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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/>
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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 21: The Imposition of the Jizya=
==The Imposition of the Jizya or Capitation Tax==

The annalls of 
Rajputana is but an indifferent chronologist, and leaves us 
doubtful of the exact succession of events at this period. It was 
not, however, till the death of those two powerful princes, Jaswant 
Singh of Marwar and Jai Singh of Amber, both poisoned by 
conunand of the tyrant, the one at his distant government of 
Kabul, the other in the Deccan, that he deemed himself free to 
put forth the full extent of his long-concealed design, the imposi
tion of the jizya or capitation tax on the whole Huidu race. But 
he miscalculated his measures, and th» murder of these princes, 
far from advancing his aim, recoiled with vengeance on his head. 
Foiled in his plot to entrap the infant sons of the Rathor by the 
self-devotion of his vassals, 1 the compound treachery evinced that 

1 Two hundred and fifty Rajputs opposed five thousand of the Imperialists 
at a pass, till the family of Jaswant escaped. 
their only hope lay in a deadly resistance. The mother of Ajit, 
the infant heir of Marwar, a woman of the most determined 
character, was a princess of Mewar, and she threw herself upon 
the Rana as the natural guardian of his rights, for sanctuary 
{saran) during the dangers of his minority. This was readily 
yielded, and Kelwa assigned as his residence, where under the 
immediate safeguard of the brave Durgadas Ajit resided,^ while 
she nursed the spirit of resistance at home. A union of interests 
was cemented between these the chief States of Rajputana, for 
which they never before had such motive, and but for repeated 
instances of an ill-judged humanity, the throne of the Moguls 
might have been completely overturned [380]. 

==Letter of Remonstrance to Aurangzeb==

On the promulgation 
of that barbarous edict, the jizya, the Rana remonstrated by 
letter, in the name of the nation of which he was the head, in a 
style of such micompromising dignity, such lofty yet temperate 
resolve, so much of soul-stirring rebuke mingled with a boundless 
and tolerating benevolence, such elevated ideas of the Divinity 
with such pure philanthropy, that it may challenge competition 
with any epistolary production of any age, clime, or condition.2  

1  The Rana received the young Rathor with the most princely hospitaUty, 
and among other gifts a diamond worth ten thousand dinars is enumerated. 
2 This letter, first made known to Europe by Orme {Fragments, Notes, 
sciii. ft'.], has by him been erroneously attributed to Jaswant Singh of 
Marwar, who was dead before the promulgation of the edict, as the mention 
of Ramsingh sufficiently indicates, whose father, Jai Smgh, was contemporary 
with Jaswant, and ruled nearly a year after his death. My Munshi obtained 
a copy of the original letter at Udaipur, where it is properly assigned to 
the Rana. [Compare the version of this letter in Jadunath Sarkar (iii. 
325 ft.), who remarks that " the internal evidence and biographical details 
of the writer apply to Shiva ji and not to Raj Singh. In the penultimate 
paragraph of the letter Eajah Ram Singh is given for Rana Raj Singh 
by ASBMs and Orme ; but no Jaipur chieftain could have been ' the 
head of the Hindus.' "] It were superfluous to give a translation after 
the elegant production of Sir W. B. Rouse. 

" Letter from Rana Raj Singh to Aurangzeb. 
" All due jiraise be rendered to the glory of the Ahnighty, and the munifi
cence of your majesty, which is conspicuous as the sun and moon. Although 
I, your well-wisher, have separated from your subhme presence, I am never
theless zealous in the performance of every bounden act of obedience and 
loyalty. My ardent wishes and strenuous services are employed to promote 
the prosperity of the Kings, Nobles, Mirzas, Rajahs, and Roys of the pro
vinces of Hindostan, and the chiefs of Eraun, Turaun, Room, and Shawm, 
In this are contained the true principles of Christianity, and to 
the illustrious Gentile, and such as acted as he did, was pointed 
the inhabitants of the seven climates, and all persons travelling by land 
and by water. This my inclination is notorious, nor can your royal wisdom 
entertain a doubt thereof. Reflecting therefore on my former services, 
and your majesty's condescension, I presume to sohcit the royal attention 
to some circumstances, in which the public as weU as private welfare is 
greatly interested. 

" I have been informed that enormous sums have been dissipated in the 
prosecution of the designs formed against me, your well-wisher ; and that 
you have ordcfed a tribute to be levied to satisfy the exigencies of your 
exhausted treasury. 
" May it please your majesty, your royal ancestor Mahomed 'Jelaul ul 
Deen Akbar, whose throne is now in heaven, conducted the affairs of this 
empire in equity and fu-m security for the space of fifty-two years, preserving 
every tribe of men in ease and happiness, whether they were followers of 
Jesus or of Moses, of David or Mahomed ; were they Brahunns, were they 
of the sect of Dharians, which denies the et'ernity of matter, or of that which 
ascribes the existence of the world to chance, they all equally enjoyed his 
countenance and favour : insomuch that his people, in gratitude for the 
indiscriminate protection he afforded them, distmguished him by the appel
lation of Juggut Gooroo (Guardian of Mankind). 

" His majesty Mahomed Noor ul Deen Jehanghccr, likewise, whose 
dweUing is now in paradise, extended, for a period of twenty-two years, 
the shadow of his protection over the heads of his people ; successful by a 
constant fidehty to his alhes, and a vigorous exertion of his arm in business. 
" Nor less did the illustrious Shah Jehan, by a propitious reign of thirty
two years, acquire to himself immortal reputation, the glorious reward of 
clemency and virtue. 

" Such were the benevolent inchnations of your ancestors. Whilst they 
pursued these great and generous principles, wheresoever they directed 
their steps, conquest and prosperity went before them ; and then they 
reduced many countries and fortresses to their obedience. During your 
majesty's reign, many have been ahenated from the empire, and farther 
loss of territory must necessarily follow, since devastation and rapine now 
universally prevail without restraint. Your subjects are trampled under 
foot, and every province of your empire is impoverished ; depopulation 
spreads, and difficulties accumulate. When indigence has reached the 
habitation of the sovereign and his princes, what can be the condition of 
the nobles ? As to the soldiery, they are in murmurs ; the merchants 
complaining, the Mahomedans discontented, the Hindoos destitute, and 
multitudes of people, Avretched even to the want of their nightly meal, are 
beating their heads throughout the day in rage and desperation. 

" How can the dignity  of the sovereign be preserved who employs his 
power in exacting heavy tributes from a people thus miserably reduced ? 
At this juncture it is told from east to west, that the emperor of Hindostan, 
jealous of the poor Hindoo devotee, will exact a tribute from Brahunns, 
Sanorahs, Joghies, Berawghies, Sanyasees ; that, regardless of the illustrious 
that golden sentence of toleration, " Those [381] who have not 
the law, yet do by nature the things contamed in the law, shall 
be a law unto themselves." 

==Aurangzeb attacks Mewar==

This letter, the sanctuary afforded 
Ajit, and (what the historical parasite of the Mogul's life dared 
not indite 1 ) the carrying off of his betrothed, made him pour out 
all the phials of his wrath against the devoted Mewar, and his 
preparations more resembled those for the conquest of a potent 
kingdom than the subjugation of a Rajput zamindar,2  a vassal of 
that colossal empire on whose surface his domain was but a 
speck. In the very magnitude of these, the Suzerain of Hindustan 
paid the highest tribute of praise to the tributary Rajput, for he 
denuded the very extremities of his empire to assemble a host 
which he deemed must prove irresistible. Akbar was recalled 
from his province, Bengal ; Azam from the distant Kabul ; and 
even Muazzam (the Mogul's heir) from the war in the Deccan. 
honour of his Timurean race, he condescends to exercise his power over the 
solitary inoffensive anchoret. If your majesty places any faith in those 
books, by distinction called divine, you will there be instructed that God 
is the God of all mankind, not the God of Mahomedans alone. The Pagan 
and the Mussulman are equally in His presence. Distinctions of colour are 
of His ordination. It is He who gives existence. In your temples, to His 
name the voice is raised in prayer ; in a house of images, where the bell is 
shaken, still He is the object of adoration. To vilify the rehgion or customs 
of other men is to set at naught the pleasure of the Almighty. When we 
deface a picture, we naturally incur the resentment of the painter ; and 
justly has the poet said, presume not to arraign or scrutinize the various 
works of power divine. 

" In fine, the tribute you demand from the Hindoos is repugnant to 
justice : it is equally foreign from good pohcy, as it must impoverish the 
country : moreover, it is an innovation and an infringement of the laws of 
Hindostan. But if zeal for your own rehgion hath induced you to deter
mine upon this measure, the demand ought, by the rules of equity, to have 
been made first upon Ramsing, who is esteemed the principal amongst the 
Hindoos. Then let your weU-wisher be called upon, with whom you will 
have less difficulty to encounter ; but to torment ants and flies is unworthy 
of an heroic or generous mind. It is wonderful that the ministers of your 
government shoidd have neglected to instruct your majesty in the rules 
of rectitude and honour." 
1 It is well known that Aurangzeb forbade the continuation of the 
history of his life, subsequent to that portion comprehending the first ten 
years [the Alamgirndma ; see Jadunath Sarkar ii. 302]. 

2  The epithet by which these Tatar sovereigns affected to call the 
indigenous (bhumia) princes. 
With this formidable array 1  the emperor entered Mewar, and 
soon reduced the low countries, which experience had taught 
them were indefensible, the inhabitants previously retiring with 
their effects to the hills. 2  Chitor, Mandalgarh, Mandasor, Jiran, 
and many other strongholds were obtained after the usual form 
of opposition, and garrisoned by the Moguls. Meanwhile the 
Rana was animating the might of the Aravalli, where he meditated 
a resistance proportioned to the peril which threatened every 
cherished prejudice of his race : not the mere defence of dominion 
or dignity, but a struggle, pro arts et focis, around which rallied 
every Rajput with the most deadly determination. Even the 
pruTiitive races of the western wilds, " the Palindas ^ and Pali
pats 3 {lord of the passes), with thousands of bows, and hearts 
devoted in the cause of Hindupat," 4  assembled round the red 
banner of Mewar. The Rana divided his forces into three bodies 
[382]. His eldest son, Jai Singh, was posted on the crest of the 
AravalU, ready to act on the invaders from either side of the 
mountains. Prince Blum was to the west, to keep up the com
munications with the outlets to Gujarat ; while the Rana, with 
the main body, took post in the Nai deftle, unassailable by the 
enemy, and hanging on his left flank, ready to turn it, and cut 
off all retreat the moment the Imperialists entered the mountains. 
Aurangzeb advanced to Debari, but instead of entering the 
valley of Avhich it was the gorge, he halted, and by the advice of 
Tahawwar Khan 5  sent on Prince Akbar with fifty thousand men 
to the capital. This caution of the wily monarch saved him 
from the ably planned scheme of the Rajput prince, who evinced 
a thorough knowledge 6 of the topography of this intricate and 

1  There were no such field trains in Europe as those of the Moguls. 
Seventy pieces of heavy ordnance, sixty of horse artillery, and a dromedary 
corps three hundred strong, mounting swivels, accompanied the emperor 
on an excursion to Kashmir. Bernier, who gives this detail, describes 
what he saw [217 f.]. 
2  [For this campaign see the account in Jadunath Sarkar, Life of Axirangzib , 
iii. 365 ft'.] 
3  Pal is the local term for these long defiles, the residence of the moun
taineers : their chiefs are called Indras, Pali, in Bhakha, Pat. 
4  Chief of the Hindus. 
5  [In the text " Tyber " Khan. His original name was Jan Beg, also 
known as Badshah Kuh Khan, one of Aurangzeb's great nobles (Manucci 
ii. 239, note 3, 247, note). His tragical end is told later on.] 
6  The Saktawat leader, Gharibdas, has the merit of having prompted 
romantic portion of his domain. The Girwa, emphatically ' the 
Circle,' from which the valley of the capital is named, has this 
form to the eye when viewing it from thence as a centre. It is, 
however, an irregular ellipse of about fourteen miles in length 
from south to north, and about eleven in breadth from east to 
west, the capital being situated towards the extremity of the 
transverse axis, having only the lake Pichola between it and the 
base of the Aravalli, The mountains of this circular (girwa) 
valley, ranging from eight to twelve hundred feet in height, are 
of primitive formation, and raise their fantastic pinnacles in 
every diversity of shape over each other. To the westward the 
grand chain rises two thousand feet above the plains, and might 
be termed the chords of which the Girwa is an irregular segment 
of a circle, less in height, and far less compound in character. 
Towards the plains east, it has three practicable passes ; one, the 
more northern, by Delwara ; the other (central), by Debari ; a 
third, leading to the intricacies of Chappan, that of Nai. Of 
these three passes the emperor chose the most practicable, and 
encamped near the Udaisagar lake, on the left of its entrance. 

==The Advance of Prince Akbar==

Prince Akbar advanced. 
" Not a soul interrupted his progress to the city. Palaces, 
gardens, lakes, and isles met his eye, but no living thing : all was 
silence." Akbar encamped. Accustomed to this desertion from 
the desire of the people to avoid a licentious soldiery, and lulled 
into a hardy security, he was surprised [383] by the heir of Mewar. 
Some were praying, some feasting, some at chess : " they came 
to steal and yet fell asleep," says the annalist, and were dispersed 
with terrific and unrelenting slaughter. Cut off from the possi
bility of a junction with the emperor by a movement of a part 
of the Rana's personal force, Akbar attempted a retreat to the 
plains of Marwar by the route of Gogunda. It was a choice of 
evils, and he took the worst. The allodial vassals of the moun
tains, with the Bhil auxiliaries, outstripped his retreat, and 
blocked up farther egress in one of those long-extended valleys 
termed Nal, closed by a natural rampart or Col, on which they 
this plan. His speech on the advance of Aurangzeb is given in the Annals ; 
and his advice, " Let the king have free entrance through the passes, shut 
him in, and make famine his foe," was literally followed, with the hard 
knocks, which being a matter-of-course accompaniment, the gallant Saktawat 
deemed it unnecessary to specify. 
formed nhhaiis of trees, and manning the crests on each side, 
hurled destruction on the foe ; while the prince, in like manner, 
blocked up the entrance and barred retrogression. Death 
menaced them in every form. For several days they had only 
the prospect of surrender to save them from famine and a justly 
incensed foe, when an ill-judged humanity on the part of Jai 
Singh saved them from annihilation. He admitted overtures, 
confided in protestations to renounce the origin of the war, and 
gave them guides to conduct them by the defile of Jhilwara, nor 
did they halt till protected by the walls of Chitor.1 

1  Orme, who has many valuable historical details of this period, makes 
Aurangzeb in person to have been in the predicament assigned by the 
annals to his son, and to have escaped from the operation of those high and 
gallant sentiments of the Rajput, which make him no match for a wily 
adversary. 
" In the meantime Aurengzebe was carrying on the war against the Rana 
of Cheetore, and the Raja of Marwar, who on the approach of his army at 
the end of the preceding year, 1678, had abandoned the accessible country, 
and drew their herds and inhabitants into the vallies, within the mountains ; 
the army advanced amongst the defiles with incredible labour, and with so 
little inteUigence, that the division which moved with Aurengzebe himself 
was unexpectedly stopped by insuperable defences and precipices in front ; 
whilst the Rajpoots in one night closed the streights in his rear, by feUing 
the overhanging trees ; and from their stations above prevented all en
deavours of the troops, either within or without, from removing the obstacle. 
Udeperri, the favourite and Circassian wife of Aurengzebe, accompanied 
him in this arduous war, and with her retinue and escort was enclosed in 
another part of the mountains ; her conductors, dreading to expose her 
person to danger or public view, surrendered. She was carried to the Rana, 
who received her with homage and every attention. Meanwhile the em
peror himself might have perished by famine, of which the Rana let him 
see the risque, by a confinement of two days ; when he ordered his Rajpoots 
to withdraw from their stations, and suffer the way to be cleared. As soon 
as Aurengzebe was out of danger, the Rana sent back his wife, accompanied 
by a chosen escort, who only requested in return that he would refrain from 
destroying the sacred animals of their rehgion which might still be left in the 
plains ; but Aurengzebe, who believed in no virtue but seK-interest, imputed 
the generosity and forbearance of the Rana. to the fear of future vengeance, 
and continued the war. Soon after he was again well-nigh enclosed in the 
mountains. This second experience of difficulties beyond his age and con
stitution, and the arrival of his sons, Azim and Acbar, determined him not 
to expose himself any longer in the field, but to leave its operations to their 
conduct, superintended by his own instructions from Azmir ; to which city 
he retired with the households of his family, the officers of his court, and his 
bodyguard of four thousand men, dividing the array between his two sons, 
who each had brought a considerable body of troops from their respective 
Another body of the Imperialists, under the celebrated Dilir 
Khan,1 who [384] entered by the Desuri Pass from Marwar (prob
ably with a view of extricating Prince Akbar), were allowed to 
advance imopposed, and when in the long intricate gorge were 
assailed by Bikram Solanki 2  and Gopinath Rathor ' (both nobles 
of Me war), and after a desperate conflict entirely destroyed. On 
each occasion a vast booty fell into the hands of the Rajputs. 

So ably concerted was this mountain Avarfare, that these defeats 
were the signal for a simultaneous attack by the Rana on Aurang
zeb, who, with his son Azam, watched at Debari the result of the 
operations under Akbar and Dilir. The great home-clans had 
more than their wonted rivalry to sustain them, for the gallant 
Durgadas with the Rathor swords (tahwar Bathorun) whetted by 
an accumulation of wrongs, were to combat with them against 
their common oppressor ; and nobly did they contest the palm of 
glory. The tyrant could not withstand them : his guns, though 
manned by Franks, could not protect him against the just cause 
and avenging steel of the Rajput, and he was beaten and com
pelled to disgraceful flight, with an immense loss in men and 
equipment. The Rana had to lament many brave leaders, home 
and auxiliary ; and the imperial standard, elephants, and state 
equipage fell into his hands, the acquisition of Mohkam and the 
Saktawats. This glorious encounter occurred in the spring month 
of Phalgun, S. 1737, March a.d. 1681 [1680]. 

The discomfited forces formed a junction under the walls of 
Chitor, whence the emperor dictated the recall of his son. Prince 
Muazzam, from the Deccan, deeming it of greater moment to 
regain lost importance in the north than to prevent the independ
ence of Sivaji. Meanwhile the acti^^ty of Sawaldas (descended 
from the illustrious Jaimall) cut off the communication between 
Chitor and Ajmer, and alarmed the tyrant for his personal safety. 
Leavmg, therefore, this perilous warfare to his sons Azam and 
foiled in his 
governments. They continued the war each in a different part of the 
country, and neither at the end of the year had forced the ultimate passes of 
the mountains" {^Historical Fragments, 119 f.]. 

1  [Dilir Khan, otherwise Jalal Khan Daudzai, died at Aurangabad, 
1682-83 (Manucci i. 243). Grant Duff speaks highly of his services in the 
Deccan (145 f.)-] 
2  Chief of Rupnagar. 
3  Chief of Ghancrao, in Godwar, now alienated from Mewar. 
vengeance and personally disgraced, he abandoned Mewar, and 
at the head of his guards repaired to Ajmer. Thence he detached 1  
Khan Rohilla, with twelve thousand men, against Sawaldas, 
with supplies and equipments for his sons. The Rathor, joined 
by the troops of Marwar, gave him the meeting at Pur Mandal, 
and defeated the Imperialists with great loss, driving them back 
on Ajmer [385]. 

==Diversion made by the Rajputs==

While the Rana, his heir and 
auxiliaries, were thus triumphant in all their operations, Prince 
Bhim with the left division was not idle, but made a powerful 
diversion by the invasion of Gujarat, captured Idar, expelling 
Hasan and his garrison, and proceeding by Birnagar, suddenly 
appeared before Patau, the residence of the provincial satrap, 
which he plundered. Siddhpur, Modasa,2  and other towns shared 
the same fate ; and he was in full march to Surat, when the bene
volence of the Rana, touched at the woes of the fugitives, who 
came to demand his forbearance, caused him to recall Bhim in 
the midst of his career. 

Contrary to the Rajput character, whose maxim is parcere 
subjectis, they were compelled by the utter faithlessness of Aurang
zeb (chiefly vulnerable through his resources) to retaliate his 
excesses ; and Dayal Sah, the civil minister, a man of high 
courage and activity, headed another flying force, which ravaged 
Malwa to the Nerbudda and Betwa. Sarangpur, Dewas, Sironj, 
Mandu, Ujjain, and Chanderi were plundered, and numerous 
garrisons put to the sword ; and, to use the words of the Chronicle, 
" husbands abandoned their wives and children, and whatever 
could not be carried off was given to the flames." For once they 
avenged themselves, in imitation of the tyrant, even on the 
religion of their enemies : " the Kazis were bound and shaved, 
and the Korans thrown into wells." The minister was unrelenting 
and made Malwa a desert, and from the fruits of his incursions 
repaired the resources of his master. Flushed with success, 
he formed a junction with the heir of Mewar, and gave battle to 
Azam near Chitor. On this occasion the flower of Mewar, with 
the Rathor and Khichi auxiliaries,3  were engaged, and obtained 

1  [Some name is wanting here.] 
2  [Siddhpur, a famous place of pilgrimage in Baroda State {IGI, xxii. 
358 f.); Modasa, fifty-two miles north-east of Ahmadabad (BG, vi. 346).] 
3  Mokham and Ganga Saktawats, Ratan Chondawat of Salumbar, 
a glorious victorj', the Mogul prince being defeated and pursued 
with great slaughter to Ranthambhor, which he entered. This 
was a just revenge, for it was Azam who surprised Chitor the year 
preceding. In Mewar the contest terminated with the expulsion 
of the Imperialists from the country ; when the Rana, in support 
of the rights of the minor prince of Marwar, united his arms to 
the forces of that state, and opened the campaign at Ghanerao, 
the chief town of [386] Godwar. The heroic mother of the infant 
Rathor prince, a daughter of Mewar, had, since the death of her 
husband, well supported his rights, having resisted every aggres
sion and regained many lost advantages over their antagonist. 
Prince Bhim commanded the Sesodias, who formed a junction 
with the Rathors, and gave battle to the royal forces led by 
Akbar and Tahawwar Khan, whom they entirely defeated. 
The victory is chiefly attributed to a stratagem of a Rajput chief, 
who, having carried off five hxmdred camels from the Imperialists, 
conceived the idea of fixing torches to them and letting them 
loose in the royal camp ; and, in the confusion produced by the 
charge of such a body, the Rajputs assaulted them. 

==Plan to dethrone Aurangzeb ==

On their continued successes, 
the Rana and his allies meditated the project of dethroning the 
tyrant and setting up his son Akbar. The pernicious example 
of his father towards Shah Jahan was not lost upon Akbar, who 
favourably received the overture ; but he wanted the circum
spection which characterized Aurangzeb, whose penetration 
defeated the scheme when on the eve of execution. 1  Already 
had the Rajput armies united with Akbar, and the astrologer had 
fixed the day which was to exalt him ; but the revealer of secrets 
baffled his own prediction by disclosing it to the emperor. All
rangzeb, attended only by his guards at Ajmer, had recourse to 
the same artifice which raised him to empire, in order to ward 
off this danger. Akbar was but one day's march distant ; his 
elder sons, Muazzam and Azam, yet far off. Not a moment was 
to be lost : he penned a letter to his son, which by a spy was 
Chandrasen Jhala of Sadri, Sabal Singh Chauhan of Bedla, Berisal Pun war of 
Bijolia. Four of the chiefs made speeches on the eve preceding the battle, 
which are recorded in the Chronicle. 

1  [For Akbar's rebellion see Jadunath Sarkar ii. 402 ff. ; Elliot-Dowson 
vii. 298 ff. ; Manucci ii. 243 ff.] 
dropped in 'the tent of the Rajput leader Durgadas.1 In this he 
applauded a pretended scheme by which Akbar was to fall upon 
them when they engaged the emperor. The same scheme had 
saved Sher Shah in this coimtry from Maldeo, and has more 
recently been put in practice, and with like success, in the war -svith 
Sivaji. It succeeded. The Rajputs detached themselves from 
the prince Avho had apparently betrayed them. Tahawwar Khan, 
in despair, lost his life in an attempt to assassinate the emperor, 2  
and before the artifice was discovered, the reinforcements under 
Muazzam and Azam arrived, and Aurangzeb was saved. The 
Rajputs still offered saran (refuge) to Akbar ; but aware of his 
father's vigour of character, he deemed himself unsafe in his 
vicinage, and accepted the escort of five himdred Rajputs led by 
Durgadas [387], who cut their way through every  opposition by 
the defiles of Mewar and Dungarpur, and across the Nerbudda, 
to the Mahratta leader Sambhaji, at Palargarh, whence he was 
shortly after conveyed in an English ship to Persia.' 

==Overtures for Peace==

" The escape of Acbar " (observes an 
historian,4  who appreciated the importance of the transactions 
of this period) " to Sambagee, oppressed Aurengzebe with as 
much anxiety, as formerly the phantom of his brother Sujah 
amongst the Pitans ; and the consequence of their alliance 
1  A portrait of tWs Rathor hero was given to the author of the present 
work by his descendants. He was chief of Dunara, on the Luni. He saved 
his young sovereign's life from the tyrant, and guarded him during a long 
minority, heading the Rathors in all the wars for the independence of his 
country. A bribe of forty thousand gold s^uns was sent to him by Azam 
without stipulation, when conveying Akbar out of danger. The object was 
obvious, yet the Mogul prince dared not even specify his wishes. It is 
needless to say that Durga spurned the offer. [For the flight of Akbar see 
Jadunath Sarkar ii. 415 £F.] 
2  [For the attempt of Tahawwar Khan to assassinate Aurangzeb see 
Manucci ii. 247 ff. ; Jadunath Sarkar ii. 411 ff.] 
3  [Palargarh is perhaps Palanpur (IGI, xix. 354). Akbar died in Persia, 
1706.1 
4  " We are not without hopes that some of the many in India who have 
the means will supply the portions of information which are deficient in 
these fragments, and must otherwise always continue out of our reach. 
The knowledge is well worth the inquiry ; for, besides the magnitude of the 
events and the energy of the characters which arise within this period, there 
are no states or powers on the continent of India, with whom our nation 
have either connection or concern, which do not owe the origin of their 
present condition to the reign of Aurengzebe, or to its influence on the reigns 
of his successors " (Orme's Fragments [Notes i. f.]). 
became a nearer care than the contuiuance of the war against 
the Rajpoots, whose gallant activity prevented a speedy decision 
by the sword ; but the dignity of the throne forbad any overtures 
of peace to a resistance which had attempted the deposal, if not 
the life, of the monarch. A Rajpoot officer, who had long served 
with distinction under Delire Khan, solved the difficulty : he 
quitted the army on the pretence of retiring to his own country 
and visited the Rana as from courtesy on his journey. The 
conversation turned on the war, which the Rajpoot perhaps reaUy 
lamented, and he persuaded the Rana that although Aurengzebe 
would never condescend to make, he might accept overtures 
of peace : upon which he was empowered by the Rana to tender 
them." 1  The domestic annals confirm this account, and give 
the name of this mediator. Raja Shyam Singh of Bikaner ; but 
the negotiation was infamously protracted to the rains, the period 
when operations necessarily cease, and by which time Aurangzeb 
had recruited his broken forces, and was again enabled to take 
the field ; and it was concluded " without assertion or release of 
the capitation tax, but with the surrender of the districts taken 
from Chitor, and the State of Jodhpur was included in the treaty." 
How correctly this elegant historian had obtained a knowledge 
of those events, a translation of the treaty evinces.2  But these 

 [[File: peace.png||frame|500px]]   
" Your servants, according to your royal pleasure and summons, have 
been sent by the Rana to represent what is written underneath. We hope 
you will agree to these requests, be.sides others which will be made by 
Padam Singh. 

"1. Let Chitor, with the districts adjacent appertaining thereto when it 
was inhabited, be restored. 
" 2. In such temples and places of Hindu religious resort as have been 
converted into mosques, the past cannot be recalled, but let this practice 
be abolished. 
" 3. The aid hitherto afforded to the empire by the Rana shall be con
tinued, but let no additional commands be imposed. 
" 4. The sons and dependants of the deceased Raja Jaswant Singh so 
occurrences belong to the succeeding reign, for the Rana died 
about this period 1 from wounds and vexation. 

==Cruel Treatment of Raja of Golkonda==

Once more we claim 
the reader's admiration on behalf of another patriot prince of 
Mewar, and ask him to contrast the indigenous Rajput with the 
emperor of the Aloguls [388] ; though to compare them would be 
manifestly unjust, since in every moral virtue they were antipodes 
to each other. Aurangzeb accumulated on his head more crimes 
than any prince who ever sat on an Asiatic throne. With all 
the disregard of life which marks his nation, he was never be
trayed, even in the fever of success, into a single generous action ; 
and, contrary to the prevailing principle of our nature, the 
moment of his foe's submission was that chosen for the mallgnant 
completion of his revenge : witness his scourging the prostrate 
Iving of Golkonda.2  How opposite to the beneficence of the 
Rajput prince, who, when the most efficient means of self-defence 
lay in the destruction of the resources of his enemy, feeling for 
the miseries of the suffering population of his persecutor, recalled 
his son m the midst of victory ! As a skilful general and gallant 
soldier, in the defence of his country, he is above all [389] praise. 
As a chivalrous Rajput, his braving all consequences when called 
upon to save the honour of a noble female of his race, he is without 
parallel. As an accomphshed prince and benevolent man, his 
dignified letter of remonstrance to Aurangzeb on the promulga
tion of the capitation edict, places him high in the scale of moral 
as well as intellectual excellence ; and an additional evidence 
of both, and of his taste for the arts, is furnished by the formation 
of the inland lake, the Rajsamund, with a slight account of which, 
and the motives for its execution, we shall conclude the sketch of 
this glorious epoch in the annals of Mewar. 
soon as enabled to perform their duties, we hope will have their country 
restored to them. * 

" Respect prevents inferior demands. May the splendour of your for
tune, like the sun illuminating the world, be for ever increasing and never set. 
" The Arzi (requests) of your servants, Sur Singh and Narhar Bhat." 
* S. 1737, A.D. 1681. 
1  It was to defend the rights of the heir of Marwar, as well as to oppose 
the odious jizya, that the Rana took to arms. Ajit was still under the 
Rana's safeguard. 

2 [Orme, Fragments, 217 f. A tUti'erent story is told by Khafi Khan 
(Elliot-Dowson vii. 334).] 

==The Rajsamund Lake==

This great national work is twenty
five miles north of the capital, and is situated on the declivity 
of the plain about two miles from the base of the Aravalli. A 
small perennial stream, called the Gomati or ' serpentine,' 1 
flowing from these mountains, was arrested in its course, and 
confined by an immense embankment, made to form the lake 
called after himself, Rajsamund, or ' royal sea.' The hand or 
dam forms an irregular segment of a circle, embracing an extent 
of nearly three miles, and encirchng the waters on every side 
except the space between the north-west and north-east points. 
This barrier, which confines a sheet of water of great depth, and 
about twelve miles in circumference, is entirely of white marble, 
with a flight of steps of the same material, throughout this extent, 
from the summit to the water's edge ; the whole buttressed by an 
enormous rampart of earth, which, had the projector lived, would 
have been planted with trees to form a promenade. On the south 
side are the town and fortress built by the Rana, and bearing his 
name, Rajnagar ; and upon the embankment stands the temple 
of Kankroli, the shrine of one of the seven forms {sarup) of 
Krishna. The whole is ornamented with sculpture of tolerable 
execution for the age ; and a genealogical sketch of the founder's 
family is inscribed in conspicuous characters. One million one 
hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling,2  contributed by the 
Rana, his chiefs and opulent subjects, was expended on this work, 
of which the material was from the adjacent quarries. But, 
magnificent, costly, and useful as it is, it derives its chief beauty 
from the benevolent motive to which it owes its birth : to alleviate 
the miseries of a starving population, and make their employment 
conducive to national benefit, during one of those awful visitations 
[390] of providence, famine, and pestilence with which these 
states are sometimes afflicted. 

==The Famine ofa.d. 1662==

It was in S. 1717, 3  only seven years 
after the accession of Raj Singh, that these combined evils reached 
Mewar, less subject to them, owing to its natural advantages, 
than any other State in India ;’ and on Tuesday the 8th of Pus, 
1  [A common error ; Gtomati, meaning ' rich in cattle,' has no connexion 
with Hiiadi ghumna, ' to twist.'] 
2  Ninety-six lakhs of rupees [Erskine ii. A. 9]. 
3  A.D. 1661. 
4  From all I could learn, it was the identical pestilence which has been 
ravaging India for the last ten years, erroneously called cholera morbus. 
Hasti Nakshatra (constellation of the elephant), as fixed by the 
astrologer, the first stone was laid. " The chief of Mewar, deeply 
meditating on this extreme distress, determined to raise a monu
ment, by which the wretched might be supported and his own 
name perpetuated. This was seven years in constructing, and 
at its commencement and termination all the rites of sacrifice 
and oblation were observed. 

" The Rana went to implore favour at the temple of the ' four
armed ' ; for though Asarh  1  was over, not a drop of rain fell 
from the heavens ; and, in like manner, the months of Sawan |; 
and Bhadon 1  passed away. For want of water the world was 
in despair, and people went mad with himger. Things unknown 
as food were eaten. The husband abandoned the wife, the wife 
time increased the 
evil ; it spread far and wide : even the insects died : they had 
nothing to feed on. Thousands of all ages became victims to 
hunger. Those who procured food to-day, ate twice what nature 
required. The wind was from the west, a pestilential vapour. 
The constellations were always visible at night, nor was there a 
cloud in the sky by day, and thunder and lightning were unknown. 
Such portents filled mankind with dread. Rivers, lakes, and 
fountains were dried up. Men of wealth meted out the portions 
of food. The ministers of religion forgot their duties. There 
was no longer distinction of caste, and the Sudra and Brahman 
were undistingiiishable. Strength, wisdom, caste, tribe, all were 
abandoned, and food alone was the object. The Charbaran  3  
threw away every symbol of separation ; all was lost in hunger. 
Fruits, flowers, every vegetable thing, even trees were stripped 
of their bark, to appease the cravings [391] of hunger : nay, 7nan 
ate man ! Cities were depopulated. The seed of families was 
lost, the fishes were extinct, and the hope of all extmguished." 3  

About thirty-five years ago the same disease carried off multitudes in these 
countries. Orme [Fragments, 200] gives notice of something similar in 
A.D. 1684, in the imperial camp near Goa, when five hundred victims daily 
fell its prey. Mewar was not free from the last visitation of 1818, and the 
only son of the Rana was the first person attacked. 

1  The three months of rain, termed the Barsat. [Asarh is the month 
June to July, followed by Sawan and Bhadon.] 
2  The four castes, sacerdotal, mihtary, mercantile, and servile. 
3  From the Eaj Vilas, the chronicle of the reign of Raj Singh. 
Such is the simple yet terrific record of this pestilence, from 
which Mewar was hardly freed, when Aurangzeb commenced the 
religious warfare narrated, with all its atrocities, still further to 
devastate this fair region. But a just retribution resulted from 
this disregard to the character and prejudices of the Rajputs, 
which visited the emperor with shame, and his successors with 
the overthrow of their power.