Mewar 29: Overthrow of the predatory system
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Mewar 29: Overthrow of the predatory system
Degraded Condition of the Rajputs
The history of the Rana's family has now been traced through all the vicissitudes of its fortunes, fi-om the second to the nineteenth century, whilst contending for existence, alternately with Parthians, Bhils, Tartars, and Mahrattas, till at length it has become tributary to Britain. The last chapter portrays the degraded condition of their princes, and the utter desolation of their country, in a picture which embodied the entire Rajput race. An era of repose at length dawned upon them. The destruction of that vast predatory system, under the weight of which the prosperity of these regions had so long been repressed, was effected by one short campaign in 1817 ; which if less brilliant than that of 1803, is inferior to none in political results. The tardy policy of the last-named period, at length accomplished, placed the power of Britain in the East on an expugnable position, and rescued the Rajputs from a progressing destruction.
Alliances with the British
To prevent the recurrence of this predatory system it was deemed politic to unite all these settled States, alike interested with ourselves in its overthrow, in one grand confederation. Accordingly the Rajput States were 1 Bapu Sindhia shortly outhved his expulsion from Ajmer, and as he had to pass through Mewar in his passage to his future residence, he was hooted by the population he had plundered. While I was attending the Rana's court, some one reporting Bapu Sindhia's arrival at his destination, men tioned that some pieces of ordnance formerly taken from Udaipur had, after saluting him, exuded a quantity of water, which was received with the utmost gravity by the court, until I remarked they were crying because they should never again be employed in plunder : an idea which caused a little mirth. invited to shelter [472] imder our protecting alliance ; and with one exception (Jaipur), they eagerly embraced the invitation. The ambassadors of the various governments followed each other in quick succession to Delhi, where the treaties were to be negoti ated, and in a few weeks all Rajputana was united to Britain by compacts of one uniform character ; 1 insuring to them external protection with internal independence, as the price of acknow ledged supremacy, and a portion of revenue to the protecting government. By this comprehensive arrangement, we placed a most powerful barrier between our territories and the strong natural frontier of India ; and so long as we shall respect their established usages, and by contributing to the prosperity of the people preserve our motives from distrust, it will be a barrier impenetrable to invasion.
Treaty with Mewar
Of all the princes who obtained succour at this momentous crisis in the political history of India, none stood more in need of it than the Rana of Udaipur. On January 16, 1818, the treaty was signed, and in February an envoy was nominated ; who immediately proceeded to the Rana's court, to superintend and maintain the newly formed relations.2 The right wing of the grand army 3 had already preceded him to compel the surrender of such territory as was unjustly held by the lawless partisans of Sindhia, and to reduce to obedience the refractory nobles, to whom anarchy was endeared from long familiarity. The strongholds in the plains as Raepur, Rajnagar, etc., soon surrendered ; and the payment of the arrears of the garrison of Kumbhalmer put this important fortress in our possession.
In his passage from Jahazpur, which guards the range on the east to Kumbhalmer on the Aravalli west, a space of 140 miles, the limits of Mewar, only two thinly peopled towns were seen 1 See Appendix, No. VIII., for treaty with the Rana. 2 Commanded by Major-General Sir R. Donkin, K.C.B. 3 The author had the honour to be selected by the Marquess of Hastings to represent him at the Rana's court, with the title of ' Pohtical Agent to the Western Rajput States.' During the campaign of 1817-18 he was placed as the point of communication to the various divisions of jthe ^northern army ; at the same time being intrusted with the negotiations with Holkar (previous to the rupture), and with those of Kotah and Bundi. He con cUided the treaty with the latter State en route to Udaipur, where, as at the latter, there were only the benefits of moral and political existence to confer. which acknowledged the Rana's authority. All was desolate ; even the traces of the footsteps of man were effaced. The babul {mimosa [acacia] Arabica), and gigantic reed, which harboured the boar and the tiger, grew upon the highways ; and every rising ground displayed a mass of ruin. Bhilwara, the commercial entrepot of Rajputana, which ten years before contained six thousand [473 J families, showed not a vestige of existence. All
no living thing was seen except a sohtary dog, that fled in dismay from his lurking-place in the temple, scared at the imaccustomed sight of man.1
Cession of Kumbhalmer
An envoy was dispatched by the Rana to congratulate the Agent, who joined him in the British camp at Nathdwara ; and while he returned to arrange the formalities of reception, the Agent obtained the cession of Kum bhalmer ; whicii, with the acquisitions before mentioned, paved the way for a joyful reception. The prince, Javan Singh, with all the State insignia, and a munerous cortege, advanced to receive the mission, and conduct it to the capital. A spot was fixed on in a grove of palmyras, about two miles from the city, where carpets were spread, and where the prince received the Agent and suite in a manner at once courteous and dignified.^ Of him it might iiave been said, in the language applied by " His countenance carried the impression of his illustrious extraction." We entered the city 3 by the gate of the sun ; and through a vista of ruin the mission was inducted into its future residence, once the abode of the fair Ramijiyari.4 Like all the mansions of Rajputana, it was a quadrangular pile, with an opefi paved area, the suites of apart ments carried round the sides, with latticed or open corridors
1 The author had passed through Bhilwara in May 1806, when it was comparatively flourishing. On this occasion (Feb. 1818) it was entirely deserted. It excited a smile, in the midst of regrets, to observe the practical wit of some of the soldiers, who had supphed the naked representative of Adinath with an apron— not of leaves, but scarlet cloth. 2 The Agent had seen him when a boy, at a meeting already described ; but he could scarcely have hoped to find in one, to the formation of whose character the times had been so unfavourable, such a specimen as this descendant of Partap. 3 A description of the city and valley will be more appropriate elsewhere. 4 See p. 508. extending parallel to each suite. Another deputation with the mehmani, consisting of a hundred trays of sweetmeats, dried fruits, and a purse of one thousand rupees for distribution amongst the domestics, brought the Rana's welcome upon our arrival in his capital, and fixed the next day for our introduction at court.
At four in the afternoon, a deputation, consisting of the officiating prime minister, the representative of the Chondawats, with mace-bearers and a numerous escort, came to announce the Rana's readiness to receive the mission ; which, with all the ' pomp and circumstance ' peculiar to these countries, was marshalled in front of the residency, thronged by crowds of well-dressed [474] inhabitants, silently gazing at the unusual sight.1 The grand Nakkaras having announced the Rana in court, the mission proceeded through streets which everywhere presented marks of rapine, hailed by the most enthusiastic greetings. " Jai ! jai ! Farangi ka Raj ! " " Victory, victory to the English Government ! " resounded from every tongue. The bards were not idle ; and the unpoetic name of the Agent was hitched into rhyme. Groups of musicians were posted here and there, who gave a passing specimen of the tappas 2 of Mewar ; and not a few of the fair, with brazen ewers of water on their heads, welcomed us with the suhelia, or songs of joy. Into each of these vessels the purse-bearer dropped a piece of sUver ; for neither the songs of the suhelia, the tappas of the minstrel, nor encomiastic stave of the bard, are to be received without some acknowledgement that you appreciate their merit and talents, however you may doubt the value they put upon your own. As we ascended the main street leading to the Tripolia, or triple portal, which guards the sacred eficlosure, dense masses of people obstructed our progress, and even the walls of the temple of Jagannath were crowded. According to etiquette, we dismoimted at the Porte, and proceeded on foot across the ample terrace ; on which were drawn up a few elephants and horse, exercising for the Rana's amusement.
The Palace at Udaipur
The palace is a most imposing pile, 1 The escort consisted of two companies of foot, each of one hundred men, with half a troop of cavalry. The gentlemen attached to the mission were Captain Waugh (who was secretary and commandant of the escort), with Lieutenant Carey as his subaltern. Dr. Duncan was the medical officer. 2 [Modes in music] of a regular form, built of oranite and marble, rising at least a hundred feet from the ground, and flanked with octagonal towers, crowned with cupolas. Although built at various periods, uniformity of design has been very well preserved ; nor is there in the East a more striking or majestic structure. It stands upon the very crest of a ridge running parallel to, but considerably elevated above, the margin of the lake. The terrace, which is at the east and chief front of the palace, extends throughout its length, and is supported by a triple row of arches from the de clivity of the ridge. The height of this arcaded wall is fully fifty feet ; and although all is hollow beneath, yet so admirably is it constructed, that an entire range of stables is built on the extreme verge of the terrace, on which the whole personal force of the Rana, elephants, horse, and foot, are often assembled. From this terrace the city and the valley lay before the spectator, whose vision is bounded only by the [475] hills shutting out the plains ; while from the summit of the palace nothing obstructs its range over lake and mountain.
A band of Sindis guarded the first entrance to the palace ; and being Saturday, the Saktawats were on duty in the great hall of assembly. Through lines of Rajputs we proceeded till we came to the marble staircase, the steps of which had taken the form of the segment of an ellipse, from the constant friction of the foot ; an image of Ganesha guarded the ascent to the interior of the palace, and the apartment, or landing, is called Ganesha deori, from the Rajput Janus. After proceeding through a suite of saloons, each filled with spectators, the herald's voice amiounced to ' the lord of the world ' that the English envoy was in his presence ; on which he arose, and advanced a few paces in front of the throne, the chieftains standing to receive the mission. Everything being ruled by precedent, the seat allotted for the envoy was immediately in front and touching the royal cushion (gaddi) : being that assigned to the Peshwa in the height of Mahratta prosperity, the arrangement, which was a subject of regular negotiation, could not be objected to. The apartment chosen for the initiatory visit was the Surya mahall, or ' hall of the sun,' so called from a medaUion of the orb in basso-rilievo which decorates the wall. Close thereto is placed the Rana's throne, above which, supported by slender silver columns, rises a velvet canopy. The Gaddl or throne, in the East is but a huge cushion, over which is thrown an embroidered velvet mantle. The chiefs of the higher grade, or ' the Sixteen,' were seated, according to their rank, on the right and left of the Rana ; next and below these were the princes Amra and Javan Singh ; and at right angles (by which the court formed three sides of a square), the chiefs of the second rank. The civil officers of the State were near the Rana in front, and the seneschal, butler, keeper of the wardrobe, and other confidential officers and inferior chieftains, formed a group standing on the extreme edge of the carpet.
The Rana's congratulations were hearty and sincere : in a few powerful expressions he depicted the miseries he had experienced, the fallen condition of his State, and the gratitude he felt to the British Government which had interposed between him and destruction ; and which for the first moment of his existence allowed him to sleep in peace. There was an intense earnestness in every word he uttered, which, delivered with great fluency of speech and dignity of manner, inspired deep respect and sympathy. The Agent said that the Governor- General was no stranger to the [476] history of his illustrious family, or to his own immediate sufferings ; and that it was his earnest desire to promote, by every means in his power, the Rana's personal dignity and the prosperity of his dominions. After conversing a few minutes, the interview was closed with presents to the Agent and suite : to the former a caparisoned elephant and horse, jewelled aigrette, and pearl necklace, with shawls and brocades ; and with the customary presentation of essence of rose and the pan leaf the Rana and court rising, the envoy made his salaam and retired. In a short time the Rana, attended by his second son, ministers, and a select number of the chiefs, honoured the envoy with a visit. The latter advanced beyond his residence to meet the prince, who was received with presented arms by the guard, the officers saluting, and conducted to his throne, which had been previously arranged. Conversation was now imrestrained, and questions were demanded regarding everything which appeared unusual. After sitting half an hour, the Agent presented the Rana with an elephant and two horses, caparisoned with silver and gilt ornaments and velvet embroidered housings, with twenty one shields ^ of shawls, brocades, muslins, and jewels ; to prince Amra, finable from sickness to attend his father, a horse and 1 The buckler is the tray in which gifts are presented by the Rajputs. eleven shields ; and to his brother, the second prince, Javan Singh, a horse and nine shields ; to the ministers and chiefs according to rank : the whole entertainment costing about 20,000 rupees, or £2000. Amidst these ceremonials, receiving and retiuning visits of the Rana, his chiefs, his ministers, and men of influence and information commercial and agricultural, some weeks passed in silent observation, and in the acquisition of materials for action.1
Political Divisions of Mewar
For the better comprehension of the internal relations, past and present, of Mewar [477], a sketch is presented, showing the political divisions of the tribes and the fiscal domain, from which a better idea may be formed of Rajput feudal economy than from a chapter of dissertation. The princes of Mewar skUfully availed themselves of their natural advantages in the partition of the country. The mountain barriers east and west were allotted to the chiefs to keep the mountaineers and foresters in subjection, whose leading passes
1 If we dare compare the moral economy of an entire people to the physical economy of the individual, we should liken this period in the history a pause in moral as in physical existence ; a consciousness thereof, inertly awaiting the propelling power to restore healthful action to a state of langxiid repose ; or what the Rajput would better comprehend, his own condition when the opiate stimulant begins to dissipate, and mind and body are alike abandoned to helpless imbecihty. Who has hved out of the circle of mere vegetation, and not experienced this temporary deprivation of moral vitality ? for no other simile would suit the painful pause in the sympathies of the inhabitants of this once fertile region, where experience could point out but one page in their annals, one period in their history, when the clangour of the war trumpet was suspended, or the sword shut up in its scabbard. The portals of Janus at Rome were closed but twice in a period of seven hundred years ; and in exactly the same time from the conquest by Shihabu-d-din to the the reign of Numa has its type in Shah Jahan, while the more appropriate reign of Augustus belongs to Britain. Are we to wonder then that a chilling void now occupied (if the solecism is admissible) the place of interminable action ? when the mind was released from the anxiety of daily, hourly, devising that enervating calm, in which, to use their own homely phrase, Bher aur bakri ekhi thali se-piye ' The wolf and the goat drank from the same vessel.' [Another, and more usual
Aj kal, sher bakri ek ghat pani pile liain, ' Nowadays the tiger and the goat drink from the same stream.'] But this unruflBed torpidity had its limit : the Agrarian laws of Mewar were but mentioned, and the national pulse instantly rose. were held by a lord -marcher, and the quotas of his quarter ; and while strong forts guarded the exposed northern and southern entrances, the crown-land lay in the centre, the safest and the richest. The exterior, thus guarded by a cordon of feudal levies composed of the quotas of the greater fiefs ; the minor and most numerous class of vassals, termed gol, literally ' the mass,' and consisting of ten thousand horse, each holding directly of the crown independent of the greater chiefs, formed its best security against both external aggression and internal commotions.
Desolation of Mewar
Such is a picture of the feudal economy of Mewar in the days of her renown ; but so much had it been defaced through time and accident, that with difficulty could the lineaments be traced with a view to their restoration : her in stitutions a dead letter, the prince's authority despised, the nobles demoralized and rebellious, internal commerce abandoned, and the peasantry destroyed by the combined operation of war, pestilence, and exile. Expression might be racked for phrases which could adequately delineate the miseries all classes had endured. It is impossible to give more than a sketch of the state of the das sahas Mewar, ' the ten thousand townships ' which once acknowledged her princes, and of which above three thousand still exist. All that remained to them was the valley of the capital ; and though Chitor and Mandalgarh were maintained by the fidelity of the Rana's servants; their precarious revenues scarcely sufficed to maintain their garrisons. The Rana was mainly indebted to Zalim Singh of Kotah for the means of sub sistence ; for in the struggle for existence his chiefs thought only of themselves, of defending their own estates, or buying off their foes ; while those who had succumbed took to horse, scoured the country, and plundered without distinction. Inferior clanships declared themselves independent of their superiors, who in their turn usurped the crown domain, or by bribing the necessities of their prince, obtained his patent for lands, to which, as they yielded him nothing, he became indifferent. The crown-tenants purchased of these chiefs the protection (rakhwali) which the [478] Rana could not grant, and made alienations of the crown taxes, besides private rights of the community, which were often extorted at the point of the lance. Feuds multiplied, and the name of each clan became the watchword of alarm or defiance to its neighbour : castles were assaulted, and their inmates, as at Sheogarh and I^awa, put to the sword ; the Meras and Bhils descended from their hills, or emerged from their forests, and planted ambuscades for the traveller or merchant, whom they robbed or carried to their retreats, where they languished in durance till ransomed. Marriage processions were thus inter cepted, and the honeymoon was passed on a cliff of the Aravalli, or in the forests on the Mahi. The Rajput, whose moral energies were blunted, scrupled not to associate and to divide the spoil with these lawless tribes, of whom it might be said, as of the children of Ishmael, Their hands were against every man, and every man's hand against them." Yet notwithstanding such entire disorganization of society, external commerce was not stagnant ; and in the midst of this rapine, the produce of Europe and Kashmir would pass each other in transit through Mewar, loaded it is true by a multiplicity of exactions, but guarded by those who scorned all law but the point of honour, which they were paid for preserving.
The Condition of Udaipur
The capital will serve as a specimen of the country. Udaipur, which formerly reckoned fifty thousand houses within the walls, had not now three thousand occupied, the rest were in ruin, the rafters being taken for firewood. The realization of the spring harvest of 1S18, from the entire fiscal land, was about £4000 ! Grain sold for seven sers the rupee, though thrice the quantity was procurable within the distance of eighty miles. Insurance from tiie capital to Nathdwara (twenty-five miles) was eight per cent. The Kotharia chief, whose ancestors are immortalized for fidelity, had not a horse to conduct him to his prince's presence, though his estates were of fifty thousand rupees annual value. All were in ruins ; and the Rana, the descendant of those patriot Rajputs who opposed Babur, Akbar, and Aurangzeb, in the days of Mogul splendour, had not fifty horse to attend him, and was indebted for all the comforts he possessed to the liberality of Kotah.
Reorganization ofthe State
Such was the chaos from which order was to be evoked. But the elements of prosperity, though scattered, were not extinct ; and recollections of the past, deeply engraved in the national mind, became available to reanimate their moral and physical existence. To call these forth demanded only the exertion of moral [479] interference, and every other was rejected. The lawless freebooter, and even the savage Bhil, felt awed at the agency of a power never seen. To him moral opinion (compared with which the strength of armies is nought) was inexphcable, and he substituted in its stead another invisible that of magic : and the belief was ciurent throughout the intricate region of the West, that a single individual could carry an army in his pocket, and that our power could animate slips of paper cut into the figures of armed men, from which no precaution could guard their retreats. Accordingly, at the mere name of the British power, rapine ceased, and the inhabitants of the wilds of the West, the ' forest lords,' who had hitherto laughed at subjection, to the number of seven hundred vUlages, put each the sign of the dagger to a treaty, promising abstinence a single individual of no rank the negotiator. Moreover, the treaty was religiously kept for twelve months ; when the peace was broken, not by them, but against them.
To the Rajput, the moral spectacle of a Peshwa marched into exile with all the quietude of a pilgrimage, effected more than twenty thousand bayonets, and no other auxiliary was required than the judicious use of the impressions from this and other by never doubting the issue, success was insured. The British force, therefore, after the reduction of the plans enumerated, was marched to cantonments ; the rest was left for time and reason to accomplish.
Form of Civil Government
Before proceeding further, it may be convenient to sketch the form of civil government in Mewar, and the characters of its most conspicuous members : the former we shall describe as it was when the machine was in regular action ; it will be found simple, and perfectly suited to its object. There are four grand officers of the government : 1. The Pardhan, or prime minister. 2. Bakhshi, commander of the forces. 3. Suratnama, keeper of the records. 4. Sahai, keeper of the signet.1
The first, the Pardhan, or civil premier, must be of the non 1 Or rather, who makes the monogrammatic signet Sahi ('correct') to all deeds, grants, etc. militant tribe. The whole of the territorial and financial arrange ments are vested in him. He [480] nominates the civil governors of districts, and the collectors of the revenue and custom ; and has fourteen thuas, or departments, under him, which embrace all that relates to expenditure.
2. The Bakhshi must also be of a non-militant tribe, and one different from the Pardhan. His duties are mixed civil and military. He takes the musters, and pays mercenaries, or rations, to the feudal tenants when on extra service, and he appoints a deputy to accompany all expeditions, or to head frontier-posts, with the title of Faujdar, or commander. The royal insignia, the standard, and kettle-drums accompany him, and the highest nobles assemble under the general control of this civil officer, never under one of their own body. From the Bakhshi's bureau all patents are issued, as also all letters of sequestration of feudal land.
The Bakhshi has four secretaries : 1. Draws out deeds. 2. Accountant. 3. Recorder of all patents or grants. 4. Keeps duplicates. 3. The Suratnama 1 is the auditor and recorder of all the household expenditure and establishments, which are paid by his cheques. He has four assistants also, who make a daily report, and give a daily balance of accounts. 4. The Sahai. He is secretary both for home and foreign correspondence. He draws out the royal grants or patents of estates, and superintends the deeds of grant on copper-plate to religious establishments. Since the privilege appertaining to Salumbar, of confirming all royal grants with his signet the lance, has fallen into desuetude, the Sahai executes this military auto graph.2
To all decrees, from the daily stipend to the patta, or patent of an estate, each minister must append his seal, so that there is a complete system of check. Besides these, the higher officers of government, there are thirty-six karkhanas, or inferior officers, 1 [Properly Suratnavls, ' statement-writer.'] 2 The Salumbar chief had his deputy, who resided at court for this sole duty, for which he held a village. See p. 235. appointed directly by the Rana, the most conspicuous of which are the justiciary,1 the keepers of the register-office, of the mint, of the armoury, of the regalia, of the jewels, of the wardrobe, of the stables, of the kitchen, of the band, of the seneschalsy, and of the seraglio.
There was no want of aspirants to office, here hereditary ; but it was vain to look [481] amongst the descendants of the virtuous Pancholi, or the severe Amrachand, and the prediction of the former, " Dust will cover the head of Me war when virtue wanders in rags," was strictly fulfilled. There appeared no talent, no influence, no honesty ; yet the deficiency was calculated to excite sorrow rather than surprise ; to stimulate exertion on their behalf, rather than damp the hope of improvement ; though all scope for action, save in the field of intrigue, was lost, and talent was dormant for want of exercise.
Incapacity of the Rana
The Rana's character was little cal culated to supply his minister's deficiencies. Though perfectly versed in the past history of his country, its resources, and their management ; though able, wise, and amiable, his talents were nullified by numerous weak points. Vain shows, frivolous amusements, and an ill-regulated liberality alone occupied him ; and so long as he could gratify these propensities, he trusted complacently to the exertions of others for the restoration of order and his proper authority. He had little steadiness of purpose, and was particularly obnoxious to female influence. It is scarcely to be wondered that he coveted repose, and was little desirous to disturb the only moment his existence had presented of enjoying it, by inviting the turmoils of business. No man, however, was more capable of advising : his judgment was good, but he seldom followed its dictates ; in short, he was an adept in theory, and a novice in practice. The only man about the court at once of integrity and efficiency was Kishandas, who had long acted as ambassador, and to whose assiduity the sovereign and the country owed much ; but his services were soon cut off by death.
Such were the materials with which the work of reform com menced. The aim was to bring back matters to a correspondence with an era of their history, when the rights of the prince, the 1 Niyao, Daftar, Taksala, Silah, Gaddi, Gahna, Kapra-bandar, Ghora, Rasora, Nakkar-khana, JalelD, Rawala. that of Anira Singh.
Relations ofthe Rana with his Nobles.
The fust point to effect was the recognition of the prince's authority by his nobles ; the surest sign of which was their presence at the capital, where some had never been, and others only when it suited their convenience or their views. In a few weeks the Rana saw himself surrounded by a court such as had not been known for half a century. It created no small curiosity to learn by what secret power they were brought into each other's presence. Even the lawless Hamira, who but a short while before had plundered the marriage dower of the Hari queen [482] coming from Kotah, and the chief of the Sangawat clan, who had sworn " he might bend his head to woman, but never to his sovereign," left their castles of Badesar and Deogarh, and " placing the royal rescript on their heads," hastened to his presence ; and in a few weeks the whole feudal association of Mewar was embodied m the capital.
Return of the Exiles
To recall the exiled population was a measure simultaneous with the assembling of the nobles ; but this was a work requiring time : they had formed ties, and in curred obligations to the societies which had sheltered them, which could not at once be disengaged or annulled. But wherever a subject of Mewar existed, proclamations penetrated, and satis factory assurances were obtained, and realized to an extent which belied in the strongest manner the assertion that patriotism is unknown to the natives of Hindustan. The most enthusiastic and cheering proofs were afforded that neither oppression from without, nor tyranny within, could expel the feeling for the bapota, the land of their fathers. Even now, though time has chastened the impressions, we should fear to pen but a tithe of the proofs of devotion of the husbandman of Mewar to the solum natale : it would be deemed romance by those who never con templated humanity in its reflux from misery and despair to the 'sweet influences ' of hope ; he alone who had witnessed the day the standing the rifled towns devoted to the the cattle driven to the camp, and the chief men seized as hostages for money never to be realized— could appreciate their deliverance. To be permitted to see these evils banished, to behold the survivors of oppression congregated from the most distant provinces, many of them strangers to each other, and the aged and the helpless awaiting the lucky day to take possession of their ruined abodes, was a sight which memory will not part with. Thus on the 3rd of Sawan (July) 1 a favourite day with the husbandman, three hundred of all conditions, with their waggons and implements of labour, and preceded by banners and music, marched into Kapasan ; 2 and Ganesha was once again invoked as they reconsecrated their dwellings, and placed his portrait as the Janus of the portals. On the same day, and within eight months subsequent to the signature of the treaty, above three hundred towns and villages were simultaneously reinhabited ; and the land, which for many years had been a stranger to the plough-share, was broken up. Well might [483] the superstitious fancy that miracles were abroad ; for even to those who beheld the work in progression it had a magical result, to see the waste covered with habitations, and the verdant corn growing in the fields where lately they had roused the boar from his retreat ! It was a day of pride for Britain ! By such exertions of her power in these distant lands her sway is hallowed. By Britain alone can this fair picture be defaced ; the tranquillity and independ ence she has conferred, by her alone may be disturbed !
Attraction of Capital
To these important preliminary measures, the assembly of the nobles and recall of the population, was added a third, without which the former would have been nugatory. There was no wealth, no capital, to aid their patriotism and industry. Foreign merchants and bankers had abandoned the devoted land ; and those who belonged to it partook of her poverty and her shame. Money was scarce, and want of faith and credit had increased the usury on loans to a ruinous extent. The Rana borrowed at thirty-six per cent ; besides twenty-five to forty per cent discount for his barats, or patents empowering collection on the land ; a system pursued for some time even after his restoration to authority. His profusion exceeded even the rapidity of renovation ; and the husbandman had scarcely broken up his long-waste fields, when a call was made by the harpies of the State for an advance on their produce, while he himself had been compelled to borrow at a like ruinous rate for
1 [Sawan sudi tij, third of the bright half of the month Sawan (July to August), a festival celebrated throughout North India.] 2 [About 45 miles north of Udaipur city.] seed and the means of support, to be paid by expectations. To have hoped for the revival of prosperity amidst such destitution, moral and pecuniary, would have been visionary. It was as necessary to improve the one as to find the other ; for poverty and virtue do not long associate, and certainly not in Mewar. Proclamations were therefore prepared by the Rana, inviting foreign merchants and bankers to establish connexions in the chief towns throughout the country ; but as in the days of demoralization little faith was placed in the words of princes, similar ones were prepared by the Agent, guaranteeing the stipula tions, and both were distributed to every' commercial city in India. The result was as had been foreseen : branch banks were every where formed, and mercantile agents fixed in every town in the country, whose operations were only limited by the slow growth of moral improvement. The shackles which bound external commerce were at once removed, and the multifarious posts for the collections of transit duties abolished ; in lieu of which chain of stations, all levies on goods in transit were confined to the frontiers. The scale of duties [484] was revised ; and by the abolition of intermediate posts, they underwent a reduction of from thirty to fifty per cent. By this system, which could not for some time be comprehended, the transit and custom duties of Mewar made the most certain part of the revenue, and in a few years exceeded in amount what had ever been known.
Trade at Bhilwara
The chief commercial mart, Bhilwara, which showed not a vestige of humanity, rapidly rose from ruin, and in a few months contained twelve hundred houses, half of which were occupied by foreign merchants. Bales of goods, the produce of the most distant lands, were piled up in the streets lately overgrown with grass, and a weekly fair was established for the home manufactures. A charter of privileges and im munities was issued, exempting them from all taxation for the first year, and graduating the scale for the future ; calculated with the same regard to improvement, by giving the mind the full range of enjoying the reward of its exertions. The right of electing their own chief magistrates and the assessors of justice, was above all things indispensable, so as to render them as in dependent as possible of the needy servants of the court. A guard was provided by the government for their protection, and a competent authority nominated to see that the full extent of their privileges, and the utmost freedom of action, were religiously maintained. The entire success of this plan may at once be recorded to prevent repetition. In 1822, Bhilwara contained nearly three thousand dwellings, which were chiefly inliabited by merchants, bankers, or artisans. An entire new street had been constructed in the centre of the town, from the duties levied, and the shops and houses were rented at a moderate rate ; while many were given up to the proprietors of their sites, returning from exile, on their paying the price of construction. But as there is no happiness without alloy, so even this pleasing picture had its dark shades to chasten the too sanguine expectation of imparting happiness to all. Instead of a generous emulation, a jealous competition checked the prosperity of Bhilwara : the base spirit of exclusive monopoly desired a distinction between the native and the stranger-merchant, for which they had a precedent in the latter paying an addition to the town-duty of metage {mapa). The unreasonableness of this was discussed, and it was shown to be more consonant to justice that he who came from Jaisalmer, Surat, Benares, or Delhi, should pay less than the merchant whose domicile was on the spot. When at length the parties acquiesced in this opinion, and were intreated and promised to know [485] none other distinction than that of ' inhabitant of Bhilwara,' sectarian differences, which there was less hope of reconciling, became the cause of disunion. All the Hindu mer chants belong either to the Vaishnava or Jain sects ; consequently each had a representative head, and ' the Five ' for the adjudica tion of their internal arrangements ; and these, the wise men of both parties, formed the general council for the affairs of Bhilwara. But they carried their religious differences to the judgement-seat, where each desired pre-eminence. Whether the point in dispute hinged on the interpretation of law, which with all these sects is of divine origin, or whether the mammon of unrighteousness was the lurking cause of their bickerings, they assuredly did much harm, for their appeals brought into play what of all things was least desired, the intrigues of the profligate dependents of the court.
It will be seen hereafter,1 in visits to Bhilwara, how these disputes were in some degree calmed. The leaders on both sides were distinctly given to understand they would be made to leave the place. Self-interest prevented this extremity ; but from the 1 In the Personal Narrative. withdrawing of that active interference (which the state of the alliance did not indeed warrant, but which humanity interposed for their benefit) together with the effect of appeals to the court, it is to be apprehended that Bhilwara may fail to become what it was intended to be, the chief commercial mart of Central India.1
