lowered him in the eyes of the Rajpoot aristocracy, CHAPTER VII. At length it was whispered that Oody Sing was still alive, and had married a daughter of the chieftain of Jhalore. The vow of Hamir was still remembered, that none of his successors should wed a daughter of Jhalore. But the original affront was supposed to be condoned by the protection furnished to Oody Sing; and the young prince was accepted as the Rana by every chieftain in Rajpootana. The nobles rallied round his banner, and conducted him in triumph to Chittore; whilst Bunbeer escaped to the Dekhan, and became the ancestors of the Bhonslas of Nagpore.31 towards the Akber had now succeeded his father IIumáyun Policy of Akber on the throne of the Moguls, and was bent on the Rajpoots. reduction of Rajpootana. His policy was simple enough. He demanded that the three great princes of Rajpootana should pay him homage, and should each give him a daughter in marriage. Jeypore submitted, but Marwar and Chittore still held out. Akber then resolved to strike at the heart of Rajpootana by the capture of Chittore. 32 Chittore. The first attack failed. A favourite concubine Akher captures of the Rana headed a sally of the Rajpoots, and routed the army of the Moguls. The infatuated Rana declared that the concubine had saved Chit 31 Tod's Rajasthan, vol. i., page 319. There is reason to believe that Akber was an unscrupulous admirer of the fair sex. He was accustomed to hold a kind of fancy fair within the palace, where the wives and daughters of princes and nobles were induced to serve as shopkeepers, and were often compelled to listen to his advances. The wife of one Rajpoot prince is said to have been dishonoured by the emperor. An Udaipore princess is reported to have been inveigled into his presence, but she held a poniard to his heart, and compelled him to retire. These Rajpoot scandals, however, refer more immediately to the personal character of Akber. Tod's Rajast'han, vol. i., page 345. 33 CHAPTER VII. tore; and so exasperated his chieftains that they conspired together and slew the heroine. But although Akber was repulsed, Chittore was doomed. A few years passed away. The country was distracted by feuds and wars, and in 1567 Akber advanced against the devoted city. Oody Sing, coward as he was, effected his escape from the capital; but the Rajpoots defended it with all the valour of their fathers. Patta and Jeimal were the heroes of the defence; and to this day their names are household words in Rajpootana. Patta was only sixteen. His father had already fallen, when his mother armed herself, and her son, and his youthful bride, to sacrifice their lives for Chittore. All three were slain, and then Jeimal took the lead. Other wives and daughters had now armed themselves for the battle, and the Rajpoots fought with the valour of despair. But the odds were overwhelming. All hope of deliverance was lost. Nothing remained but the holocaust of the Johur. The women threw themselves by thousands on the burning piles. The men put on their saffron garments, and rushed out sword in hand. The Moguls fell in heaps; but the mortal struggle was soon over, and the enemy poured into the bleeding capital. From that day Chittore lost all her ancient glory. She became the widowed city of Rajpootana. Oody Sing sought a refuge in the Aravulli hills, where he founded the city of Udaipore. He died shortly afterwards, but henceforth his successors were known as the Ranas of Udaipore.34 Pertab Sing succeeded Oody Sing as Rana. He 33 Tod's Rajasthan, vol. i., page 325. 31 Ibid., page 329. hero of Rajpoot is the hero of the house of Udaipore. He utterly CHAPTER VII. refused to make the smallest submission, or even the Perta smallest concession to the Mogul conqueror. Jey- independence. pore had already transferred her allegiance to the Mogul; Marwar was wavering between the Rana and the emperor; but Pertab Sing was inflexible to the last. At one time he was carrying death and desolation into the plains of Meywar. At another he was flying from rock to rock on the Aravulli range, feeding his family with the wild fruits of his native hills. He ordered every true subject to join him in the mountains on pain of death; and so rigidly was this decree obeyed, that not a lamp was burning in all the land of Meywar. The garden of Rajpootana was becoming a desert. All the commerce of western Hindustan from Surat to Agra was brought to a close; for every caravan that attempted to pass was plundered by the guerillas of Pertab Sing. For a quarter of a century the Rana carried on this intermittent war. The privations and sufferings of himself and his family were often intense. Sometimes the children were crying for food; sometimes the elders were in peril of being captured by the Moguls. But he never forgot Chittore. So long as Chittore was a widowed city, he bound himself and his successors never to twist their beards, or eat from gold and silver, or sleep upon anything but straw. To this day the memory of the interdict is preserved in the royal house of Udaipore. The Rana never twists his beard. He eats from gold and silver, but there are leaves beneath the dishes. He sleeps upon a bed, but there is a scattering of straw below.35 35 Tod's Rajast' han, vol. i., page 331. CHAPTER VII. Marwar discard Meantime Marwar was compelled to yield. A Jeypore and daughter of the royal house of the Rahtores was sent ed by the Rana. to adorn the zenana of the emperor Akber. The sacrifice was a cruel one. Henceforth the Rajpoot princess was dead to her family and kinsfolk. But there was no alternative. The ruler of Marwar, however, was well rewarded for his concession. Henceforth he was placed on the right hand of the emperor. His title of Rao was raised to that of Raja. Large additions were made to his ancestral possessions. Nearly all the chieftains of Rajpootana were thus induced to follow his example, and become satraps of the Mogul. unshaken in his resolution. house should be given to the But Pertab Sing was No daughter of his daughter of his house should wed with a family who had stooped to an alliance with the alien. He gave the Sesodian princesses to be wives of his own faithful feudatories, or of the impoverished descendants of ancient dynasties of Delhi and Kanouj; but he refused to give them to the degenerate rulers of Marwar or Jeypore. More than a century passed away before the Ranas of Udaipore could be induced to relax this vigorous law. The ban had been felt bitterly. A marriage with a princess of the Súrya-vansa purified the blood of every royal house in Rajpootana; it regenerated all the members of the family, and converted them into pure Rajpoots. Prayers and entreaties were offered to successive Ranas, but all in vain. Every proposal was rejected with scorn. When, in a future generation, the Rana at last gave way, two stipulations were rigidly enforced. The family so honoured abjured for ever all such alliances with the Moguls, and bound itself to confer the succession to CHAPTER VII. the throne on a son of the daughter of Udaipore.36 Chittore to the Rana. Pertab Sing died without regaining Chittore. Restoration of His son Umra Sing continued to hold out bravely; but a degenerate member of the house deserted to the Moguls. This was Sugra, the brother of Pertab Sing. As a reward he was invested by the emperor with the dignity of Rana at the ancient capital of Chittore. But every temple and every ruin seemed to charge him with his crime. He was smitten with remorse; and then to gain relief he gave the city to Umra Sing. He perished like a Rajpoot. He went to the Mogul court, and was upbraided by the emperor. In his wrath he drew his dagger, and stabbed himself to death before the throne.37 submission. Umra Sing was at length induced to offer the The shadow of shadow of a submission to the Mogul. But it was little better than a name. No daughter of Udaipore was sacrificed to the emperor. No firman from the emperor was admitted within the Rajpoot capital.38 Henceforth, however, the history of the Rajpoots merges into that of the Moguls and Mahrattas, until the British government appeared upon the scene and effected the pacification of India by the assumption of the paramount power. of the Rajpoots. The political system of the Rajpoots is a subject Political system worthy of special study. The likeness between the Rajpoots and the Teutons was striking enough to induce Colonel Tod, the historian of Rajpootana, to work out a comparison in detail; but the data at his disposal were imperfect. He wrote in a past generation, when the study of comparative politics 36 Tod's Rajasthan, vol. i., page 335. 37 Ibid. 38 Ibid., page 350. |