to evince this, as well as the infatuation of Rajput devotion. The Salumbar chief, whose predecessor had fallen in support of the Rana's cause at the battle of Ujjain, having incurred his suspicions, the Rana commanded him to eat the pan (betel leaf) presented on taking leave. Startled at so unusual an order, he remonstrated, but in vam ; and with the conviction that it contained his death-warrant he obeyed, observing to the tyrant, " My compliance will cost you and your family dear " : words fulfilled with fearful accuracy, for to this and similar acts is ascribed the murder of Arsi, and the completion
1 [In 1382 Rana Kliet Singh was murdered by Lai Singh of Banbaoda, brother of Bar Singh, Rao of Biindi. Rana Ratan Singh II. and Rao Siirajmall killed each other while shooting at Bundi in 1531. The feud between the two houses is not yet forgotten (Erskine ii. A. 25).] of the ruin of the country. A colour of pretext was afforded to the Bundi chief m a boundary dispute regarding a patch of land yielding only a few good mangoes ; but, even admitting this as a paUiative, it could not justify the inhospitable act, which in the mode of execution added cowardice to barbarity : for while both were pursuing the boar, the Bundi heir drove his lance through the heart of the Rana. The assassin fell a victim to remorse, the deed being not only disclaimed, but severely reprobated by his father, and all the Hara tribe. A cenotaph still stands on the site of the murder, where the body of Arsi was consumed, and the feud between the houses remains unappeased.
Rana Hamir Singh II., a.d. 1773-78
Rana Arsi left two sons, Hamir and Bhim Singh. The former, a name of celebrity in their annals, succeeded in S. 1828 (a.d. 1772) to the little enviable title of Rana. With an ambitious mother, determined to control affairs during his minority, a state pronomiced by the bard and the vengeful competition of the Salumbar chief (successor to the murdered noble), who was equally resolved to take the lead, combined with an unextinguishable enmity to the Saktawats, who supported the policy of the queen-mother [436], the demoralization of Mewar was complete : her fields were deluged with blood, and her soil was the prey of every paltry marauder.
Outbreak of the Sindis
The mercenary Sindis, who, won by the enthusiasm of Amra, had for a moment assumed the garb of fideUty, threw it off at their prince's death, taking possession of the capital, which it will be remembered had been committed to the charge of the Salumbar chief, whom they confined and were about to subject to the torture of the hot iron 1 to extort their arrears of pay, when he was rescued from the indignity by the unlooked-for return of Amra from Bimdi. This faithful minister determined to establish the rights of the infant prince against all other claimants for power. But he knew mankind, and had attained, what is still more difficult, the knowledge of himself. Aware that his resolution to maintain his post at all hazards, and against every competitor, would incur the imputation of self-interest, he, like our own Wolsey, though from far different motives, made an inventory of his wealth, in gold, jewels, and plate, even to his wardrobe, and sent the whole in trays to the 1 A heated platter used for baking bread, on which they place the culprit. queen-mothef . Suspicion was shamed and resentment disarmed by this proceeding ; and to repeated entreaties that he would receive it back he was inflexible, with the exception of articles of apparel that had already been in use.
This imperious woman was a daughter of Gogunda. She possessed considerable talents, but was ruled by an artful intrigante, who, in her turn, was governed by a yomig homme d'affaires, then holding an inferior office, but who subsequently acted a conspicuous part ; slew and was slain, like ahnost all who entered into the politics of this tempestuous period. The queen-mother, now supported by the Chondawats, opposed the minister, who maintained himself by aid of the Sindis, kept the Mahrattas from the capital, and iDro tected the crown land ; but the ungrateful return made to his long-tried fidelity rendered his temper ungovernable. Ram piyari 1 (such the name of the intrigante) repaired on one occasion to the office of the minister, and in the name of the regent queen reviled him for some supposed omission. Amra, losing all temper at this intrusion, applied to the fair abigail the coarsest epithets used to her sex, bidding her begone as a Kothi ki Rand (a phrase we shall not translate), which was reported with exaggeration to the queen, who threw herself into a litter and set off to the Salum bar chief. Amra, anticipating [437] an explosion, met the cavalcade in the street, and enjoined her instant return to the palace. Who dared disobey ? Arrived at the door of the Rawala, he made his obeisance, and told her it was a disgrace to the memory of her lord that she should quit the palace under any pretext ; that even the potter's wife did not go abroad for six months after her husband's death, while she, setting decorum at defiance, had scarcely permitted the period of mourning to elapse. He concluded by saying he had a duty to perform, and that he would perform it in spite of all obstacles, in which, as it involved her own and her children's welfare, she ought to co operate, instead of thwarting him. But Baiji Raj (the royal mother) was young, artful, and ambitious, and persevered in her hostility till the demise of this uncompromising minister shortly after, surmised to be caused by poison. His death yielded a flattering comment on his life : he left not funds sufficient to cover the funeral expenses, and is, and will probably contmue, the sole instance on record in Indian history of a minister 1 ' Tlio beloved of Rama.' having his obsequies defrayed by subscription among his fellow citizens. The man who thus lived and thus died would have done honour to any, even the most civilized, country, where the highest in centives to public virtue exist. What, therefore, does not his memory merit, when amongst a people who, through long oppres sion, were likely to hold such feelings in little estimation, he pursued its dictates from principle alone, his sole reward that which the world could not bestow, the applause of the monitor within ? But they greatly err who, in the application of their own overweening standard of merit, imagine there is no public opinion in these countries ; for recollections of actions like this (of which but a small portion is related) they yet love to descant upon, and an act of vigour and integrity is still designated Amra chanda ; ^ evincing that if virtue has few imitators in this country, she is not without ardent admirers.
Revolt of the Chief of Begiin
In S. 1831 (a.d. 1775) the rebellion of the Begun chief, head of a grand divsion of the Chondawats, the Meghawat, obliged the queen-mother to call upon Sindhia for his reduction, who recovered the crown lands he had usurped, and imposed on this refractory noble a fine of twelve lakhs of rupees, or £100,000 [438] sterling.2 But instead of confining himself to punishing the guilty, and restoring the lands to the young Rana, he inducted his own son-in-law Berji Tap into the districts of Ratangarh Kheri and Singoli ; and at the same time made over those of Imia, Jath, Bichor, and Nadwai to Holkar, the aggregate revenue of which amounted to six lakhs annually. Besides these alienations of territory, the Mahrattas levied no less than four grand war contributions in S. 1830-31, 3 while in S. 1836 4 their rapacity exacted three more. Inability 1 Amra Chand, it will be recollected, was the name of the minister. 2 The treaty by which Sindhia holds these districts yet exists, which stipulates their surrender on the Hquidation of the contribution, The Rana still holds this as a responsible engagement, and pleaded his rights in the treaty with the British Government in a.d. 1817-18. But half a century's possession is a strong bond, which we dare not break ; though the claim now registered may hereafter prove of service to the family. 3 1830, Mahadaji Sindhia's contribution (mu'dmala) on account of Begun ; 1831, Berji Tap's mu'amala through Govind and Ganpat Rao ; 1831, Ambaji Inglia, Bapu Holkar, and Daduji Pandit's joint mu'dmala. 4 1. Apaji and Makaji Getia, on Holkar's account; 2. Tukuji Holkar's, through Somji ; 3. Ah Bahadur's, through Somji. to liquidate these exorbitant demands was invariably a signal for further sequestration of land. Amidst such scenes of civil strife and external spoliation, one Mahratta following another in the same track of rapine, Hamir died before he had attained even Rajput majority, 1 in S. 1834 (a.d. 1778).
Recapitulation
We may here briefly recapitulate the diminu tion of territory and wealth in Mewar from the period of the first Mahratta visitation in a.d. 1736, to the death of Hamir. It were a waste of time to enumerate the rapacious individuals who shared in the spoils of this devoted country. We may be content to say their name was ' legion.' These forty years were sur charged with evil. The Mogul princes observed at least the forms of government and justice, which occasionally tempered their aggressions ; the Mahrattas were associations of vampires, who drained the very life-blood wherever the scent of spoil attracted them. In three payments we have seen the enormous sum of one crore and eighty-one lakhs,2 upwards of two millions English money, exacted from Mewar, exclusive of individual contributions levied on chiefs, ministers, and the Pretender's party : and a schedule drawn up by the reigning prince of contributions levied up to his own time, amounts to £5,000,000 sterling. Yet the land would eventually have reimbursed [439] these sums, but the penalty inflicted for deficiencies of payment renders the evil irremediable ; for the alienated territory which then produced an annual revenue of twenty-eight lalchs, 3 or £323,000 sterling, exceeds in amount the sum-total now left, whether fiscal or feudal, in the present impoverished state of the country.
