View source for Mewar 06: Samarsi, Mahmud's Invasion

[[Category:India |M ]]
[[Category:History |M ]]
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|colspan="0"|<div style="font-size:100%">
This page is an extract from <br/>
ANNALS AND ANTIQUITIES <br/>
OF <br/>
'''RAJASTHAN '''<br/>

OR THE CENTRAL AND WESTERN <br/>
RAJPUT STATES OF INDIA <br/>

By <br/>
LIEUT.-COL. JAMES TOD <br/>
Late Political Agent to the Western Rajput States <br/>

Edited with an Introduction and Notes by <br/>
WILLIAM CROOKE, CIE. <br/>
Hon. D.Sc. Oxon., B.A., F.R.A.l. <br/>
Late of the Indian Civil Service <br/>

In Three Volumes <br/>
VOL. IV: ANNALS OF MEWAR<br/>
[The Annals were completed in 1829]<br/>

HUMPHREY MILFORD <br/>
Oxford University Press <br/>
London Edinburgh Glasgow New York <br/>
Toronto Melbourne Bombay <br/>
1920 [The edition scanned] <br/>
</div>
|}
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, [http://www.facebook.com/Indpaedia Indpaedia.com] your help will be gratefully acknowledged.

=Mewar  06: Samarsi, Mahmud's Invasion=
==Samarsi, Samar Singh==
Having established Bappa on the throne 
of Chitor S. 784 (a.d. 728), we will proceed to glean from the annals, 
from the period of his departure for Iran, S. 820 (a.d. 764) to 
another halting point— the reign of Samarsi, S. 1249 (a.d. 1193) ; 4 
an important epoch, not only in the history of Mewar, but to the 
whole Hindu race ; when the diadem of sovereignty was torn 
from the brow of the Hindu to adorn that of the Tatar. We 
shall not, however, overleap the four intervening centuries, though 
we may not be able to fill up the reigns of the eighteen princes 5
whose " banner at this time was a golden sun on a crimson field," 6
and several of whose names yet live recorded " with an iron pen 
on the rock " of their native abodes. 

An intermediate period, from Bappa to Samarsi, that of Sakti 
Kumar, is fixed by the Aitpur inscription in S. 1024 (a.d. 968) ; 
1  A new era had commenced, not of Yazdegird's accession, as is sup
posed, which would have been vain indeed, when the throne was tottering 
under him, but consequent to the completion of the grand cycle of 1440 
years. He was slain at Merv in a.d. 651, the 31st of the Hegira; on the 
eleventh year of which, or a.d. 632 (according to Moreri), he commenced his 
reign. 
2  Gibbon was wrong. India afforded them an asylum, and their issue 
constitutes the most wealthy, the most respected, and the most enhghtened 
part of the native community of Bombay and the chief towns of that presid
ency. 
3 Gibbon, Miscellaneous Works, ' Sur la Monarchic des Medes,' vol. iii. 
4 [" We now know that Samar Singh was alive up to 1299, only four 
years before Alau-d-dln's siege of Chitor, and that in several inscriptions 
his dates are given as 1273, 1274, 1285, etc. . . . Instead of being the father 
of Karan Singh I., as stated by Tod, Samar Singh came eight genei-ations 
after him, and was the father of Ratan Singh I., who, according to Muham
madan historians, was the ruler of Chitor during the reign of Alau-d-dln, 
and the husband of Padmini " (Erskine ii. A. 14 f.)] 
5 See Genealogical Table. 
6  This, according to the roll, was the standard of Bappa. 
and from the more perishable yet excellent authority of an ancient 
Jain HIS. the era of Allat, the ancestor of Sakti Kumar, was S. 922 
(a.d. 866), four generations anterior. From Bappa's departure 
for Iran, in a.d. 764, to the subversion of Hindu dominion in the 
reign of Samarsi, in a.d. 1193, we find recorded an intermediate 
Islamite invasion. This was during the reign of Khuman, 
between a.d. 812 and 836, which event forms the chief subject 
of the Khuman-Raesa, the most ancient of the poetic chronicles 
of Mewar [241]. 

As the history of India at this period is totally dark, we gladly 
take advantage of the lights thus afforded. By combining these 
facts with what is received as authentic, though scarcely less 
obscure or more exact than these native legends, we may furnish 
materials for the future historian. With this view, let us take 
a rapid sketch of the irruptions of the Arabians into India, from 
the rise of Islamism to the foundation of the Ghaznivid empire, 
which sealed the fate of the Hindus. The materials are but 
scanty. El-Makin, in his history of the Cahphs, passes over 
such intercourse almost without notice. Abu-1-Fazl, though not 
diffuse, is minute in what he does say, and we can confide in his 
veracity. Ferishta has a chapter devoted to this subject, which 
merits a better translation than yet exists.1 We shall, however, 
in the first place, touch on Bappa's descendants, till we arrive at 
the point proper for the introduction of the intended sketch. 
Of the twenty-four tribes of Guhilot, several issued from the 
founder, Bappa. Shortly after the conquest of Chitor, Bappa pro
ceeded to Saurashtra and married the daughter of Yusufgol, 
prince of the island of Bandardiva.2 With his bride he conveyed 
1  Amongst the passages which Dow [i. 37] has slurred over in his trans
lation is the interesting account of the origin of the Afghans ; who, when 
they first came in contact with those of the new faith, in a.h. 62, dwelt 
around the Koh-i-Sulaiman. 

Ferishta, quoting authority, says : " The 
Afghans were Copts, ruled by Pharaun, many of whom were converted to 
the laws and rehgion of Moses ; but others, who were stubborn in their 
worship to their gods, fled towards Hindustan, and took possession of the 
country adjoining the Koh-i-Sulaiman. They were visited by Kasim from 
Sind, and in the 143rd year of the Hegira had possessed themselves of the 
provinces of Kirman, Peshawar, and all within their bounds {sinoran)," 
which Dow has converted into a province. The whole geographical descrip
tion of the Kohistan, the etymology of the term Rohilla, and other important 
matter, is omitted by him [see Briggs, trans, i. 6 f.]. 
2  [The island Diu.] Yusufgol is stated to have held Chaul on the main
to Chitor the statue of Vyanmata, the tutelary goddess of her 
race, who still divides with Eklinga the devotion of the Guhilot 
princes. The temple in which he enshrined this islandic goddess 
yet stands on the summit of Chitor, with many other monuments 
assigned by tradition to Bappa. This princess bore him Aparajit, 
who from bemg born in Chitor was nominated successor to the 
throne, to the exclusion of his less fortunate elder brother, Asil 
(born of the daughter of the Kaba (Pramara) prince of Kalibao near 
Dwaraka), who, however, obtained possessions in Saurashtra, and 
founded a race called the Asila Guhilots,1 whose descendants were 
so numerous, even in Akbar's reign, as to [242] be supposed able to 
bring into the field fifty thousand men at arms. We have nothing 
important to record of the actions of Aparajit, who had two sons 
Kalbhoj - and Nandkumar. Kalbhoj succeeded Aparajit, and 
his warlike qualities are extolled in an inscription discovered 
by the author in the valley of Nagda. Nandkumar slew Bhimsen 
Dor (Doda), and possessed himself of Deogarh in the Deccan. 

==Khuman I==

Khuman succeeded Kalbhoj . His name is remark
able in the history of Mewar. He came to the throne at the 
land. He was most probably the father of Vanaraja Chawara, the founder 
of Patan Anhilwara, whose ancestors, on the authority of the Kumarpal 
Charitra, were princes of Bandardiva, held by the Portuguese since the 
time of Albuquerque, who changed its name to Deo. [But Yusufgol, if he 
existed, must have been a Musahnan. Vanaraja Chawara was son of 
Jayasekhara, said to have been slain in battle, a.d. 696, leaving his wife 
pregnant (BG, i. Part i. 150 f.). Yusufgol does not appear in the local 
history.] 

1 The ancient roll from which this is taken mentions Asil giving his name 
to a fortress, called Asilgarh. His son, Bijai Pal, was slain in attempting to 
wrest Khambayat (Cambay) from Sangram Dabhi. One of his wives, from 
a violent death, was prematurely deUvered of a boy, called Setu ; and as, 
in such cases, the Hindu supposes the deceased to become a discontented 
spirit {churail), Churaila became the name of the tribe. Bija, the twelfth 
from Asil, obtained Sonal from his maternal uncle, Khengar Dabhi, prince 
of Girnar, but was slain by Jai Singh Deo, prince of Surat. From these 
names compounded, Dabi and Churaila, we may have the Dabisalima of 
Mahmud. [The Asil Guhilots are now included in the Mers of the Kathiawar 
coast ; their numbers are exaggerated in the text (Ain, ii. 247 ; BG, ix. 
Parti. 126).] [See p. 266 above.] 
2  Also called Kama. He it was who excavated the Boraila lake, and 
erected the grand temple of EkUnga on the site of the hermitage of 
Harita, whose descendant, the present officiating priest, reckons sixty
six descents, while the princes of Mewar amount to seventy-two in the same 
period.beginning of the ninth century, when Chitor was assailed by 
another formidable invasion of Muhammadans. The chief object 
of the Khuman Raesa is to celebrate the defence made on this 
occasion, and the value of this Raesa consists in the catalogue of 
the princes who aided in defending this bulwark of the Hindu 
faith. The bard, in an animated strain, makes his sovereign on 
this occasion successfully defend the ' crimson standard ' of 
Mewar, treat with contempt the demand for tribute, and after 
a violent assault, in which the ' barbarian ' is driven back, follow 
and discomfit him in the plan, carrying back the hostile leader, 
Mahmud, captive. With this event, which introduces the name 
of Mahmud two centuries before the conqueror of Ghazni, we will 
pause, and resume the promised sketch of the intercourse of Arabia 
and Hindustan at this period. 

==The Muhammadan Invasion, a.d. 644-55==
The first intimation 
of the Moslems attempting the invasion of India is during the 
caliphat of Omar, who built the port of Bassorah at the mouth of 
the Tigris, chiefly to secure the trade of Gujarat and Sind ; into 
which latter coimtry a powerful army penetrated under Abul 
Aas,1 who was killed in battle at Aror. The Caliph Osman, 
who succeeded Omar, sent to explore the state of India, while 
he prepared an army to invade it in person : a design which he 
never fulfilled. The generals of the Caliph Ali made conquests 
in Sind, which they abandoned at All's death. While Yazid was 
governor of Khorasan several attempts were made on India, as 
also during the caliphat of Abdu-1 Malik, but without any last
ing [243] results. It was not till the reign of Walid '2 that any 
successful invasion took place. He not only finally conquered 
Sind and the adjoining continent of India, but rendered tributary 
all that part of India on this side the Ganges.3  What an exalted 
idea must we not form of the energy and rapidity of such con
quests, when we find the arms of Islam at once on the Ganges 
and the Ebro, and two regal dynasties simultaneously cut off, 
that of Roderic, the last of the Goths of Andaloos, and Dahir 
Despati in the valley of the Indus. It was in a.h. 99 (a.d. 712, 
S. 774) that Muhammad bin Kasim vanquished and slew Dahir, 

1 [Ferishta (i. 2) calls him Sayyid bin Abiu-1-Aas.] 
2  See Table next page. 
3  Marigny (quoting EI-Makin), Hist, of the Arabians, vol. ii. p. 283 ; 
Mod. Univ. Hint. vol. ii. p. 47. 

 [[File: the muhammadan invasion.png||frame|500px]]   

prince of Sind, after numerous conflicts. Amongst the spoils 
of victory sent to the cliph on this occasion were the daughters 
of the subjugated monarch, who were the cause of Kasim's de
struction,1  when he was on the eve of earrjdng the war against 
Raja [244] Harchand of Kanauj. Some authorities state that 
he actually prosecuted it ; and as Sind remained a dependency 
of the caliphat during several successive reigns, the successor of 
Kasim may have executed his plans. Little is said of India from 
this period to the reign of Al-Mansur, except in regard to the 
rebellion of Yazid in Khorasan, and the flight of his son to Sind. 
The eight sovereigns, who rapidly followed, were too much engaged 
with the Christians of the west and the Huns on the Caspian to 
think of India. Their armies were then in the heart of France, 
which was only saved from the Koran by their overthrow at 
Tours by Charles Martel. 

Al-Mansur, when only the lieutenant of the Caliph Abbas, held 
the government of Sind and of India, and made the island of 
Bakhar on the Indus, and the adjacent Aror,2 the ancient capital, 
his residence, naming it Mansura ; and it was during his govern
ment that Bappa Rawal abandoned Chitor for Iran. 
The celebrated Harunu-r-rashid, contemporary of Charle
magne, in apportioning his immense empire amongst his sons, 
gave to the second, Al-Mamun, Khorasan, Zabulistan, Kabulistan, 
Sind, and Hindustan.3 Al-Mamun, on the death of Ilarun, de
posed his brother, and became caliph in A.ii. 198 or a.d. 813, and 
ruled to 833, the exact period of the reign of Khuman, prince of 
Chitor. The domestic history brings the enemy assailant of 
Chitor from Zabulistan ; and as the leader's name is given 
Mahmud Khorasan Pat, there can be little doubt that it is an 
error arising from ignorance of the copyist, and should be 
Mamun. 

1 " The two young princesses, in order to revenge the death of their 
father, represented falsely to the Khahf that Muhammad bin Kasim had 
been connected with them. The Khalif , in a rage, gave order for Muhammad 
bin Kasim to be sewed up in a raw hide, and sent in that condition to court. 
When the mandate arrived at Tatta, Kasim was prepared to carry an ex
pedition against Harchand, monarch of Kanauj. When he arrived at court, 
the Khalif showed him to the daughters of Dahir, who expressed their joy 
upon beholding their father's murderer in'such a condition " [Ain/ii. 345 ; 
Elliot-Dowson i. 209 f.]. 
2 Aror is seven miles east of Bakhar. 
3 Marigny, vol. iii. p. 83 ; Univ. Hist. vol. ii. p. 162.

==Mahmud's Invasion==
Within twenty years after this event, 
the sword of conquest and conversion was withdrawn from India, 
and Sind was the only province left to Mutawakkil (a.d. 850 [847
861]), the grandson of Harun, for a century after whom the throne 
of Baghdad, like that of ancient Rome, was sold by her jiraetorians 
to the highest bidder. From this time we find no mention what
ever of Hindustan, or even of Sind, imtil Sabuktigin,1 governor 
of Khorasan, hoisted the standard of independent sovereignty 
at Ghazni. In A.n. 365 (a.d. 974) he carried his arms [245] across 
the Indus, forcing the inhabitants to abandon the religion of their 
ancestors, and to read the Koran from the altars of Bal and 
Krishna. Towards the close of this century he made his last 
invasion, accompanied by his son, the celebrated Mahmud, 
destined to be the scourge of the Hindu race, who early imbibed 
the paternal lesson inculcating the extirpation of infidels. Twelve 
several visitations did Mahmud make with his Tatar hordes, 
sweeping India of her riches, destroying her temples and archi
tectural remains, and leaving the country  plunged in poverty 
and ignorance. From the effect of these incursions she never 
recovered ; for though she had a respite of a century between 
Mahmud and the final conquest, it was too short to repair what 
it had cost ages to rear : the temples of Somnath, of Chitor, and 
Girnar are but types of the magnificence of past times. The 
memorial of Sakti Kumar proves him to have been the contem
porary of Sabuktigin, and to one of his son's visitations is attri
buted the destruction of the ' city of the sun ' (Aitpur),2 his 
capital. 

==Attack on Chitor==
Having thus condensed the little informa
tion afforded by Muhammadan historians of the connexion 
between the caliphs of Baghdad and princes of Hind, from the 
first to the end of the fourth century of the Hegira, we shall revert 
to the first recorded attack on the Mori prince of Chitor, which 
brought Bappa into notice. This was either by Yazid or Muham
mad bin Kasim from Sind.' Though in the histories of the 
caliphs we can only expect to find recorded those expeditions 
1 His father's name was Aliptigin, termed a slave by Ferishta and his 
authorities ; though EI-Makin gives him an ancestor in Yazdegird. [He 
was a slave (Elliot-Dowson iv. 159).] 
2 Ait, contracted from Aditya : hence Itwar, ' Sunday.' 
3 [This is not corroborated by Musulraan authorities.] 
which were successful, or had some lasting results, there are 
inroads of their revolted lieutenants or their frontier deputies, 
which frequently, though indistinctly, alluded to in Hindu annals, 
have no place in Muhammadan records. Throughout the period 
mentioned there was a stir amongst the Hindu nations, in which 
we find confusion and dethronement from an unknown invader, 
who is described as coming sometimes by Sind, sometimes by sea, 
and not unfrequently as a demon and magician ; but invariably 
as mlechchha, or ' barbarian.' 1From S. 750 to S. 780 (a.d. 694 
to [246] 724), the annals of the Yadus, the Chauhans, the Chawaras , 
and the Guhilots, bear evidence to simultaneous convulsions in 
their respective houses at this period. In S. 750 (a.h. 75) the 
Yadu Bhatti was driven from his capital Salpura in the Panjab, 
across the Sutlej into the Indian desert ; the invader named 
Farid. At the same period Manika Rae, the Chauhan prince of 
Ajmer, was assailed and slain.2  

1 Even from the puerilities of Hindu legends something may be extracted. 
A mendicant dervesh, called Roshan All {i.e. the ' light of All '), had found 
his way to Garh Bitli (the ancient name of the Ajmer fortress), and having 
thrust his hand into a vessel of curds destined for the Raja, had his finger 
cut off. The disjointed member flew to Mecca, and was recognized as 
belonging to the saint. An army was equipped in the disguise of horse
merchants, which invaded Ajmer, whose prince was slain. May we not 
gather from this incident that an insult to the first Islamite missionary, 
in the person of Roshan Ah, brought upon the prince the arms of the Cahph ? 
The same Chauhan legends state that Ajaipal was prince of Ajmer at this 
time ; that in this invasion by sea he hastened to Anjar (on the coast of 
Cutch), where he held the ' guard of the ocean ' {Samudra lei Chaulci), where 
he fell in opposing the landing. An altar was erected on the spot, on 
which was sculptured the figure of the prince on horseback, with his lance 
at rest, and which still annually attracts multitudes at the ' fair (Mela) of 
Ajaipal.' The subsequent invasion alluded to in the text, of S. 750 (a.d. 
694), is marked by a curious anecdote. When the ' Asurs ' had blockaded 
Ajmer, Lot, the infant son of Manika Rae, was playing on the battlements, 
when an arrow from the foe killed the heir of Ajmer, who has ever since 
been worshipped amongst the lares and penates of the Chauhans ; and as 
he had on a silver chain anklet at the time, this ornament is forbid to the 
children of the race. In all these Rajput families there is a putra {adolesceyis) 
amongst the penates, always one who has come to an untimely end, and 
chiefly worshipped by females ; having a strong resemblance to the rites 
in honour of Adonis. We have traced several Roman and Grecian terms 
to Sanskrit origin ; may we add that of lares, from larla, ' dear ' or 
' beloved '?[?]. 

-[The story is " puerile and fictitious : independent of which the Arabs 
liad quite enough to do nearer home " (Elliot-Dowson i. 426).] 

==The Muster of the Clans==

The first of the Khichi princes who 
occupied the Duab of Sindsagar in the Panjab, as well as the 
ancestor of the Haras established in Golkonda, was expelled at the 
same time. The invader is treated in the genuine Hindu style as a 
Danava, or demon, and is named Ghairaram 1 (i.e. restless), from 
Kujliban,2 a term geographically given to a portion of the 
Himalaya mountains about the glaciers of the Ganges. The 
ancestor of the founder of Patan was expelled from his petty 
islandic dominion on the coast of Saurashtra at the same time. 
This is the period when Yazid was the caliph's lieutenant in 
Khorasan, and when the arms of Walid conquered to the Ganges ; 
nor is there a doubt that Yazid or Kasim was the author of all 
these revolutions in the Hindu dynasties. We are supported in 
this by the names of the princes contained in the catalogue who 
aided to defend Chitor and the Mori prince on this occasion. It 
is evident that Chitor was, alternately with Ujjain, the seat of 
sovereignty of the Pramara at this period, and, as it became the 
rallying point of the Hindus, that this race was the first in con
sequence.^ We find the prince of Ajmer, and the quotas of 

1 [Persian : not a likely name.] 
2  Signifying ' Elephant forests,' and described in a Hindu map (stamped 
on cloth and painted) of India from Kujiiban to Lanka, and the provinces 
west of the Indus to Calcutta ; presented by me to the Royal Asiatic Society. 
3  The list of the vassal princes at the court of the Mori confirms the 
statement of the bard Ohand, of the supremacy of Ram Pramara, and the 
partition of his dominion, as described (see p. 63, note) amongst the princes 
who founded separate dynasties at this period ; hitherto in vassalage or 
subordinate to the Pramara. We can scarcely suppose the fauiily to have 
suffered any decay since their ancestor, Chandragupta, connected by 
marriage with as well as the ally of the Grecian Seleucus, and who held 
Greeks in his pay. From such connexion, the arts of sculpture and archi
tecture may have derived a character hitherto unnoticed. Amidst the ruins 
of Barolli are seen sculptured the Grecian helmet ; and the elegant ornament, 
the Kumbha, or ' vessel of desire,' on the temple of Annapurna (i.e. ' giver 
of food '), the Hindu Ceres, has much affinity to the Grecian device. From 
the inscription (see No. 2) it is evident that Chitor was an appanage of Ujjain, 
the seat of Pramar empire. Its monarch, Chandragupta (Mori [Maurya]), 
degraded into the barber (Maurya) tribe, was the descendant of Srenika, 
prince of Rajagriha, v/ho, according to the Jain work, Kalpadruma Kalka, 
flourished in the year 477 before Vikramaditya, and from whom Chandra
gupta was the thirteenth in descent. The names as follows : Kanika, 
Udsen, and nine in succession of the name of Nanda, thence called the 
Nau-nanda. These, at twenty-two years to a reign (see p. 64), would give 
286 years, which— 477 = 191 s.v. + 56 = 247 a.c. Now it was in a.c. 260, 
Saurashtra and Gujarat [247] ; Angatsi, lord of the Huns ; Busa, 
the lord of the North ; Sheo, the prince of the Jarejas ; the Johya, 
lord of Jangaldes ; the Aswaria, the Sepat, the Kulhar, the Malan, 
the Ohir, the Hul, and many others, having nothing of the Hindu 
in name, now extinct. But the most conspicuous is ' Dahir 
Despati from Debal.' This is erroneously written Delhi, the seat 
of the Tuars ; whereas we recognize the name of the prince of 
Sind, slain by Kasim, whose expatriated son doubtless found 
refuge in Chit or. 3

==The Defeat of the Enemy==
This attack on the Mori prince was 
defeated chiefly through the bravery of the youthful Guhilot. 
The foe from Kujliban, though stated to have advanced by 
Mathura, retreated by Saurashtra and Sind, pursued by Bappa. 
He found the ancient seat of his ancestors, Gajni,2  still in the 
possession of the ' Asur ' : a term as well as mlechchha, or ' bar
barian,' always given to the Islamite at this period. Salim, who 
held Gajni, was attacked and forced to surrender, and Bappa in
according to Bayer, that the treaty was formed between Seleucus and 
Chandragupta ; so that this scrap of Jain history may be regarded as 
authentic and valuable. Asoka (a name of weight in Jain annals) succeeded 
Chandragupta. He by Kunala, whose son was Samprati, with whose 
name ends the hne of Srenika, according to the authority from which I 
made the extract. The name of Samprati is well known from Ajnier to 
Saurashtra, and his era is given in a valuable chronogrammatic catalogue 
in an ancient Jain manuscript from the temple of Nadol, at 202 of the Virat 
Samvat. He is mentioned both traditionally and by books as the great 
supporter of the Jain faith, and the remains of temples dedicated to Mahavira, 
erected by this prince, yet exist at Ajrr.er, on Abu, Kumbhalmer, and Girnar. 
[Much of this needs correction, which cannot be done in the hunts of a note. 
For the Nanda dynasty see Smith, EHI, 40, and for Chandragupta Maurya 
and Asoka, 115 ff.] 

1  [This and the second catalogue are fictions. They conflict with the 
conditions then existing in Gujarat, and such motley arrays are a favourite 
bardic theme (Forbes, Easmala, 31, note ; A8R, ii. 379).] 
2  It has already been stated that the ancient name of Cambay was Gaini 
or Gajni, whose ruins are three miles from the present city [see p. 254 
above]. There is also a Gajni on the estuary of the Mahi, and Abu-1 Fazl 
incidentally mentions a Gajnagar as one of the most important fortresses 
of Gujarat, belonging to Ahmad Shah; in attempting to obtain which by 
stratagem, his antagonist, Hoshang, king of Malwa, was made prisoner. 
I am unaware of the site of this place, though there are remains of an exten
sive fortress near the capital, founded by Ahmad, and which preserves no 
name. It may be the ancient Gajnagar. 

[The Author confuses the place 
in Gujarat with Jajnagar or Jajpur in Orissa, captured through a stratagem 
by Hoshang {Ain, ii. 219 ; Ferishta iv. 178 ; BG, i. Part i. 359).] 
ducted into this stronghold of his ancestors a nephew of his own. 
It is no less singular than honourable to their veracity that the 
annals should record the fact, so contrary to their religion, of 
Bappa having married the daughter of the conquered Salim ; and 
we have a right to infer that it was from the influence acquired 
by this union tliat he ultimately abandoned the sovereignty of 
Mewar and the title of ' Hindua Suraj ' to become the founder of 
the ' one hundred and thirty tribes of Naushahra [248] Pathans ' 
of the west. It is fair to conclude from all these notices regarding 
the founder of the Guhilot race in Chitor that he must have 
abjured his faith for that of Islam ; and it is probable (though 
the surmise must ever remain unproved) that, under some new 
title applicable to such change, we may have, in one of the early 
distinguished leaders of ' the Faith,' the ancestor of the Guhilots.