Book 7 — CHAPTER 2

Question of Dates.

—The dates of the varied events related in the preceding chapter may be of doubtful accuracy, but we have at length arrived on the

terra firma

of Bhatti chronology. We may distrust the date, 3008 of Yudishthira’s era, for the victory obtained by the Jadon prince of Gajni over the kings of Rum and Khorasan;

[1]

as well as that of S. 72 assigned for the exode of Salbahan and his Yadus from Zabulistan, and their colonization of the Panjab;

[2]

but their settlements in the desert, and the foundation of [233] Tanot, their first seat of power, in S. 787 (

A.D.

731), are corroborated by incontrovertible synchronisms in almost every subsequent reign of these annals.

Rāo Kehar I.

—Kehar, a name highly respected in the history of the Bhatti race, and whose exploit has been already recorded, must have been the cotemporary of the celebrated Caliph Al Walid,

[3]

the first whose arms extended to the plains of India, and one of whose earliest conquests and chief positions was Aror, the capital of Upper Sind.

1191

Rāo Tano or Tanuji.

—Kehar

[4]

had five sons; namely, Tano, Utirao, Chanar, Kaphrio, Them. All of them had offspring,

[5]

who became the heads of clans, retaining the patronymic. All were soldiers of fortune, and they conquered the lands of the Chana Rajputs;

[6]

but the latter revenged themselves upon Kehar, whom they attacked and slew as he was hunting.

Tano succeeded. He laid waste the lands of the Barahas,^[7] and those of the Langaha of Multan. But Husain Shah advanced with the Langaha Pathans,^[8] clothed in armour with iron helms, with the men of Dudi,^[9] of Khichi^[10] the Khokhar;^[11] the Mogul, the Johya,^[12] the Jud,^[12] and Sayyid, all mounted on horses, to the 1192number of ten thousand men, to attack the Jadon. They reached the territory of the Barahas, who [234] joined them, and there they encamped. Tano collected his brethren around him, and prepared for defence. During four days they defended the castle; and on the fifth the Rao ordered the gates to be thrown open, and with his son, Bijairae, sallied out sword in hand, and attacked the besiegers. The Barahas were the first to fly, and they were soon followed by the rest of the Asurs. The victors carried the spoils of the field into Tanot. As soon as the armies of Multan and Langaha were driven off, the coco-nut came from Jiju, chief of the Butas of Butaban,^[13] and an alliance offensive and defensive was formed against the prince of Multan.

Tano had five sons, Bijairae, Makar, Jaitang, Alan, and Rakecha. The second son, Makar, had issue Maipa, who had two sons, Mohola and Dakao, the latter of whom excavated the lake known by his name. His issue became carpenters (Sutar), and are to this day known as the Makar Sutar.^[14]

The third son, Jaitang, had two sons, Ratansi and Chohar. The first repaired the ruined city of Bikampur.^[15] Chohar had two sons, Kola and Girraj, who founded the towns of Kolasar and Girrajsar.^[15]

The fourth son, Alan, had four sons, Deosi, Tirpal, Bhaoni, and 1193Rakecha. The descendants of Deosi became Rabaris (who rear camels),^[16] and the issue of Rakecha became merchants (Banias), and are now classed amongst the Oswal tribe.^[17]

Tano having, by the interposition of the goddess Bijaiseni, discovered a hidden treasure, erected a fortress, which he named Bijnot;^[18] and in this he placed a statue of the goddess, on the 13th, the enlightened part of the month Margsir, the Rohini Nakshatra, S. 813 (A.D. 757). He died after ruling eighty years.

Bijairāē.

—Bijairae succeeded in S. 870 (

A.D.

814). He commenced his reign with the

tika-daur

against his old enemies, the Barahas, whom he defeated and plundered. In S. 892, he had a son by the Buta queen, who was called Deoraj. The Barahas and Langahas once more united to attack the Bhatti prince; but they were defeated [235] and put to flight. Finding that they could not succeed by open warfare, they had recourse to treachery. Having, under pretence of terminating this long feud, invited young Deoraj to marry the daughter of the Baraha chief, the Bhattis attended, when Bijairae and eight hundred of his kin and clan were massacred. Deoraj escaped to the house of the Purohit (of the Barahas, it is presumed), whither he was pursued. There being no hope of escape, the Brahman threw the Brahmanical thread round the neck of the young prince, and in order to convince his pursuers that they were deceived as to the object of their search, he sat down to eat with him from the same dish.

[19]

Tanot was invested and taken, and nearly every soul in it put to the sword, so that the very name of Bhatti was for a while extinct.

1194

Rāo Deorāj.

—Deoraj remained for a long time concealed in the territory of the Barahas; but at length he ventured to Buta, his maternal abode, where he had the happiness to find his mother, who had escaped the massacre at Tanot. She was rejoiced to behold her son’s face, and “waved the salt over his head,” then threw it into the water, exclaiming, “Thus may your enemies melt away!” Soon tired of a life of dependence, Deoraj asked for a single village, which was promised; but the kin of the Buta chief alarmed him, and he recalled it, and limited his grant to such a quantity of land as he could encompass by the thongs cut from a single buffalo’s hide; and this, too, in the depth of the desert. For this expedient he was indebted to the architect Kaikeya, who had constructed the castle of Bhatner.

[20]

Deoraj

1195

immediately commenced erecting a [236] place of strength, which he called after himself Deogarh, or Derawar,

[21]

on Monday, the 5th of the month Magh (sudi), the Pushya Nakshatra, S. 909.

Soon as the Buta chief heard that his son-in-law was erecting, not a dwelling, but a castle, he sent a force to raze it. Deoraj despatched his mother with the keys to the assailants, and invited 1196the leaders to receive the castle and his homage; when the chief men, to the number of a hundred and twenty, entered, they were inveigled, under pretence of consultation, ten at a time, and each party put to death and their bodies thrown over the wall. Deprived of their leaders, the rest took to flight.

Soon after, the prince was visited by his patron, the Jogi who had protected him amongst the Barahas, and who now gave him the title of Siddh.^[22] This Jogi, who possessed the art of transmuting metals, lodged in the same house where Deoraj found protection on the massacre of his father and kindred. One day, the holy man had gone abroad, leaving his jarjarikakantha, or ‘tattered doublet,’ in which was the Raskumbha, or ‘elixir-vessel,’ a drop of which having fallen on the dagger of Deoraj and changed it to gold, he decamped with both, and it was by the possession of this he was enabled to erect Derawar. The Jogi was well aware of the thief whom he now came to visit; and he confirmed him in the possession of the stolen property, on one condition, that he should become his chela and disciple, and, as a token of submission and fidelity, adopt the external symbols of the Jogi. Deoraj assented, and was invested with the Jogi robe of ochre.^[23] He placed the mudra^[24] in his ear, the little horn round his neck, and [237] the bandage (langota) about his loins; and with the gourd (khopra) in his hand, he perambulated the dwellings of his kin, exclaiming, Alakh! Alakh!^[25] The gourd was filled with gold and pearls; the title of Rao was abandoned for that of Rawal;^[26] the tika was made on his forehead; and exacting a pledge that these rites of inauguration should be continued to the latest posterity, the Baba Rata (for such was the Jogi’s name) disappeared.

Deoraj determined to wreak his revenge on the Barahas, and he enjoyed it even “to stripping the scarfs from the heads of their females.” On his return to Derawar, he prepared for an attack on Langaha, the heir of which was then on a marriage expedition at Alipur. There, Deoraj attacked and slew a thousand 1197of them, the rest henceforth acknowledged his supremacy. The Langahas were gallant Rajputs.

The Langāha Tribe.

—As the tribe of Langaha, or Langa, will from this period go hand in hand, in all the international wars of the Yadu-Bhattis, from their expulsion from the Panjab to their final settlement in the Indian desert, it is of some interest to trace its origin and destiny. It is distinctly stated that, at this epoch, the Langahas were Rajputs; and they are in fact a subdivision of the Solanki or Chalukya race, one of the four Agnikula; and it is important to observe that in their gotracharya, or ‘genealogical tree,’ they claim Lohkot in the Panjab as their early location; in all probability prior to their regeneration on Mount Abu, when they adopted Brahmanical principles. From the year S. 787 (

A.D.

731), when the castle of Tanot was erected by the leader of the Bhatti colony, down to S. 1530 (

A.D.

1474), a period of seven hundred and forty-three years, perpetual border-strife appears to have occurred between the Bhattis and Langahas, which terminated in that singular combat, or duel, of tribe against tribe, during the reign of Rawal Chachak, in the last-mentioned period. Shortly after this, Babur conquered India, and Multan became a province of the empire, when the authority of tribes ceased. Ferishta, however, comes to our aid and gives us an account of an entire dynasty of this tribe as kings of Multan. The first of this line of five kings began his reign

A.H.

847 (

A.D.

1443), or thirty years anterior to the death of Rawal Chachak. The Muslim historian (see Briggs’ Ferishta, vol. iv. p. 379) says that when Khizr Khan Sayyid

[27]

was emperor of Delhi, he sent Shaikh Yusuf as his lieutenant to Multan, who gained the esteem of the surrounding princes; amongst whom was Rae Sahra, chief of Sivi, head of the tribe of Langaha [238], who came to congratulate him, and to offer his services and a daughter in marriage. The offer was accepted; constant communication was kept up between Sivi and Multan, till at length Rae Sahra disclosed the object of all this solicitude; he threw aside the mask, confined the Shaikh, sent him off to Delhi, and crowned himself king of Multan, under the title of Kutbu-d-din.

Ferishta^[28] calls Rae SahraSahra and his tribe of Langaha, Afghans; 1198and Abu-l-fazl says, the inhabitants of Sivi were of the Numri (fox) tribe, which is assuredly one of the most numerous of the Jat or Gete race, though they have all, since their conversion, adopted the distinctive term of Baloch. The Bhatti chronicle calls the Langahas in one page Pathan, and in another Rajput, which are perfectly reconcilable, and by no means indicative that the Pathan or Afghan of that early period, or even in the time of Rae Sahra, was a Muhammadan. The title of Rae is sufficient proof that they were even then Hindus. Mr. Elphinstone scouts the idea of the descent of the Afghans from the Jews; and not a trace of the Hebrew is found in the Pushtu, or language of this tribe, although it has much affinity to the Zend and Sanskrit. I cannot refrain from repeating my conviction of the origin of the Afghans from the Yadu, converted into Yahudi, or ‘Jew.’ Whether these Yadus are or are not Yuti, or Getae, remains to be proved.^[29]

To the south of Derawar dwelt the Lodra Rajputs; their capital was Lodorva,^[30] an immense city, having twelve gates. The family Purohit, having been offended, took sanctuary (saran) with Deoraj, and stimulated him to dispossess his old masters of their territory. A marriage was proposed to Nripbhan, the chief of the Lodras, which being accepted, Deoraj, at the head of twelve hundred chosen horse, departed for Lodorva. The gates of the city were thrown open as the bridegroom approached; but no sooner had he entered with his suite, than swords were drawn, and Deoraj made himself master of Lodorva.^[31] He married the 1199chief’s daughter, left a garrison in Lodorva, and returned to Derawar. Deoraj was now lord of fifty-six thousand horse, and a hundred thousand camels [239].^[32]

At this period, a merchant of Derawar, named Jaskaran, having gone to Dharanagari, was imprisoned by its prince, Brajbhan Puar, and compelled to pay a ransom for his liberty. On his return to Derawar, he showed the mark of the iron-collar to his sovereign, who, indignant at the dishonour put upon his subject, swore he would not drink water until he had avenged the insult. But he had not calculated the distance between him and his foe; in order, however, to redeem his pledge, a Dhar of clay (gar-ra-dhar) was constructed, on which he was about to wreak his vengeance, but there were Pramars in his army, who were at their post ready to defend their mock capital; and, as their astonished prince advanced to destroy it, they exclaimed—

Jān Puār tan Dhār hai

Aur Dhār tān Puār

Dhār bina Puār nahīn

Aur nahīn Puār bina Dhār,

which may be thus translated:

“Wherever there is a Puar, there is a Dhar; and where there is a Dhar, there is a Puar. There is no Dhar without a Puar; neither is there a Puar without a Dhar.”^[33]

Under their leaders, Tejsi and Sarang, they protected the mock Dhar, and were cut to pieces to the number of one hundred and twenty.^[34] Deoraj approved their valour, and provided for their children. Being thus released from his oath, he proceeded towards Dhar, reducing those who opposed his progress. Brajbhan defended Dhar during five days, and fell with eight hundred of his men; upon which Deoraj unfurled the flag of victory and returned to his late conquest, the city of Lodorva.

Deoraj had two sons, Mund and Chedu; the last, by a wife of the Baraha tribe, had five sons, whose descendants were styled Cheda Rajputs. Deoraj excavated several large lakes in the 1200territory of Khadal (in which Derawar is situated); one at Tanot is called Tanosar; another, after himself, Deosar. Having one day gone to hunt, slightly attended, he was attacked by an ambush of the Chana Rajputs, and slain with twenty-six of his attendants, after having reigned fifty-five years. His kin and clans shaved their locks and moustaches, excepting^[35]

Mund, who succeeded, and performed all the ceremonies during the twelve days. Having made his ablutions with the water from sixty-eight different wells, in which [240] were immersed the leaves of one hundred and eight different shrubs and trees, a female of spotless virtue waved the burning frankincense over his head. Before him was placed the panjamrit, consisting of curds, milk, butter, sugar, and honey; likewise pearls, gems, the royal umbrella, the grass called dub, various flowers, a looking-glass, a young virgin, a chariot, a flag or banner, the vela flower, seven sorts of grain, two fish, a horse, a nakhank (unknown),^[36] a bullock, a shell, a lotus, a vessel of water, the tail of the wild ox (chaunri), a sword, a female calf, a litter, yellow clay, and prepared food. Then, seated on the lion’s hide—(on which were painted the seven dwipas or continents of Hindu cosmography, apparelled in the dress of the Jogi, and covered with ashes (bhabut), with the mudra in his ears)—the white chaunri (ox-tail) was waved over his head, and he was inaugurated on the gaddi of Deoraj, while the Purohit and chiefs presented their offerings. The tika-daur was against the assassins of his father, who had congregated for defence, eight hundred of whom were put to death. Rawal Mund had one son, who was called Bachera. When about fourteen years of age the coco-nut came from Balabhsen Solanki, Raja of Patan.^[37] He forthwith proceeded to Patan, 1201where he married the Solanki princess, and died not long after his father.

Rāwal Bachera or Wachuji.

—Bachera succeeded on Saturday the 12th Sravan, S. 1035.

[38]

The same rites of installation were performed; the Kanphara (split-eared) Jogi was the first to put the regal

tilak

on his forehead, and “his hand upon his back.” Rawal Bachera had five sons, Dusaj, Singh, Bapi Rao, Ankho, and Malpasao; all of whom had issue, forming clans.

A merchant came to Lodorva with a caravan of horses, of which there was one of a race so superior that a lakh of rupees was fixed as his price; the breed belonged to a Pathan chief, west of the Indus. To obtain it, Dusaj and his son Ankho put themselves at the head of a band, crossed the Indus, slew Ghazi Khan, the Pathan chief, and carried off his stud [241].

Singh had a son, Sachharae; his son was Bala, who had two sons, Ratan and Jaga; they attacked the Parihar prince Jagannath of Mandor, and carried off five hundred camels: their descendants are styled Singhrao Rajputs.

Bapi Rao had two sons, Pahu and Mandan. Pahu had likewise two, Biram and Tular, whose numerous issue were styled the Pahu Rajputs. The Pahus issued from their abode of Bikampur, and conquered the lands of the Johyas, as far as Devijhal; and having made Pugal^[39] their capital, they dug numerous wells in the thal, which still go by the name of the Pahu wells.

Near Khata, in the Nagor district of Marwar, there dwelt a warrior of the Khichi tribe, named Jadra, who often plundered even to the gates of Pugal, slaying many of the Jaitang Bhattis. Dusaj prepared a kafila (‘caravan’) under pretence of making a pilgrimage to the Ganges, invaded unawares the Khichi chief’s territory, and slew him, with nine hundred of his men.

1202Dusaj, with his three brothers, went to the land of Kher, where dwelt Partap Singh, chief of the Guhilots,^[40] whose daughters they espoused. “In the land of Kher, the Jadon showered gold, enriching it.” In the daeja (dower) with his daughter, the Guhilot gave fifteen Dewadharis, or ‘virgin lamp-holders.’ Soon after, the Balochs made an inroad into the territory of Khadal; a battle ensued, in which five hundred were killed, and the rest fled beyond the river. Bachera died, and was succeeded by

Rāwal Dusaj.

— Dusaj, in the month of Asarh, S. 1100. Hamir, prince of the Sodhas,

[41]

made an incursion into his territories, which he plundered. Dusaj having unavailingly remonstrated, reminding him of ancient ties, he marched into Dhat, and gained a victory. Dusaj had two sons, Jaisal and Bijairaj, and in his old age a third son, by a Ranawat princess of the house of Mewar, called Lanja Bijairae, who, when Dusaj died, was placed on the throne by the nobles and civil officers of the State. Previous to his elevation, he had espoused a daughter of Siddhraj Jai Singh, Solanki. During the nuptial ceremonies, as the mother of the bride was marking the forehead of the bridegroom [242] with the

tilak

, or ‘inauguration mark,’ she exclaimed, “My son, do thou become the portal of the north—the barrier between us and the king, whose power is becoming strong.”

[42]

By the princess of Patan he had a son,

1203

who was named Bhojdeo, and who, by the death of his father when he attained the age of twenty-five, became lord of Lodorva. The other sons of Dusaj were at this time advanced in manhood, Jaisal being thirty-five, and Bijairaj thirty-two years of age.

Some years before the death of Dusaj, Raedhawal Puar, son (or descendant) of Udayaditya of Dhar, had three daughters, one of whom he betrothed to Jaipal (Ajaipal) Solanki, son of Siddhraj;^[43] another to Bijairaj Bhatti, and the third to the Rana of Chitor. The Bhatti prince left Lodorva for Dhar at the head of seven hundred horse, and arrived at the same time with the Sesodia and Solanki princes. On his return to Lodorva, he erected a temple to Seshalinga, close to which he made a lake. By the Puar princess he had a son named Rahar, who had two sons, Netsi and Keksi.

Bhojdeo had not long occupied the gaddi of Lodorva, when his uncle Jaisal conspired against him; but being always surrounded by a guard of five hundred Solanki Rajputs, his person was unassailable. At this time the prince of Patan was often engaged with the king’s troops from Tatta. Jaisal, in pursuance of his plan, determined to coalesce with the king, and cause an attack 1204on Patan (Anhilwara), by which alone he could hope for the departure of the Solanki body-guard. Jaisal, with his chief kin, escorted by two hundred horse, marched to the Panjnad, where he saw the king of Ghor, who had just overcome the king of Tatta,^[44] and placed his own garrison there [243],^[45] and he accompanied him to Aror, the ancient capital of Sind. There he unfolded his views, and having sworn allegiance to the king, he obtained a force to dispossess his nephew of his territory. Lodorva was encompassed, and Bhojdeo slain in its defence. In two days the inhabitants were to carry off their effects, and on the third the troops of Ghor were permitted the license of plunder. Lodorva was sacked, and Karim Khan departed for Bakhar with the spoils.

The Foundation of Jaisalmer, c. A.D. 1156.

—Jaisal thus obtained the

gaddi

of Lodorva; but it being open to invasion, he sought a spot better adapted for defence, and he found one only five coss (ten miles) from Lodorva. Upon the summit of a rocky ridge, he discovered a Brahman, whose solitary hermitage adjoined the fountain of Brahmsar. Having paid homage, and disclosed the purport of his visit, the recluse related the history of the triple-peaked hill, which overlooked his hermitage. He said that in the Treta, or ‘silver age,’ a celebrated ascetic called Kak, or Kaga, resided at this fountain, after whom the rivulet which issued thence had its name of Kaga; that the Pandu Arjun, with Hari Krishna, came there to attend a great sacrifice, on which occasion Krishna foretold that, in some distant age, a descendant of his should erect a town on the margin of that rivulet, and should raise a castle on Trikuta, the triple-peaked mount.

[46]

While Krishna thus prophesied, it was observed to

1205

him by Arjun that the water was bad, when Krishna smote the rock with his chakra (discus), whereupon a sweet spring bubbled up, and on its margin were inscribed the prophetic stanzas which the hermit Isal now pointed out to the Bhatti prince, who read as follows:

1.

“Oh prince of Jadu-vansa! come into this land, and on this mountain’s top erect a triangular castle.

2.

“Lodorva is destroyed, but only five coss therefrom is Jasana, a site of twice its strength.

3.

“Prince, whose name is Jaisal, who will be of Yadu race, abandon Lodorpura; here erect thy dwelling.”

The hermit Isal alone knew the existence of the fountain on whose margin these lines were engraved. All that he stipulated for himself was that the fields to the [244] westward of the castle should retain his name, “the fields of Isal.” He foretold that the intended castle should twice and a half times be sacked; that rivers of blood would flow, and that for a time all would be lost to his descendants.

On Rabiwar, ‘the day of the sun’ (a favourite day for commencing any grand undertaking with all these tribes), the 12th of Sravan, the enlightened half of the moon, S. 1212 (A.D. 1156), the foundation of Jaisalmer was laid, and soon the inhabitants, with all that was valuable, abandoned Lodorva,^[47] and began to erect new habitations. Jaisal had two sons, Kelan and Salbahan. He chose his chief ministers and advisers from the children of Sodal, of the Pahu tribe, who became too powerful. Their old enemies, the Ghana Rajputs, again invaded the lands of Khadal; but they suffered for their audacity. Jaisal survived this event five years, when he died, and was succeeded by his youngest son, Salbahan the Second [245].

1206