Rajasthan’s geography 01: Boundaries, states
This page is an extract from OR THE CENTRAL AND WESTERN By Edited with an Introduction and Notes by In Three Volumes HUMPHREY MILFORD |
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, Indpaedia.com your help will be gratefully acknowledged.
Rajasthan’s geography 01: Boundaries, states GEOGRAPHY OF RAJASTHAN OR RAJPUTANA
Contents |
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.
