No More Learning

“It was to India what
Venice was to Europe, the entrepot of the products of both the
eastern and western hemispheres. ' Its princes favoured sometimes
the Jain and sometimes the Buddhist heresy. The court of Siddha-
rāja Jayasingha, the seventh of the Solankis, who reigned from
1094 to 1143 and was one of the most powerful of Indian rulers,
was visited by the geographer al-Idrīsī. On Bhim's death in 1242
his throne passed to Visaladeva Vāghela of Dholka, who was
descended from Siddharāja Jayasingha, and who reigned from
1243 to 1261.
Karandeva, the Rāi Karan of the Muslims and the fourth of the
Vāghela dynasty, was reigning in 1297, when 'Alā-ud-din Khalji
sent his brother Ulugh Khān and Nusrat Khān to make an end
of Hindu rule in Gujarāt. They were successful, and the Rājput
Kingdom was overthrown! . 'The walls of Anhilvāra were demol-
ished ; its foundations excavated, and again filled up with fragments
of their ancient temples. '
1 See, ante, p. 100.


## p. 518 (#568) ############################################

518
[CH.
NATIVE STATES OF NORTHERN INDIA
The fate of Karan and his family has been related elsewhere.
His wife was captured and became the wife or concubine of the
Muslim king of Delhi. Karan himself fled, with his beautiful
daughter Deval Devi, and took refuge with Rāmchandra of Deogir,
well content now that his daughter should wed his host's son, to
whom, in his pride, he had formerly refused her; but the prince of
Deogir never possessed his bride, who was captured by the Muslim
officer Alp Khān near Ellora', and carried to Delhi, where she
became the wife first of Khizr Khān, 'Alā-ud-din's eldest son, who
was afterwards murdered by order of his brother, Qutb-ud-din
Mubārak, into whose possession she passed, and at last she suffered
the degradation of the embraces of the foul outcaste, Khusrav
Khān, who murdered his master and usurped his throne. Karan
established himself for a time in the Nandurbār district, on the
borders of the small state of Baglāna, or Bāglān, but his line died
with him.
In Western India, as in Hindūstān, Hindu rule, in the hands of
minor chieftains, survived the extinction of the royal house. Chau-
hāns held Chāmpāner and Pavagarh until 1484, when Mahmud
Bcgarha of Gujarāt took their stronghold and the survivors fled
to Chota Udaipur and Deogarh Bāriya, still held by their descen-
dants. On the north-eastern frontier the state of Sirohi was held,
as at present, by another branch of the Chauhāns, known as Deora
Rājputs from the name of an ancestor, Deorāj, who migrated west-
ward when his clan was driven from its patrimony, Nádol, by Qutb-
ud-din Aibak. The raja of Sirohi was ever ready to take advantage
of the weakness of the kings of Gujarāt by raiding the northern
districts of their kingdom.
The peninsula of Cutch, too, remained unmolested by the
Muslim governors and kings of Gujarāt. Sammā Rājputs of Sind,
fleeing from that couniry before the Sūmras, who had superseded
them as its rulers, found an asylum with the Chāvada Rājputs
who ruled Cutch, and in about 1320 overcame their. host and took
the kingdom from them. Those of the Sammā tribe who remained
in Sind accepted Islam, and their kinsmen in Cutch, not prepared
entirely to abandon the religion of their fathers, adopted a strange
medley of the two faiths. The peninsula was divided between three
branches of the two tribe, all known as Jādeja, or 'the sons of Jāda,'
until 1540, when Khengār, the head of one branch with the help
of Mahmūd III of Gujarāt reduced his kinsmen to obedience and
became sole ruler. His uncle, Jām Rāwal, fled to Kāthiāwār, and
1 See ante, p. 113.
2 See ante, pp. 309, 310.


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XX1
KĀTHİÀWĀR
519
received from the Muslim king of Gujarāt the fief of Nawanagar,
still held by his descendants. The raja of Cutch was nominally
bound to furnish a contingent of 5000 horse to the army of the
Sultan of Gujarāt.
The south-western region of the peninsula of Kāthiāwār was
held by the Chudāsima Rājput chief of Girnār, the group of hills
rising above the fortress of Junāgarh. His dominions included a
great part of the ancient Surāshtra, or Sorath, in its modern form.
This remote corner of India was not molested by the early Muham-
madan invaders, but the raja reigning in the middle of the fourteenth
century harboured the rebel Taghi, who had risen in Gujarāt against
the authority of Muhammmad Tughluq, whose evil days were draw-
ing to a close. Muhammad pursued the rebel, and attacked both
the raja of Girnār and the raja of Cutch, who was his ally. Taghi
evaded him and fled into Sind, but the fortress-capital of Girnăr
was taken, and both the raja and his ally were compelled to make
obeisance to Muhammad', who was too intent on capturing Taghi
to remain in Kāthiāwār, and left that country without any more
material assertion of his authority.
The raja of Girnār appears to have been independent of the
earlier Muslim kings of Gujarāt, or at least to have paid tribute
irregularly, and only when it was levied by force, for in 1466
Mahmud Begarha invaded his state, and by means of wholesale
pillage and massacre, including the sacking of a temple and the
slaughter of its defenders, compelled him to agree to pay tribute.
In the following year a threat sufficed to deter him from using the
insignia of royalty, which he had hitherto displayed? , and in 1469
Mahmud, judging that the time had come to crush the 'mis-
believers,' invaded the Girnār state and offered the raja the choice
between Islam and death. Protestations of loyalty were of no avail,
and he was besieged in his fortress, Uparkot, and, when hard
pressed there, tled to another stronghold in the mountains, where
Mahmūd besieged him and compelled him, on December 4, 1470,
to surrender. He accepted Islam and was entitled Khān Jahān.
This raja is styled by Muslim historians 'Mandalak’, as though this
were his personal name, but the word is evidently no other than
Mandalika, the Sanskrit term for a provincial governor».
At about the time when the Arabs were overrunning Sind
Bāpā, the Gahlot chieftain, captured from the Paramāras or Pawārs
the fortress of Chitor, which remained the capital of this ancient
tribe until it was captured by Akbar in 1567, when Udaipur became
1 See ante. pp. 171, 172. 2 See ante, p. 305. 3 See ante, pp. 305, 306.


## p. 520 (#570) ############################################

520
(CH.
NATIVE STATES OF NORTHERN INDIA
their principal seat. Their legends claim for them the credit of
having opposed in arms both the Arab invader of Sind and the
Turkish conqueror of the Punjab, and though it is possible that
they marched, or sent contingents, against both, they were not
sufficiently important to be mentioned in Muslim histories, and
their own legends are not sufficient to establish any historical fact.
During the interval of comparative peace between the raids of
Mahmūd and the more systematic subjection of Northern India by
Muhammad b. Sām 'the Chauhāns of Ajmer and the Gahlots of
Chitor were alternately friends and foes. ' The prince of Chitor,
who had married a sister of Prithvi Rāj of Ajmer and Delhi,
espoused his cause in his contest with Jayachandra of Kanauj
for supremacy in Northern India. The Solanki in Gujarāt and the
Pratihāra in Mandorl supported the claim of the Gaharwār, and,
according to Rājput legend, both Kanauj and Gujarāt employed
Muslim mercenaries whose presence in their armies was a source
of useful information to Muhammad b. Sām. The Rājputs of
Northern India richly deserved their fate.
The prince of Chitor, his son Kalyan Singh, and thirteen
thousand of his troops are said to have been slain at the second
battle of Tarāori, and his widow, on hearing of his death, 'joined
her lord through the flame. '
North-west of Mewar, the region in which the Gahlots bore
sway, lay the desert tract of Mārwār, at this time ruled by the
Pratihāras, who were afterwards expelled by the Rāhtors, the tribe
to which the present Mahārāja of Jodhpur belongs. West of Mār-
wār lies the present State of Jaisalmer, held by the Jādons, whose
home, according to their own traditions, had in ancient times been
Zābulistān, between Sīstān and Qandahār. Long before the rise of
Islam they had been driven thence into the Punjab, where they
domiciled for some time, and one branch of the tribe, the leader of
which had retired in the eighth century into the desert of western
Rājfontāna, acquired from an ancestor the name of Bhāli. A branch
of the Bhātis settled in the north of the modern State of Bikaner,
and gave to the town now known as Hanūmangārh its original
name, Bhatner, which in 1398 was taken by Tīmūr from a Bhāti
chief named Dul Chand. This clan, as well as those branches of the
Jādons which remained in the Punjab, accepted Islam. The main
body of the tribe, however, travelling westward, had founded the
fortress of Tanot, in the extreme north-western corner of what is
now the Jaisalmer State. They afterwards made Ladorva their
1 In 26° 21' N, and 73° 2' E. 2 In 29° 35' N. and 74° 20' E.


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XX )
RĂTHORS OF MÀRW ÅR
521
capital, and in 1156 Rāwal Jaisal founded the town of Jaisalmer.
In Mārwār communities of Gohels, Chauhāns, and Pawārs disputed
the authority of the Pratihāras or Parihārs.
The founder of the Rāthor dynasty of Mārwār was Siāhji, whom
the bards of the Rājputs represent as a prince of the Gaharwār
house of Kunauj, who escaped when the rest of the family was
slain, and, fleeing, established himself in Mārwār, where his tribe
received the name of Rāthor. Tuis they explain as a corruption of
Rāshtrakūta, alleging that the Galarwārs were Rāshtrakūtas from
the Deccan, but there is little doubt that the whole story is fiction.
The Gaharwār line was certainly extinguished, and there is no
evidence that any escaped ; there is no reason to believe that the
Gaharwārs were Rāshtrakūtas ; and an inscriprion dated A. D. 997,
found in a town in the Jodhpur State, names four Rāthor Rajas
who reigned there in the tenth century. It was probably from
these local chieftains that Siāhji was descended. He established
himself, with a small number of followers, first in the north of
Mārwār, where he received, as the price of assistance rendered to
a Solanki chieftain, a bride with a dower. On a pilgrimage to
Dwārkā he encountered and slew the brigand from whom he had
delivered the Solanki. The exploit enhanced his reputation and,
about 1212, he took up his abole in the fertile region watered by
the Lūni river, west of the Arāvalli Mountains. Here, by violence
combined with treachery, he obeyed the Rājput maxim, 'Get land. '
One Rajput chief and his followers he slew at a feast, another he
defeated and killed in the field. The Brāhmans of Pāli besought
his aid against the Mers and Minas who ravaged their lands. He
drove off the marauders and, having settled at Pāli on land granted
to him by the grateful Brāhmans, slew the leaders of the community
and appropriated their lands. His son and successor, Asvatthāma,
established his brother Soning in Idar, a principality of the Dābhi
Rājputs, by treacherously slaying the members of that clan while
they were mourning for one of their princes; and Aja, another
brother, invaded Okhamandal, in the extreme west of Kāthīāwār,
and established himself there by murdering the Chāvade ruler of
the country. His descendants bear the surname which he assumed,
and are still known as Vādhel, 'the Slayers'.
Rāipal, the fourth of the line, slew the Parihār chief of Mandor,
and Chhada and Tida, the seventh and eighth, harassed the jādons
or Bhātīs of Jaisalmer and escaped chastisement only by giving the
daughter of one of them in marriage to Rāwal Chāchakdeo I.
1 In 25° 47' N, and 73° 19' E.


## p. 522 (#572) ############################################

$22
( CH.
NATIVE STATES OF NORTHERN INDIA
The Rāthors were as prolific as they were unscrupulous, and
wide as the lands were which they had obtained by violence and
fraud, they were now insufficient for their support. Chonda, their
eleventh chief, after suffering many vicissitudes, was able to as-
semble a large army composed entirely of the various clans of his
tribe and to attack the Parihār prince of Mandor. He was vic-
torious, and planted his banner 'on the ancient capital of Maru. '
Chonda also added to his dominions the important city and dis-
trict of Nāgaur, a Muslim stronghold which the dissolution of the
Kingdom of Delhi, following Tīmūr's invasion of India, enabled him
to acquire, and it was at this city that he met his death.
His fourth son, Aranyakanwal, had been betrothed to Kararndevi,
daughter of Mānik Rāo of Aurint, chief of the Mohil Rājputs, but
the damsel met and loved Sadhu, heir of Rāningdeo, the Bhāti lord
of Pugal, a fief of Jaisalmer, and chose him as her husband. The
slighted prince of Mandor attacked his rival, and the two met in
single combat. Sadhu was slain, and Karamdevī, 'at once a virgin,
a wife, and a widow,' sacrificed herself in the fire. Aranyakanwal
died of his wounds, but Rāningdeo, not content with the death of
his son's rival, led a raid into Chonda's territory to punish the
Sānkhlas, whose prowess had discomfited the Bhātīs in the combat
between Sadhu and Aranyakanwal. Having slain three hundred of
his enemies Rāningdeo was returning with his spoil when he was
overtaken by Chonda, who defeated and slew him.
Rāningdeo's two surviving sons, Tana and Mera, accepted Islam,
as so many other Bhātis had done, and thus obtained from Khizr
Khān, then governor of Multān, a force with which to attack their
enemy, but Kilan, son of the Rāwal of Jaisalmer; who joined them,
ensured their success by guile. Professing a desire to end the feud,
he offered a daughter in marriage to Chonda, but when the Rāthor
came forth to receive his expected bride his suspicions were aroused
by the appearance of the cortége, which consisted of an unusually
large number of armed men, and he turned back tawards Nāgaur.
His enemies pursued him, and slew him at the gate of the town,
'and friend and foe entering the city together a scene of general
plunder commenced. '
The death of Chonda occurred in 1408, and Nāgaur was then
lost to the Rāthors. He was succeeded by his son Ranmall, who
took advantage of the marriage of his daughter to Lakhā Rānā, the
old chief of Chitor, to obtain a large grant of land from his son-in-
law, to whose court he migrated, and was followed thither by his
son, Jodha. An account of the growth of Rāthor influence at the


## p. 523 (#573) ############################################

xx)
RĂTHORS OF BAGLĀNA
$23
court of Chitor, and of their expulsion from Mewār will be given
in the history of that principality. Ranmall, with the aid of the
forces of Mewār, captured the city of Ajmer by a stratagem, and
thus temporarily added the ancient heritage of the Chauhāns to
the domains of Mewar. He attempted, after the death of Lakhā
Rānā, to usurp the throne of his infant son, but was slain in 1444
by Chonda, the old Rānā's firstborn, who expelled the Rāthors
from Mewār. He was succeeded by Jodha, the eldest of his twenty-
four sons, who in 1454 acquired Sojat, and in 1459 laid the founda-
tion of Jodhpur, which has ever since remained the capital of the
Rāthor State. On his death in 1488 he was succeeded by his
second son, Sūja, or Surajmall, the eldest, Sāntal or Sātal, having
been slain near Pokhāran, where he had established himself on the
lands of the Bhātis. Sūrajmall was the hero of the episode known
as the Rape of the Virgins. In July, 1516, a predatory band of
Muslims, probably from Ajmer, descended on the town of Pīpar
during the celebration of the Tij festival, and carried off a hundred
and forty Rājput maidens. Sūrajmall, to whom news of the outrage
was carried, at once mounted, pursued the marauders, and rescued
the maidens, but lost his own life in the fray. He was succeeded by
.
his grandson, Ganga, the son of his eldest son, Bhaga, who had
predeceased him, but his title was contested by his uncle, Saga,
Sūrajmall's third son, who was supported by Daulat Khān Lodī.
Saga and his ally were, however, defeated, and the former was slain.
Rão Ganga sent a large contingent to join Sangrama Rānā in
the battle of Khānūā, fought against Bābur in 1527, and on that
day, so disastrous to the Rājputs, the young prince Rāimall, grand-
son of Ganga, and many other Rāthors fell. Ganga himself survived
this event by nearly four years, and died in 1532.
The Rāthors are widely spread. We have followed one tribe of
them in Okhamandal, where they are known as Vādhel, 'the
slayers. ' The origin of a family which ruled the small principality
of Baglāna, or Bāglān, a country now represented by the Bāglān
and Kalvān tālukas, north of the Sātmāla hills, is more obscure.
They, like the Rāthors of Mārwār, claimed kinship with the
Gaharwārs of Kanauj, but did not trace their descent to Siāhji.
They were perhaps descended from earlier Rāthors of Mārwār
and merely imitated Siāhji in claiming descent from the Gaharwārs.
Their chief used the honorific title of Baharji and possessed seven
fortresses, two of which, Mulher and Sālher, were noted for their
strength. They seem to have been tributary to the princes of
Deogir, and they assisted Karandeva, the last Raja of Gujarāt, when


## p. 524 (#574) ############################################

524
[
NATIVE STATES OF NORTHERN INDIA
he ſled, after the conquest of his country, to the Deccan. When
the kingdom of the Yādavas was annexed by the king of Delhi the
allegiance of Baharji was transferred to the conqueror, but the
country became independent after the revolt of the Deccan and
the establishment of the Bahmani dynasty. Later it became tribu.
tary to the Sultans of Gujarāt, and was invaded and laid waste by
Ahmad Shāh Bahmani I in 1429. It remained tributary to Gujarāt,
but enjoyed virtual independence until that kingdom was con-
quered by Akbar in 1573. He failed to conquer Baglāna, and was
obliged to acquiesce in a treaty with Pratāp Shāh, the reigning
prince, in 1599.
The original title of the Gahlot princes of Mewār was Rāwal
but early in the thirteenth century Rāhup of Mewār captured
Mokal the Parihār Prince of Mandor, who bore the title of Rānā,
and carried him to Sesoda, the temporary capital of the Gahlots.
where he compelled him to forgo the title of Rānā and assumed it
himself, instead of that of Rāwal. It was he, too, who changed the
name of his clan from Gahlot to Sesodia, derived from his temporary
capital.
The legend that the Gahlots had met and defeated the Arab
invaders of Sind has already been mentioned. It is to the effect
that they repelled an invasion of Mewār led by one Mahmūd, whom
they defeated and captured. It is certain that no Arab invader
from Sind ever reached Mewār, and the name Mahmūd suggests
confusion between the Arabs of Sind in the eighth century and the
Turks of Ghazni in the eleventh. It is possible that a Gallot prince
joined one of the confederacies against Mahmūd, or met that
invader on his way to Gujarāt in the expedition in which he plun-
dered Somnāth, but we have no record of the event. The fate of
the prince of Chitor at the second battle of Tarāori has been men.
tioned. The Gahlot legend, disfigured by some palpable falsehoods,
represents him 'as the Ulysses of the host ; brave, cool, and skilful
in the fight ; prudent, wise, and eloquent in council ; pious and
decorous on all occasions ; beloved by his own chiefs and reverenced
by the vassals of the Chauhan. '
Little more that is authentic is known of the history of the
Gahlots or Sesodias until the reign of 'Alā ud-din Khalji, who,
having already captured Ranthambhor from the Chauhāns, be-
sieged and took Chitor in 1303'. The bard's account of this siege
is most inaccurate and misleading. He antedates it by thirteen
years, to a time when ‘Alā-ud-din had not ascended the throne ; he
1 See ante, p. 108.


## p. 525 (#575) ############################################

xx]
SESODIAS OF MEWĀR
525
makes Lachhman Singh, a distant cousin of the ruling prince, Rānā
of Chitor at the time of the siege ; and he makes the fair Padmini,
whom 'Alā-ud-din coveted, the wife of the prince's uncle. These
gross inaccuracies entirely discredit a story improbable in itself, at
variance with known facts, and designed to minimize the disgrace
of the loss of a strong fortress, of treachery on the part of Alā-ud-
din. The facts were that Ratan Singh was Rānā of Chitor, and that
Lachhman Singh, Rānā of Sesoda, commanded the fortress on his
behalf. Their common ancestor was Karan Singh, Rāwal of Chitor,
from whom Ratan Singh was ninth and Lachhman Singh eleventh
in descent. Ratan Singh was apparently in the fortress when it
was besieged, but, though the rite of jauhar is said to have been
performed and Lachhman Singh and eight thousand other Rajputs
fell, he was taken alive and carried off to Delhi. The fair Padmini
did not perish in the fire, as related by the bard, but lived to be
the subject of negotiation between her husband and his captor, and
the object of the bard's fiction appears to be the concealment of
Ratan Singh's readiness to obey the ancient maxim which permits
a Rājput to surrender his wife in order to preserve his land.
‘Ala-ud-din left Māldeo, Raja of Jālor, whom he had defeated
and who had sworn fealty to him, in command of Chitor, and the
towns of Mewār were held by Muslim garrisons, and the survivors
of the Sesodias, and those who remained faithful to them took
refuge at Kelwārā! , in the heart of the Arāvalli Mountains, and
from this stronghold harried the lands of Mewār. Māldeo was
shortly afterwards relieved of the command of Chitor, and Khizr
Khān, the eldest son of ‘Ala-ud-din, was appointed in his place, but
after the rescue of Ratan Singh'Alā-ud-din removed Khizr Khan
and appointed Arsi, or Ar Singh, to the command. Arsi was, ac-
cording to the Hindu legend, the elder son of Ajai Singh, Rānā of
Chitor, and, according to the Muslim chronicles, sister's son to
Ratan Singh. The bards do not mention Arsi's appointment to the
command of the fortress, but the Muslim historians say that on
being appointed he swore fealty to 'Alā-ud-din, who by this means
sowed discord among the Rajputs, some of whom remained faithful
to Ratan Singh, while others submitted to Arsi. The history of
Chitor at this time is hopelessly confused, owing to the silence of
the Muslim historians and the discrepancies between the Hindu
legends and the few facts known. It is certain, however, that Chitor
was recovered by the Rājputs shortly after this time, and that
Hamir, or Hamira Singh, was the hero of the enterprise. The pre-
1 In 25° 7'N. and 73° 36'E. 2 See ante p. 111,


## p. 526 (#576) ############################################

526
[ch.
NATIVE STATES OF NORTHERN INDJA
cise degree of relationship between Hamir and the Rānā is uncertain.
According to the bards he was the son of Arsi, the elder son of Ajai
Singh, but it seems probable that he was the grandson of Ratan
Singh. The bards, in recording the recovery of Chitor, assign no
date to it, but assert that it occurred in the reign of 'Mahmūd
Khalji of Delhi,' a king unknown to history. Elsewhere to Rajputs
are said to have recovered Chitor about 1312, four years before the
death of 'Alā-ud-din, who reigned until 1316, to have thrown the
Muhammadan officers from the ramparts, and to have asserted their
independence, but from an inscription at Chitor it appears that the
fort was not recovered until the time of Muhammad Tughluq, who
reigned from 1325 to 1351. According to native annals the ‘Mahmud
Khaljī in whose reign the fort was taken by Hamir was marching to
recover it when he was met, defeated, and captured by the Rānā,
who imprisoned him for three months at Chitor, and would not
liberate him until he had surrendered Ajmer, Ranthambhor, Nāgaur,
and Sui Sopar, with five millions of rupees and five hundred
elephants. No Muslim king of Delhi was ever a prisoner in Chitor,
or ever surrendered the fortresses mentioned to a Rānā of Chitor,
and the story appears to be a clumsy but wilful adaptation of the
defeat and capture of Mahmūd Khalji II of Mālwa by Sangrama
about 200 years after this time. Hamir's reputation stands in need of
so much manipulation of history. His reign was long and glorious.
He lived until 1364, recovered all the dominions of his ancestors, and
laboured to restore their prosperity.
He was succeeded by his son Kshetra, or Khet Singh, who ex-
tended the dominions of his house and is credited by the bards with
a victory over the Mughul emperor Humāyān, considerably more
than a century before the latter's birth. He was slain in a family
brawl in 1382, and was succeeded by his son Laksh Singh, or Lākhā.
He conquered the mountainous region of Merwara and destroyed
its chief stronghold, Bairātgarh, on the site of which he built
Badnor, but of greater importance than this conquest was his dis-
covery of the mines at Jāwar, sixteen miles south of Udaipur city,
in territory taken by his father from the Bhils. These produced
lead, zinc, and some silver, and the wealth thus acquired enabled
him to rebuild the temples and palaces destroyed by 'Alā-ud-din,
and to build dams to form reservoirs or lakes for irrigation. Lākhā
also defeated the Sānkhla Rājputs of Nagarchal, a district lying in
the north of the present State of Jaipur, but the bards are not con-
1 In 25° 50' N, and 74° 17' E.


## p. 527 (#577) ############################################

xx ]
RĀTHORS EXPELLED FROM MEWĀR
527
tent with these exploits, and credit him with a victory over an
imaginary Muhammad Shāh Lodi of Delhi.
Lākhā's eldest son, Chonda, was to have been betrothed to the
daughter of Ranmall the Rāthor, but being annoyed by an innocent
pleasantry of his father, which he regarded as indelicate, refused
to accept Ranmall's offer of his daughter, and, as it could not be
rejected without giving grave offence, Lākhā himself accepted it,
but insisted that Chonda should relinquish his right to the suc-
cession in favour of any issue which might be born of the Rāthor
lady. He agreed and Lākhā was succeeded, on his death in 1397,
by his son Mokalji, aged five, for whom Chonda acted as regent
until, incensed by the unjust suspicions of the child's mother, he
retired from the kingdom. The bards are at fault regarding his
destination, which they give as Māndū, the capital of the Muslim
kingdom of Mālwa, while they place the grant of land which he
received in the west of the peninsula of Kāthiāwār, which was never
included in the kingdom. On Chonda's departure the rapacious
Rāthor kinsmen of the young Rānā's mother flocked into the state.
Her brother Jodha, who afterwards founded Jodhpur, came first,
but was soon followed by their father, Ranmall, with a large con-
tingent of that clan. They murdered Raghudeva, the younger
brother of Chonda, and their designs on the throne were so evident
that the mother, trembling for her child's liſe, begged Chonda to
return. He obeyed the summons, and promised to join her and the
young Rānā on the Diwali festival, the feast of lamps, at Gosunda,
seven miles south of Chitor. Chonda and his band obtained ad-
mission to Chitor in the guise of neighbouring chieftains who had
assembled to escort their prince to his capital. They overpowered
the garrison, slew Rāo Ranmall and a large number of the Rāthors,
and would have slain Jodha, had he not saved himself by flight.
Chonda pursued him, occupied Mandor, then the Rāthor capital,
which was held by the Sesodias for twelve years, and annexed the
fertile district of Godwār, which adjoined Mewar.
Jodha Rāthor was a wanderer for seven years, but eventually
succeeded in assembling a force of Rājputs of his own and other
tribes, and in expelling the Sesodias from Mandor, where the two
sons of Chonda were slain.
Mokal's reign was not distinguished by any feats of arms. The
bards attribute to him a victory over the king of Delhi, but no
contemporary king of Delhi was in a position to attack ibe Rānā
of Chitor, and if there is any foundation for the bard's story Mokal
must be suspected of refusing an asylum to Mahmūd, the last of


## p. 528 (#578) ############################################

528
[ch.
NATIVE STATES OF NORTHERN INDIA
the Tughluq dynasty, when he was fleeing from Deihi after his
defeat by Tīmūr. Mokal was assassinated in 1433 by two of his
uncles, natural sons of his grandfather, they having interpreted an
innocent question put by him as a reflection on their birth. He
was succeeded by his son Kumbha, one of the greatest of the princes
of Chitor, a soldier, a poet, a man of letters, and a builder to whom
Mewār owes some of her finest monuments. The temples of Kumbha
Sham at Mount Ābū and Rishabhadeva in the Sadri pass, 'leading
from the western descent of the highlands of Mewār, 'still stand as
memorials of his devotion.
'Of eighty-four fortresses for the defence
of Mewār, thirty-two were erected by Kūmbha. Inferior only to
Chitor is that stupendous work called after him’ Kūmbhalgarh,
'the fort of Kumbha. ' He captured Nāgaur and gained many suc-
cesses over his enemies in the intestinal feuds of the Rājputs, but
the ascription to him of a great victory over Mahmud I of Mālwa,
whom he is said to have taken prisoner, and to have released after
six months of captivity, is an error. Kümbha was not fortunate in
his campaigns against Mahmūd I, which have been described in
Chapter xiv, and if the Pillar of Victory' at Chitor does indeed
describe victories over that king it resembles the bardic chronicles.
Mewār's victory over Mālwa was gained by Sangrama, Kumbha's
grandson, over Mahmud II of Mālwa, whom he defeated and took
prisoner near Gāgraun in 1517. Kūmbha was stabbed to death in
1468, after a reign of thirty-five years, by his son Uda, but the
patricide was attacked and defeated by his brother Rāimall, and
is said to have fled to Delhi, and to have offered a daughter in
marriage to the Muslim king as the price of his aid in seating him
on his throne, but no mention is made by Muslim historians either
of this event or of a subsequent Muhammadan invasion of Mewār
described by the bards, and Buhlul Lodi, who was then reigning at
Delhi, was otherwise too deeply engaged to embark on such a cam-
paign. Uda is said to have been struck by lightning and killed, as
he was leaving the king's presence at Delhi, but however this may
be, no more is heard of him, and Rāimall kept the throne. He was
a warlike prince, but he certainly did not, as recorded in the Rājput
annals, carry on an interminable strife with Ghiyās-ud-din Khalji
of Mālwa, a slothful and unwarlike prince who hardly ever left his
palace, but it is not improbable that Rāimall raided the frontiers
of Mālwa.
He had three sons, Sangrama or Sangā, Prithvi Rāj, and Jaimall,
whose ambition bred bitter strife between them until Sangrama
withdrew from Mewār and lived in concealment to avoid the violence


## p. 529 (#579) ############################################

XX ]
BATTLE OF KHĀNUA
529
of Prithvi Rāj, and Prithvi Rāj was banished. Jaimall was now re.
garded as the heir, but in attempting to gain access of the damsel
whom he was to marry was slain by her indignant father, and
Prithvi Rāj was recalled from banishment and gained the hand of
the maiden on whose account his brother had been slain. Another
claimant to the throne arose in the person of Surajmall, the cousin
of the three princes, but Prithvi Rāj defeated him and drove him
from Mewār, and his great-grandson, Bika, founded the Partābgarh.
Deolia state. Prithvi Rāj was afterwards pois ned by his brother-in-
law, Jaimall of Sirohi; whose title to Ābū had been confirmed by his
marriage, and whom Prithvi Rāj had punished for ill treating his
sister ; and on Rāimall's death in 1508 his eldest son, Sangrama,
'
succeeded him without opposition.
Sangrama, destined to fall on the field of battle, was one of the
greatest of the princes of Chitor. "Eighty thousand horse, seven
Rajas of the highest rank, nine Rāos, and one hundred and four
chieftains bearing the titles of Rāwal and Rāwat, with five hundred
war elephants, followed him into the field. The princes of Mārwār
and Amber did him homage, and the Rāos of Gwalior, Ajmer, Sikri,
Rāisen, Kālpi, Chanderi, Bundi, Gāgraun, Rāmpura, and Ābû served
him as tributaries or held of him in chief? . ' Sangrama, like some
of his predecessors, is credited with victories for which there is no
historical warrant over the king of Delhi, Ibrāhim Lodī, but he
profited by the weakness and distractions of his enemies to extend
and secure his frontiers, and it was he who, as already described,
defeated and captured Mahmūd II of Mālwa, whose army contained
a contingent placed at his disposal by the Sultan of Gujarāt, so that
the victor was able to boast that he had defeated the allied forces
of two Muslim kings.
Sangrama had been in communication with Bābur while the
latter was still at Kābul, and had agreed, in the event of his invading
India, to attack Agra while he attacked Delhi, but had failed
10 fulfil his promise hoping, apparently, either that both Bābur
and Ibrāhīm Lodi would be destroyed or that the victor would be
so exhausted as to afford him an opportunity of establishing his
supremacy and restoring Hindu rule in Northern India. Not content
with failing to aid Bābur, he assembled a large army to attack him,
and began operations by besieging Bayāna. Bābur marched to the
relief of the fortress, and Sangrama raised the siege and marched
1 Tod, i, 348, 349. This account, based on the statements of the bards, is
somewhat highly coloured.
2 Sec ante, pp. 368. 369.
C,H. I. III.
34


## p. 530 (#580) ############################################

530
( CH.
NATIVE STATES OF NORTHERN INDIA
to Khānua, near Sikri, where the fate of Northern India was decided.
A full account of the battle will be given in the records of Bābur's
reign. Sangrama displayed no eagerness to attack the Muslims, and
according to the Hindu annals the battle was preceded by negotia-
tions, in which Silahdi the Tomār, chief of Räisen, a fief of Mālwa,
but now virtually independent, was employed as theinter mediary.
He is said, on the same authority, to have made a private agree-
ment with Bābur, in pursuance of which he deserted the Hindu
cause and joined the Muslims during the battle, but the extenuation
of defeat by allegations of treachery is as common in Hindu annals
as in those of other nations. The Rājputs suffered a crushing defeat.
Sangrama himself was severely wounded, and Rāwal Udai Singh of
Dungarpur ; Ratan Singh, Rāwat of Salūmbar ; Rāimall Rāthor,
r
grandson and heir of the prince of Mārwār ; Khet Singh and Ratan
Singh of Mertha ; Rāmdās, Rāo of Jālor ; Uja Jhāla ; Gokuldas
Pawār; Mānikchand and Chandrabhān, Chauhāns; and many others
of less note were slain.
Sangrama retired towards Mewāt, resolved not to return to his
capital until he had retrieved his defeat and crushed the invader ;
but his ministers shrank from the discomfort and hardships which
his decision imposed upon them, and he died at Baswa of poison
administered at their instigation.
He was succeeded by Ratan Singh II, his eldest surviving son,
who was secretly affianced to the daughter of the Kachhwāha,
Prithvi Rāj, Rão of Amber, but delayed the marriage ceremony, and
Surajmall, Rão of Būndi of the Hāra clan of the Chauhāns, sought
and obtained her hand in marriage. Sūrajmall and Ratan Singh met
and fought in 1531, when each killed the other, and Vikramāditya
or Bikramājīt succeeded his brother on the throne of Mewār. The
new Rānā was arrogant, passionate, and vindictive, and alienated
his nobles, and the cavaliers of Mewār, by his preference for the
society of wrestlers and athletes and for the infantry of his army,
which he devleoped at the expense of his cavalry. An open rupture
occurred between the prince and his nobles, and his cavalry refused
to perform their duties. Matters had reached this stage when Sultān
Bahādur of Gujarāt marched against Bikramājīt, then encamped
at Loicha, in the Bundi territory. The feudal forces of the state
deserted their sovereign and marched off to defend Chitor and the
infant Udai Singh, posthumous son of Sangrama. Bahādur gained
an easy victory over the pāiks, or foot-soldiers of Mewār', and turned
towards Chitor, to the defence of which the prince of Būndi, the
1 See ante, p. 339.


## p. 531 (#581) ############################################

xx]
JĀDONS OF JAISALMER
531
Rāos of Jālor and Ābū, and many chiefs from all parts of Rājasthān
hastened. The siege has been described in Chapter XII. Chitor
fell in 1531, and became for a short time a possession of the kingdom
of Gujarāt, but Udai Singh, who had been crowned during the siege,
was carried off into safety by Surjan, prince of Būndi. There is no
truth in the Rājput story of the dispatch of the rākhi to Humāyūn
by the young Rānā's mother, and of the latter's chivalrous response,
for though he had received gross provocation from Bahādur he
punctiliously refrained from attacking him while he was engaged in
warfare against the 'misbelievers'. After the fall of Chitor, however,
Bahādur was compelled to retire before Humāyūn, and Bikramājīt
returned and almost immediately recovered the fortress. He had
learned no wisdom in adversity, and his insolence and arrogance
towards his nobles culminated in a blow inflicted in open court on
Karamchand of Ajmer, his father's protector and benefactor. On
the following day the nobles put the unworthy prince to death and,
dreading the rule of a minor at such a critical period, persuaded
Banbir Singh, natural son of Prithvi Rāj, Sangrama's younger
brother, to mount the throne. Banbir immediately sought the liſe
of the infant, Udai Singh, but he was saved by a faithful nurse, who
carried him off, and, after some vicissitudes, delivered him to Āsā
Sāh, governor of Kümbhalgarh, who ensured his safety by passing
him off as his nephew, and for three years kept the secret of his
presence with him. The rumour at length spread that the son of
Sangrama was at Kumbhalgarh, and the nobles of Mewār
assembled there to do him homage. The pretensions of the bastard,
Banbir, had offended them, and all deserted him. He still held the
capital, but his ministers admitted a thousand of the adherents of
the legitimate prince, and he was deposed, and Udai Singh was
enthroned in 1537.
The foundation of Jaisalmer by Rāwal Jaisal, the Bhāti, has been
mentioned. The Jādons, or Bhātis, yet occupy their home in the
desert. The Rāthors were gaining power in the land of Kher, the
desert of the west, and the Jādons found them troublesome neigh-
bours, rapacious and unscrupulous. Rāwal Chāchakdeo grandson
of Jaisal, who reigned from 1219 to 1241, made preparations to
chastise them, but their leaders conciliated him by giving him a
daughter to wife. Karan Singh I, who reigned from 1241 to 1271,
espoused the cause of a Hindu living near Nāgaur, whose only
daughter had been abducted by Muzaffar Khān, the Muslim ruler
or governor of that district, and defeated and slew the Khān and
three thousand of his men.
1 Sec ante, p. 330.
34-2


## p. 532 (#582) ############################################

532
[CH.
NATIVE STATES OF NORTHERN INDIA
The annals of Jaisalmer record a siege of the city by the troops
of 'Alā-ud-din Khalji of Delhi, which lasted for eight years, from
1286 to 1295. 'Alā-ud-din did not ascend the throne of Delhi until
1296, and no such siege as that sung by the bards ever took place.
The account of the performance of the rite of jauhar, and of the
death of 24,000 women in the flames, is detailed and circumstantial.
Three thousaud eight hundred Rājput warriors rushed on the foe;
Mülrāj III, the Jādon chief, and seven hundred of his kin ſell, and
Jaisalmer was occupied by a Muslim garrison which, after holding
the place for two years, dismantled it and retired.
It is impossible to connect this legend with any historical event,
but it may possibly be a wilful perversion of the defeat of the
Já dons by the Rāthors, for the annals proceed to relate that after
the retirement of the Muslim garrison Māloji Rāthor, chief of Mewa,
made preparations for occupying and colonizing the deserted city,
but was expelled by the Bhāti chiefs, Dūda and Tilak Sirgh, the
former of whom was elected Rāwal, and reigned from 1295 to 1306.
The bards of Jaisalmer, no whit inferior to those of other states in
imagination, thus describe the end of Dūda's reign, 'He even ex-
tended his raids to Ajmer, and carried off the stud of Firūz Shāh
from the Anasāgar (lake), where they were accustomed to be
,
watered. This indignity provoked another attack upon Jaisalmer,
attended with the same disastrous results. Again the sakha was
performed, in which sixteen thousand females were destroyed ; and
Dūda, with Tilak Singh and seventeen hundred of the clan, fell in
battle, after he had occupied the gaddi ten years. This statement
is quoted merely in order to display the shameless mendacity of the
bardic annals. Firūz Shāh was Jalāl-ud-din Firuz Khalji, the uncle
and predecessor of 'Alā-ud-din, who is said to have taken Jaisalmer
in the previous year. It may be one more perversion of a defeat at
the hands of the Rāthors.
Jaisalmer was again restored by Ghar Singh, who is said to have
received it in fee from the king of Delhi for services rendered
against Tīmūr, who did not invade India until nearly a century
aſter this time, but if any such services were rendered the occasion
was perhaps, as conjectured by Lt. Col. Tod, one of the many
irruptions of the Mughuls which took place at this period. Ghar
Singh was assassinated in 1335, and was succeeded by his adopted
son, Kehar Singh. Kehar Singh's third son, Kailan, involved the
Jaisalmer state in hostilities with the kingdom of Multān by estab-
lishing himself on the northern bank of the Sutlej, where he is said


## p. 533 (#583) ############################################

xx)
GWALIOR
533
to have founded the town of Kahror. The presence of the Bhātīs
on the Multān side of the river was resented, and Chāchakdeo, who
succeeded to Jaisalmer about 1448, is said to have resided at Marot
in order the more readily to repel raids on his territories from the
direction of Multān. He is credited in the annals of the state with
two victories over the Muslim kings of Multān, besides others over
the Dhundīs, the Rāthors, and even the Khokhars of the Punjab.
He is said to have lost his life in battle with the king of Multan,
but the native annals a most untrustworthy guide, are the only
authority for his exploits. Even these fail us after Chāchakdeo's
reign, and until the time of the Mughul emperors record nothing
but a bare list of names.
The famous fortress of Gwalior was held, at the time of Mahmūd's
incursions into India, by Kachhwāha Rājputs, probably feudatories
of the Chandels of Jijhoti. Mahmūd's siege of the fortress in 1022
has already been noticed, and its strength at that time may per.
haps be gauged by the easy terms on which he raised the siege.
About 1128 the Parihār Rājputs ousted the Kachhwāhas, a scion of
whom established himself in the neighbourhood of Amber. Qutb-
ud-din Aibak captured the fortress, but it was recovered during
the feeble reign of his son, Ārām Shāh, by the Parihār Birbal, or
Māl Deo, whose son, Mangal Bhava Deo, was holding it in 1232,
when Iltutmish attacked it. An account of his siege and capture
of the place has already been given,3 It remained in the hands of
the Muslim until after Timūr's invasion, and was captured, when
the kingdom of Delhi fell to pieces, by the Tomār, Har Singh, and
was successfully defended by his son Bhairon against the attacks of
Mallū in 1492 and 1403". The sieges of Gwalior in 1416, 1427, and
1432 by kings of the Sayyid dynasty were rather expeditions for
the purpose of collecting taxes, or tribute, then serious attempts
to capture the fortress, and the raja could always rid himself of
the invaders by a payment on account, and an illusory promise to
make regular payments in future. In 1423 Hūshang Shāh of Mālwa
attacked the fortress, but raised the siege when the Sayyid, Mubārak
Shāh, marched to its relief.
During the protracted contests in the reign of Buhlūl Lodi
between the kingdoms of Delhi and Jaunpur Man Singh of
Gwalior espoused the cause of the latter, and gave an asylum
to its last king, Husain Shāh, when he was fleeing before his
enemies.
1 In 29° 37' N. and 71° 56' E.
2 See an! e, p. 22,
3 See ante, p. 55.
4 Sec ante, p. 202.


## p. 534 (#584) ############################################

534
(CH.
NATIVE STATES OF NORTHERN INDIA
1
Mān Singh profited by the striſe between the Muslims to
extend his dominions, and when Sikandar Lodi, provoked by his
protection of a fugitive rebel, invaded them in 1505 and the follow-
ing years, he did not venture to attack Gwalior itself, but contented
himself with reducing Mandrãel, Utgir, and other fortresses of less
importance, and was eventually recalled from this campaign by
other affairs, but in 1518 his son, Ibrāhīm Lodī, incensed by the
raja's protection of the pretender, Jalal Khān, besieged his
capital, and Vikramāditya or Bikramājīt, the son and successor of
Mān Singh, was compelled to surrender.
Raja Mān Singh, who reigned from 1486 to 1517, enriched
Gwalior with the great palace which crowns the eastern face of
the rock, and earned a name as a patron of music and musicians.
The famous singer, Tân Sen, and the best musicians and singers at
Akbar's court had been trained in the Gwalior school.
The Kachhwāhas of Amber and Jaipur claim descent from the
ancient rajas of Gwalior, of that tribe. Tej Karan, known as Dulha
Rāi, or the Bridegroom prince, who was eighth in descent from
Vajradāman, the first Kachhwāha prince of Gwalior, left that city,
for some undetermined
reason, in charge of his sister's son, a
Parihār, who usurped his throne. Tej Karan married the daughter
of the Bargújar Rājput chief of Daosa, and inherited that princi-
pality, then known as Dhundhār, from the Dhūnd river. Maidal
Rāo, Tej Karan's grandson, took the fortress of Amber from the
Mina chief Bhāto, and made it his capital. Maidal's great-grandson,
Pajūn, married the sister of Prithvi Rāj of Ajmer and Delhi, and
was killed with his brother-in-law at the second battle of Tarāori.
The Amber state, as it was known after the establishment of that
town as the capital, was of little importance until the reign of
Humāyūn. Towards the end of the fourteenth century Udai Karan,
prince of Amber, added the Shekhāwati district to his dominions,
but his house did not otherwise specially distinguish itself.
Gondwāna, the forest region between Berar on the west and
Orissa on the east, was sparsely populated by the Gonds, Dravidians
who had probably migrated northwards from the Deccan, but in
the eleventh century the nothern and eastern tracts of this region,
which were known as Chedi, were ruled by two families of Haihaya
Bans Rājputs who were probably, like the Chandels of Jijhoti,
Hinduized Gonds. One family, which retained its possessions until
it was ousted by the Marāthās, had its capital at Ratanpur, in
the present Bilāspur District; and the other at Tripuri, or Tewar,
1 22° 17' N. , 82° 11' E.


## p. 535 (#585) ############################################

xx)
GOND KİNGDOMS
535
a
about six miles from Jubbulpore. The Haibayas were also known
as the Kālachurīs. Those of Tewar disappeared towards the end of
the twelfth century, being supplanted, as is commonly believed, by
Bāghels of Rewa, but according to Gond tradition by a Gond hero
named Jādū Rāi, said to be the ancester of the Gond dynasty which
was certainly reigning in that region, with its capital at Garha, not
long after that time.
Tradition records the existence of a dynasty of Gāoli, or cowherd
race, of whom nothing certain is known, at Deogarh, the old fortress
which stands twenty-four miles south-west of Chhindwāra. This
dynasty ended with the twin brothers Ransür and Ghansūr, who
reigned jointly, and who befriended a Gond named Jātba. Jātba
eventually slew his master and founded the Gond dynasty which
reigned at Deogarh. The only indication of a date in the legend is
the record of an imaginary visit paid by Akbar to Jātba, and even
tradition is silent as to the history of his successors, of whom hardly
anything is known until the time of Bakht Buland, who was reigning
at Deogarh at the latter end of the seventeenth century.
Rather more than sixty miles west of Deogarh stands the fortress
of Kherla, the foundation of which is attributed to a Rājput
dynasty, whose capital it remained for a long period. The last of
the line, Jaitpal, is said to have been killed ofter a twelve years'
siege by the army of the king of Delhi. No such siege is recorded
by the Muslim historians, but it is possible that the officials first
placed in Berar by 'Alā-ud-din Khalji extinguished the Rājput
dynasty and built the present fort, which appears to be of Muham-
mādan construction. It fell afterwards, probably during the rebel-
lion of the Deccan in the latter years of Muhammad Tughluq's
reign, into the hands of Gonds, who established a dynasty there.
Gond legend assigns a high degree of antiquity to the dynasty
of Southern Gond wāna, the original capital of which is said to have
been Sirpur, near the Pranhitā River, in the "Ādīlābād District of
the Nizām's dominions. Ballālpur, higher up the river and on the
opposite bank, was next selected as the capital, which was moved
almost immediately to the newly founded city of Chānda', where
the Gonds reigned until the dynasty was extinguished by the
Marāthās.
There were thus, when Muslim rule was established both in
Northern and in Southern India, four Gond kingdoms in Gondwāna
northern kingdom with its capital at Garha; two central
kingdoms with their capital at Deogarh and Kherla ; and a
southern kingdom with its capital at Chānda, 'There
1 19° 57' N. , 78° 58' E.
>
-а
are
no
3


## p. 536 (#586) ############################################

536
[CH.
NATIVE STATES OF NORTHERN INDIA
materials for a detailed history of these kingdoms during the
period of which we treat. The northern kingdom, known to the
Muslims as Garha-Katanga, from its capital and another town, and
afterwards as Garha Mandla, was extended by Sangram Shāh, who
succeeded about 1480, and developed the little state, consisting
of four districts lying about Garha and Mandla, into a kingdom
containing fifty-four districts, by annexing large portions of the
Narbada valley, the districts now called Sangor and Dāmoh, and
the present state of Bhopāl. He built the fortress of Chaurāgarh,
he enriched his capital with buildings, and he obtained the fair
Durgāvati, daughter of the Chandel raja of Mahoba, as a bride
for his son Dalpat, who succeeded him. The alliance suggests the
origin of the Chandels.
Durgāwati, as regent for her son, Bir Narāyan, earned undying
fame as the defender of his inheritance against the Muslim ruler of
Mālwa and against Akbar, though she perished in the Mughul's
unprovoked attack on the kingdom.
of the history of the neighbouring kingdom of Deogarh nothing
certain, as has been said, is known until the reign of Bakht Buland,
late in the seventeenth century.
OF Kherla more is known. The fortress is situated near the
highway between Hindūstān and the Deccan, and could not fail to
attract attention. The Muslim kings of Deccan refrained from
molesting this state until, in 1398, Narsingh, the Gond raja, taking
advantage of Firuz Shāh's preoccupation with Vijayanagar, and
instigated by the Muslim rulers of Mālwa and Khāndesh, invaded
and ravaged Berar. He was driven out of that province and obliged
to swear ſealty to Firūz. Subsequent relations between the three
states, the Deccan, Mālwa, and Kherla, have been described in
Chapter xv. In the reign of Ahmad Shāh, brother and successor
of Firūz, it was agreed that the allegiance of Kherla should be
transferred to Mālwa, and the king of Mālwa afterwards captured
the fortress and exterminated the Gond dynasty. Kherla appears
in the Āin-i. Akbari as a district in the province of Berar.
of the southern kingdom, Chānda, yet more is known, but what
little certain knowledge we possess is disfigured and obscured by a
rank overgrowth of fiction. Despite the claims to antiquity made
in the legends of this kingdom it seems to have risen on the ruins
of the Vākātaka dynasty, whose capital was probably at Bhāndak,
a village near Chānda, at the end of the eleventh or beginning of
the twelfth century, and the names of nineteen kings who reigned
between that time and 1751, when the Marāthas occupied the
kingdom, have been preserved.
a


## p. 537 (#587) ############################################

xx]
KINGDOM OF CHĀNDA
537
The first was Bhim Ballār, or Ballal, Singh, whose capital was
at Sirpur and his chief stronghold Manikgarh, in the hills of west of
that town. His grandson was Hir Singh, who induced the Gonds
to cultivate the land and introduced a primitive land revenue
system. Hic Singh's grandson, Dinkar Singh, was a patron of
learning, and was succeeded by his son, Rām Singh, a just ruler
and a successful soldier, who extended the frontiers of his kingdom.
Rām Singh was succeeded by his son, Surja Ballāl Singh, 'one of
the most romantic figures of old Gondwāna. ' Owing to the absence
of any written record it is impossible to say precisely at what period
he reigned. The early part of the fifteenth century has been as-
signed as his date, but it appears to be at least as likely that he
lived early in the fourteenth century. The romantic circumstances
of his supposed visit to Delhi need not be recorded here, but it is
probable that he visited that city, though the fact has not been
deemed worthy of mention by any trustworthy historian. From
the absence of any such mention it may be inferred that the Gond
story of his rendering the king of Delhi an important service by
capturing the fortress of a Rājput named Mohan Singh which the
Muslim officers had failed to take is fiction, as is also the story that
the king rewarded him for the exploit with the title of Shāh, which
no Muslim king of Delhi would have conferred. It is certain, how-
ever, that Surja Ballāl and all who succeeded him on the throne of
Chānda used this title, in the form 'Sāh,' and it appears that Surja
Ballāl, who was known after his visit to Delhi as Sher Sāh Ballāl
Sāh, assumed it in imitation of the king of Delhi. Surja Ballāl
was succeeded by his son Khāndkia Ballāl Sāh, who suffered from
some disease which caused tumours and swellings on his body.
Seeking a healthier capital than Sirpur he built the town of Bal.
lālpur on the opposite side of the river. While hunting he acci-
dentally discovered near the site on which Chānda stands a pool
of water in a river bed, having drunk and washed himself
in the water, ſound his disease alleviated. It was decided that the
spot was the resting place of the great god Achaleshwar, the
'
Immovable One,' and Khāndkia, having been perfectly restored to
health by further use of the water, built a new capital near the
site, naming it Chandrapur, or Chānda (the Moon City). Its walls
were completed by his son and successor, Hir Sāh, who induced or
compelled his subjects to undertake the cultivation of fixed holdings
and constructed many reservoirs for irrigation. His revenue from
the land was assessed on the ploughs employed. He also built the
citadel and the palace of Chānda, parts of which still stand. Of
Hir Sāh it is recorded that he paid no tribute to any foreign king,
>


## p. 538 (#588) ############################################

538
NATIVE STATES OF NORTHERN INDIA
(CH. XX
from which statement it may be inferred that his predecessors had
paid tribute, probably to the Bahmani kings of the Deccan, but
the relations between that kingdom and the southern Gond state
are most obscure. The king of Chānda were not, like those of
Kherla, drawn into the disputes between the kings of the Deccan
and their northern neighbours, and seem wisely to have avoided
such entanglements; but when Firūz Shāh, the eighth king of the
Bahmani dynasty, marched northwards, in 1399 or 1400, to punish
Narsinga of Kherla for having invaded Berar, the fortress of Māhūr
was held by a 'misbeliever,' probably a Gond from Chānda who
had joined Narsing ; but he was permitted to retain the command
of the fortress a governor on behalf of Firūz, on making submis-
sion? . The same governor was again in rebellion in 1424, and in the
following year Ahmad Shāh, the successor of Fīrūz, dealt with him in
the manner already described. Continuing his march northwards
Ahmad found the fortress of Kalam in the hands of a Gond chief,
whom he slew or expelled, and then led a raid into Gondwāna. He
probably crossed the Wardha on this occasion, and, if so, this is the
only recorded instance of the invasion of the Chānda kingdom by
a Muslim king.
Hir Sāh was succeeded by his two sons, Bhima and Lokbā, who
reigned jointly until they were succeeded by Kārn Sāh, the son of
one of them, who embraced and propagated the Hindu religion
and substituted the regular administration of justice for the primi-
tive system under which each man avenged his own wrongs.
Kārn Sāh was succeeded by his son, Bābāji Ballāl Sāh, who
recovered the fortress of Bairāgarh and is mentioned in the Āin-i.
Akbari3 as being able to place in the field 1000 horse and 40,000
foot. He paid no tribute.
The Gond language possesses no written characters, and a high
standard of civilization could hardly exist at the courts of the four
Gond kingdoms, but the kings were not mere barbarians. Their
architecture proves their taste, and if they possessed no native
literature many were enlightened enough to
to encourage Hindu
letters. The northern kingdom, Garha-Mandla, was rich, the rajas
of Deogarh and Kherla were warlike, but none could compare with
the greatness of the southern kingdom. Unlike the other Gond
kingdoms, the house of Chānda seems to have had a long succession
of good and intelligent rulers, who resisted the natural temptations
to inner striſe and intrigue which brought destruction to the other
kingdoms'.
1 See ante, p. 390.
2 See antte, p. 399.
3 Vol. ii, pp. 230, 232.


## p. 539 (#589) ############################################

CHAPTER XXI
BURMA A. D. 1287–1531. THE PERIOD OF
SNĀH IMMIGRATION
.