RHYMES OF RAJ PI
â–
THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA
RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA
BY
Col. G. H. TREVOR, C.S.I.
AGE.VT TO THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL FOR RAJPUTANA
^London
MACMILLAN AND CO.
AND NEW YORK
I894
Ail rights reserved
PREFACE
In 1829 Colonel James Tod, after an intimate personal
acquaintance with the Rajput States dating from 1806 to
1822, published in two big volumes his famous work
entitled The Annals and Antiquities of Rajas than, which
is still the chief authority recognised by natives of the
country as well as Europeans in all that pertains to the
Rajasthan of former days. In that book he laid open
from almost every known source, including the classics of
Hindustan, local bards and tradition, a mine of informa-
tion and romance regarding his beloved Rajputs, whom
he identified as connected with " the Getic nations
861793
vi RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA
described by Herodotus " and the Scandinavian Asi and
German tribes. " The heroes of Odin," he writes, " never
relished a cup of mead more than the Rajpoot his madhva,
and the bards of Scandinavia and Rajwarra are alike
eloquent in the praise of the bowl." Again : " Even in the
heaven of Indra, the Hindoo warrior's paradise, akin to
Valhalla, the Rajpoot has his cup which is served by the
Apsara, the twin sister of the celestial Hebe of Scania."
" Rajasthan," he explains, " is the collective and classical
denomination of that portion of India which is the abode
of (Rajpoot) princes. In the familiar dialect of these
countries it is termed Rajwarra, but by the more refined
Raet'hana, corrupted to Rajpootana, the common designa-
tion among the British to denote the Rajpoot principalities."
The Jat States of Bhurtpore and Dholpore and the
Mahomedan State of Tonk have also been included for
many years in Rajputana.
PREFACE vii
Most of the Rhymes in these pages refer to history
more or less ancient, and the ground-work of these may be
found in Tod's book. For the story of two I am indebted
to Powlett's Gazetteer of Bikanir. A few of modern cast
are added by way of contrast under the head Miscellaneous.
Should they collectively lead any English reader to take
an interest in Rajasthan past and present, my object in
publishing them, as a farewell tribute of friendship to the
Chiefs and people of that delightful country from whom I
have received much kindness, will have been accomplished.
I trust the Notes at the end will not seem too long :
they are mainly extracts from Tod, and the uninitiated
would do well to glance at them before reading the
Rhymes they explain or illustrate. It will be seen that
in some Rhymes I have imagined a local guide or bard
speaking to an English traveller, in a way which to those
who know the country and how difficult it is to extract
viii RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA
any information or sentiment from such persons, generally
conspicuous by their absence, will seem indeed an effort
of imagination. It is an old device, however, and may
plead the sanction of usage and Sir Walter Scott.
Lastly, must I ask scientific orthography to pardon
colloquialisms like Oodeypore, Jeypore, Jodhpore, instead
of Udaipur, Jaipur, Jodhpur, for the sake of rhyme, if for
nothing else ? I have followed the modern method only
in spelling words which I thought would not be familiar
to the English reader. Thus, though I cannot dethrone
Suttee and nuzzer in favour of Sati and nazar, I write Amra
and Jagat where Tod wrote Umra and Juggut ; herein
following, with a halting step, a rule now generally
accepted in English newspapers and railway time-tables
published in this country as well as by the Government
of India for official correspondence.
The Rhymes entitled " Stepping the Boundary," " A
PREFACE ix
Petition," " Snake -Bite," "A Thakur at Home" have
appeared before in a little volume called Whiffs
published by Messrs. Wheeler and Co., Calcutta and
Allahabad (Indian Railway Library Series), the copy-
right of which belongs to me.
Mount Abu, September 1894.
CONTENTS
PAGE
Mount Abu ....... i
Ajmere ........ 6
Akbar's Vow ....... 9
Sir Thomas Roe at Ajmere . . . . .10
Dixon Sahib . . . . . . .11
The Mayo College . . . . . .12
At Bhinai. Madlia Bheel . . . . .14
Mkwar —
At Oodeypore . . . . . .21
At Chitor—
Padmani ....... 27
The Suttee of Gorah's Wife .... 32
The First and Second Sack .... 34
The Third Sack and After ..... 42
Krishna Kumari ...... 50
At Nathdwara . . . . . -57
Xll
RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA
Marwar and Bikanir —
The Rahtores. At Jodhpore ....
Amra Singh ......
Ajit Singh .
The Founding of Bikanir ....
A Raja's Dying Bequest ....
Raja Karan Singh of Bikanir ....
Raja Gaj Singh of Bikanir to Raja Bijey Singh of Jodhpcue
At Jeypore ......
Bijey Singh to Gaj Singh. At Nathdwara
Bijey Singh on his Death-bed ....
At Tesalmere ......
59
63
66
74
77
82
9i
95
101
104
At Jeypore —
The Kachwahas
Infanticide ....
In Shekhawati
Bundi —
Rao Raja Surjan Singh of Bundi at Benares
The Discrowning of Umed Singh
107
1 1 1
"5
118
123
KOTAH AND JHALAWAR .
Zalim Singh .
130
133
At Bhurtpore-
The Jats
140
CONTEXTS
xin
Ulwar .....
i45
TONK—
Amir Khan's Soliloquy . . . . .147
Miscellaneous —
Latest Anecdote of Bijey Singh of Marwar . . . 155
The Ulwar Trial
159
The Baori's Request .
162
Stepping the Boundary
165
A Bheel Dispute
169
A Petition ....
172
Snake-Bite .....
177
A Thakur at Home. (In a British District)
180
A Thakur in a Rage. (In a Native State)
183
Mauled ....
.
186
The Present Siege of Bhurtpore
189
A Song of Jodhpore .
191
Famine in Rajputana .
194
The House upon the Lake
196
The House upon the Hill
198
Notes to Rhymes
201
mount Abu
Olympus is this hill, from ages
Unknown it has been sacred ground ;
Rishis and Munis, 1 gods and sages
Dwelt in these woods and rocks around.
And now perchance when earthquake rumbling
Goes muttering thro' the mountain-side,
It may be some old god a-grumbling
At want of worship, wounded pride.
?L B
RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA
Yet superstition, which by horror
And promise long has reigned supreme,
Brings thousands yearly to Dilwarra,
Whose temples surely are a dream :
A dream beyond all comprehension
Of art that e'en a Goth might saint ;
No wonder if they draw attention
To lore and legend growing faint.
The worship of the Jain who raised them
Has now diminished thro' the land,
But pilgrims who have come and praised them
Are not required to understand.
MOUNT ABU J
The white man smiles and from a guide-book chatters
Of Vishnu, Parasnath, of Brahman, Jain ;
The brown one looks on worship, faith, as matters
Ordained for each race by a different sign.
Whether he climb to trace in cave or high nook
The footsteps of some deity, or kneel
Before Dilwarra's gods or those of Gae Mukh,
Enough for him, unlettered soul, to feel,
Whoe'er in Abuji ~ may rule as master,
Men of an ancient creed or men without
The pooja 3 of his childhood and his pastor
Is his to follow, let who may have doubt.
RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA
He hears unmoved how the Chauhan once wrested
From the Pramar this mountain hold sublime ;
His thoughts are further back, when Vishnu crested
Proud Guru Sikr ' in the world's young prime.
So the old stream of pilgrims ripples yearly,
While some there be who stay awhile and grow
To love the Hill and its cool breezes dearly,
As refuge from the burning plains below :
As clothed with natural, not celestial beauty —
A home for children of the Frank, and place
For England's soldiers when on foreign duty
Health to renew and tired nerve to brace.
MOUNT ABU
To these the rocks which bear the names of Nitn
And Toad, The Gates and Sunset Point, the play
Of light upon the Lake from Moon and Sun
Are Abu's chief divinities to-day.
1 The Rishis were the great sages ; seven are especially enumerated in the
Puranas, among whom Yiswamitra and Vasishta are frequently mentioned in
the legendary lore of Abu.
Miini is a similar term, meaning any great sage or holy man.
2 The suffix ji denotes respect, honour. Natives generally speak of Abu as
Abu/V, and chiefs and others of less degree have always this suffix attached to
their names when mentioned by their own countrymen.
3 Worship.
4 Guru Sikr, or the Guru's Pinnacle, is the loftiest peak of Abu, and about
ten miles from the civil station. The shrine there has no architectural beauty.
The principal objects of worship are contained in a cavern, and consist of a
rock of granite bearing the impress of the feet of Data Brija, an incarnation of
Vishnu ; and in another corner of the cavern are the "puddaca," or footsteps
of Rama Nanda, the great apostle of the Sita ascetics. There are also other
caves on Guru Sikr resorted to by the numerous pilgrims to this noted shrine.
— Rajputana Gazetteer.
AJMERE. 1
Seventeen centuries and a half, they say,
Have passed since Aja the Chauhan this town
And fortress founded : many a stormy day
Since then has Ajmere known : on his way down
To Somnath Mahmud Sultan made an end,
Nearly nine hundred years ago, of all
That Taragarh was helpless to defend.
Then he who built the tank which people call
The Bisal sagar and who Delhi took
Ruled here awhile : his grandson Ana made
The lake on which the Moghal loved to look
When Shah Jahan long after marble laid
AJMERE
Upon its bank. From Ana sprang the last
Chauhan who reigned at Delhi ; his great name
Of Prithi Raj still shines throughout the past,
The topmost pinnacle of Rajput fame.
Since then what changes in seven hundred years—
Since Saiyad Husein, Moslem governor
Of Taragarh, of whom the traveller hears
At his famed shrine, surprised by the Rahtore,
Yielded his life and trust !
When England bled,
Ere the third Richard gained his bloody throne,
For York and Lancaster, White Rose and Red,
Mewar was Aj mere's lord. It came to own
Lordship from Malwa after, once again
Islam. The Rahtore for a space held sway,
Till mighty Akbar heralded long reign
8 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA
Of Moghal, who had ruled perchance to-day-
Had Aurangzeb been like him. The last century-
Saw Toork, 2 Rahtore, Mahratta, each in turn
Snatching and keeping, till " by Heaven's decree "
The year which made the British bonfires burn
For Waterloo brought Ajmere peace and hope,
Safe in old England's arms.
Here, Father Time,
Let me look back thro' thy kaleidoscope
Of war and slaughter, chivalry and crime,
Upon this scene of hill, and lake, and town
Nestling in lap of Taragarh, most fair,
And linger from its memories of renown
On four great pictures wondrous to compare.
1 This is the common spelling, which I have followed also in rhyming to
Jesalmere, Bikanir, etc., though strictly speaking it would be correct to write
and pronounce Ajmer, Jesalmer, Bikaner.
2 The Rajputs and others apply this word generally to all Mahomedans.
AKBAR'S VOW
AKBAR the King was sad and craved a son,
And vowed a vow that if his prayer bore fruit
He thanks to render God would walk on foot
To Aj mere's famous shrine. The gift was won,
The vow fulfilled. Each day the march begun
With all the Eastern pomp of drum and flute,
Horses and elephants and guns' salute.
Three hundred years since then their race have run
And the old shrine hath many a pilgrim seen,
But never since that long procession glowed
And flashed and hummed and trumpeted hath been
A sight like that along the Jeypore road,
Still marked by Akbar's milestones. Nor, I ween,
Hath saint to greater pilgrim favour showed.
II
SIR THOMAS ROE AT AJMERE
A.D. l6l6-l6l8
When James the First of old sent embassy
To Ind, Great Britain's first ambassador
Sought audience of the Moghal emperor
Here at Ajmere, and in his Diary
Tells, in old English, how he patiently
" Laye " a full year, angling with goodly store
Of gifts and compliment, while waiting for
The firman which, thro' humble factory
And leave to trade, unconscious paved the way
To Clive and Warren Hastings. Who could know,
As by this lake Jahangir proudly lay,
Pavilioned with Eastern pomp and show,
The danger to the Peacock Throne that day
He gave the firman to Sir Thomas Roe ?
Ill
DIXON SAHIB a.d. 1S37-57
The name of Colonel Dixon, who ruled over Merwara from a.d. 1836 to
1857, and over Ajmere also for most of that period, is a household word in
both districts, and his tomb at Beawur is still an object of veneration and
pilgrimage.
The land he governed was almost unknown
To the great world outside it when he came ;
And when he died, tho' thousands there made moan,
England at least had never heard his name.
For twenty years untrammelled by routine,
Scarcely a white face near him, with rare art
Tanks, villages, he made : and reigned serene
Till the great Mutiny. That broke his heart.
For honour he had neither badge nor star,
But marked an epoch : people still describe
His deeds with love and wonder ; near and far
They speak and date from time of " Dixon Sahib."
IV
THE MAYO COLLEGE 1
A.D. 1890
THE history of Rajwarra reeks with war ;
But since there came the long, long reign of peace
And ordered law is growing governor,
With fruits of knowledge yielding rich increase,
A dream was born — to bring the land's chief flower
Of Youth to love the bloom of gracious arts
That have, or ought to have, a greater power
Than swords to force a fellowship of hearts.
So this white hall of marble, this green park,
And these fair houses where glad school-boys dwell
THE MAYO COLLEGE 13
And play arose — a light from out the dark.
Ah, noble dream, the buds begin to swell.
May summer crown thy spring, and autumn bright
Thy message long proclaim " Let there be light." 2
1 Founded at Ajmere in 1875 by the Earl of Mayo, Viceroy and Governor-
General of India, for the education of the chiefs and nobility of Rajputana.
2 This is the motto of the College.
AT BHINAI
MADLIA BHEEL 1
Two hundred feet above the plain
Upon this rock he made his nest,
And scoured the country round : in vain
The wheeling squadron's frequent quest.
Nor horse nor man, nor lead nor steel,
Could hurt a hair of Madlia Bheel.
AT BHIXAI 15
That was three hundred years ago.
This hill and those on either side
And all around them, you must know,
Were jungle ; thick enough to hide
A legion : so the Bheel abode
In safety, ravaging the road.
The King had armies in the south,
So convoys passed ; and more than one
Was looted near that gorge's mouth :
Till news of what the Bheel had done
And how his name inspired fear
Reached Delhi and the Emperor's ear.
1 6 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA
My ancestor brave Karam Sen
Was with the King at Delhi then,
A Jodhpore prince. He took a train,
It might be of some hundred men,
And hither came and camped a mile
From this, and planned a stroke of wile.
Five seeming robbers herding kine
Strayed to the jungle's edge one night,
And sate them down to feast, with wine
The taste of which was rare delight :
When of a sudden on their meal
Broke in the outlaw Madlia Bheel.
AT BHINAI 17
They hailed him for their hearts' own lord,
Pointed toward the kine and laughed
A welcome to their feast : they poured
Down every throat the luscious draught —
Wine such as Bheel could never know.
It lured them to their overthrow.
For Karam Sen sharp swordsmen had
In ambush. In his drunken sleep
He killed the Bheel. The King was glad,
And gave him all these lands to keep —
Almost as far as sees the eye,
And made him Raja of Bhinai.
18 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA
The blood of Jodhpore in my veins
From Karam Sen of princely line,
No village of his broad domains
Should now own other rule than mine.
But many a one has passed away :
Alas, not half remain to-day.
Lord of the Eighty-four, 2 the name
My fathers bore for many a year
Was never mine : not mine the blame.
Ah, well ! you do not care to hear
That story now ; you only feel
An interest in Madlia Bheel.
AT BHINAI 19
This eagle's nest, this rugged peak
Where once he lived is now my fort.
Here in the Rains I've spent a week,
But now my breath is getting short
For climbing, and the hill is mute,
Save only for a chance salute
From yonder gun. The kite and crow
Muse o'er the fortunes of the place.
Bhinai there peacefully below
Lies with a smile upon her face,
Her tanks and fields, without a thought
Of days when Madlia reived and fought.
20 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA
Thus he the Raja, bright with sheen
Of pearls and silks of richest hue,
And all a peacock's pride of mien :
I gazed upon the wide-spread view,
And wished that fairer stroke of steel
Had robbed the nest of Madlia Bheel.
1 This is little more than a translation in verse of the story of Madlia told
me by Raja Mangal Singh, CLE., of Bhinai, while we were standing
together on the top of Madlia's Hill. Alas that my good friend, a most
picturesque specimen of a Rajput nobleman of the old type, who was constantly
dwelling on the decadence of his dignity and possessions as compared with by-
gone days, died four years afterwards in 1892.
2 The chaurasi, or eighty-four (villages), was the old designation of the
Raja's domain. Tod writes : " The country was partitioned into districts, each
containing from fifty to a hundred towns and villages, though sometimes
exceeding that proportion. The great number of chaurdsis leads to the con-
clusion that portions to the amount of eighty-four had been the general sub-
division. Many of these yet remain . . . tantamount to the old hundreds of
our Saxon ancestry." — Tod, vol. i. p. 141.
AT OODEYPORE
On the Pichola Lake
A local guide is supposed to be addressing an EnglisJtman
who is in a boat fishing.
Rama and Krishna both from Manu came
(You call him Noah but in our Purans
His name is Vaivaszoata, the Sun-born)
Thousands of years before your prophet Christ.
The Solar Race from Rama, ancestor
To Mewar, Marwar, Jeypore, Bikanir ;
The Lunar, Krishna-born, holds Jesalmere,
Bhatti, Jareja, and some other tribes.
22 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA
That is the answer to your question why
Upon the ceiling of the Mayo College
Where our young Thakurs go to pick up knowledge
The Sun and Moon blaze out in heraldry.
A golden sun upon a crimson field
Is Mewar's banner ; and a frequent sign
The Peacock everywhere, our bird divine.
Our tribes and customs all have been revealed
By Tod Sahib — was there ever such a man ?
You know we are Sesodia, 1 that the scribes
Make us the first of six-and-thirty tribes,
And that we are the only Rajput clan
Who never gave a princess to the line
Of Timoor ; against which we held our own —
Save at Chitor, our capital of old,
Of which a separate story shall be told —
Since Bappa Rawal founded there his throne
AT OODEYPORE 23
And the old dynasty surnamed Gehlote.
Tod makes our Bappa A.D. 72 8, 2
And Oodeypore 3 from Oodey Singh to date,
More than eight centuries later — Akbar's time.
Our history is full of deeds sublime,
Our land of hills and forests — yes, and lakes
Most beautiful to see : the traveller makes
Pictures of this on which we are afloat
(Tis named Pichola), and the Lord Sahib said
(Lord Lansdowne fished, Sir, from this very boat)
He never saw a more enchanting scene :
The Duke 4 too said so — son, Sir, of the Queen.
That's the Maharana's palace. Yes, his rank
Is very high ; the biggest state may thank
Its fortune when it weds with Oodeypore.
Our barons too are men of high degree —
24 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA
Thakurs^ we call them — tho' sometimes you see
Thakurs in other parts who are no more
Than petty squires : they have a theory,
Maintained for many a century, that while
The Chief and they are one large family,
He service to receive is lord and king,
First of the brotherhood in everything,
But cannot set aside by force or guile
Rights in the land which their forefathers held.
The Durbars (that's the chiefs) have frequently
Troubles with Thakurs, which, at one time quelled
By arms, the British Government
Now settles : often they are caused or swelled
By Brahmans whispering softly in the ear
Of both when angry, fostering discontent
For private purposes. Their influence here
Is strong ; they are a race we all revere.
AT OODEYPORE 25
For did not Manu say a Brahman's life
Was worth four soldiers', eight of trading men,
And sixteen Sudras' ? 6 That is why since then
Meddling with Chief or Thakur or Dewan
They always manage to put by a bit,
And are so clever in creating strife
For other people, keeping out of it
Themselves, like lawyers feeding on
The quarrels of their clients.
If you wish
To see the city, the Victoria Hall
And Lansdowne Hospital, I'll show you all
The local sights — Bravo ! you've hooked a fish.
1 The clan takes its name from the town Sesodia in Mewar.
2 See Note, p. 206.
3 "Classically Udyapoora, the City of the East, from Udya, the point of
sunrise."
4 His Royal Highness the Duke of Connaught visited Oodeypore in 1889,
and the Marquess of Lansdowne as Viceroy in 1890.
26 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA
5 The first syllable of this word should be pronounced as in the German
thaler.
6 As observed by Tod, the following is the climax of Manu's texts protecting
the Brahman : —
"What prince could gain wealth by oppressing these (Brahmans), who, if
angry, could frame other worlds, and regents of worlds, and could give birth
to new gods and mortals ? " See Note, p. 207.
AT CHITOR
A local bard is supposed to be speaking to an English
traveller.
You have heard the story before —
Padmani x the peerless, the fair,
Who came from the cinnamon shore
Of Ceylon, the Lunkah of yore,
And how in Mewar we swear
" By the sin of the sack of Chitor " ?
Three sacks and a half we count.
Of the half I will tell you first :
28 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA
A tale of a traitor accurst
And of beauty ill-fated, the fount
Of a chivalry such as the Turk
Never showed in the days that have been,
And of slaughter — alas for that scene ! —
God's curse upon Allah-ud-din,
His race and their handiwork !
Her beauty all the world inspired,
Till he, the King, by passion fired,
Resolved to lead an army here
And take by craft, or sword and spear,
A robber's might, that peerless girl,
Brave Bheemsi's 2 queen and Mewar's pearl.
The blood of Bappa Rawal spurned
To yield the prize for which he burned,
But, life to save, allowed his eyes
AT CHITOR 29
To look just once upon that prize.
Frankly on Rajput faith reposing,
He came within our fortress, saw
The mirror's face her face disclosing,
And straight returned. So by our law
Of trust for trust and host and guest,
Who on each other's honour rest,
Bheemsi descended to the plain
To see the King take bridle rein.
There foemen set in ambuscade
The lofty Rajput's trust betrayed
And bore him hence with speed. The Khan,
Perfidious like a base Pathan,
Sent challenge that to set him free
Padmani must his ransom be.
So, after counsel, guile with guile
To meet, the Rajputs answer sent
30 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA
The pearl thus caught by treacherous wile
Would pass unto the monarch's tent
Attended like a queen, and pay
The ransom for her lord. That day
Seven hundred covered litters bore
Her train of handmaids from Chitor,
Each carried by six men. Alas !
Fate adverse saved the Emperor.
The warriors in those litters fought
Like demons, and mowed down like grass
The legions round him ere they sought
The mansions of the Sun. They freed
The Rajput chieftain, and a steed
Whose feet were as the lightning flashing
Carried him safely home, as crashing
Upon that outer gate there came
In hot pursuit a wall of flame,
AT CHITOR 31
A sea of steel, and hosts of hell,
On which our heroes clashed and fell.
Tho' ancient bards have said that then
We lost perchance eight thousand men,
We kept brave Bheemsi and his queen
And beat back the false Allah-ud-din.
'Twas some time after, months and more,
Before the tyrant sacked Chitor ;
But tho' that day we drove him back,
We count the slaughter half a sack. 3
1 Padmini in Sanskrit, but commonly called Padmani in Me war.
2 According to Tod, Bheem Singh, an uncle of the Rana, was the husband of
Padmani. Another account assigns her to Ratun Singh, the Rana's brother.