Bappa's mode of swearing his companions to secrecy is preserved. Digging a small pit, and taking a pebble in his hand, "Swear," cried he, secrecy and obedience to me in good and in evil; that you will reveal to me all that you hear, and failing, desire that the good deeds of your forefathers may, like this pebble, (dropping it into the pit) fall into the Washerman's well." * They took the oath. The Solanki chief, however, heard that Bappa was the offender, who, receiving from his faithful scouts, intimation of his danger, sought refuge in one of the retreats which abound in these mountains, and which in after times proved the preservation of his race. The companions of his flight were two Bhils; one of Oondree, in the valley of the present capital, the other of Solanki descent, from Aguna Panora, in the western wilds. Their names, Baleo and Dewa, have been handed down with Bappa's; and the former had the honour of drawing the teeka of sovereignty with his own blood on the forehead of the prince, on the occasion of his taking the crown . . . . . It is pleasing to trace through a series of ages, the knowledge of a custom still honoured in the observance." The descendants of Baleo, of Aguna, and the Oondree Bhil, still claim the privilege of performing the teeka on the inauguration of the descendants of Bappa.

.....

'AGUNA PANORA is the sole spot in India which enjoys a state of natural freedom. Attached to no state, having no foreign communications, living under its own patriarchal head, its chief, with the title of Rana, whom one thousand hamlets scattered over the forest crowned valleys obey, can, if requisite, appear at the head of five thousand bows.' He is a Bhoomia Bhil of mixed blood, from the Solanki Rajpoot, on the old stock of pure (oojla) Bhils, the antochthones (if such there be of any country) of Méwar. Besides making the teeka of blood from an incision in the thumb, the Aguna chief takes the prince by the arm, and seats him on the throne, while the Oondree Bhil holds the salver of spices and sacred grains of rice used in making the teeka. But the solemnity of being seated on the throne of Méwar is so expensive, that many of these rites have fallen into disuse. Juggut-Sing was the last prince whose coronation was conducted with the ancient magnificence of this princely house. It cost the sum of ninety lacks of rupees (£1,125,000), nearly one entire year's revenue of the state in the days of its prosperity, and which, taking into consideration the comparative value of money, would amount to upwards of four millions sterling.

Such the pride of these small kingdoms in days of yore, and such their resources, till reduced by constant oppression! But their public works speak what they could do, and have done; witness the stupendous work of marble and its adjacent causeway, which dams the lake of Rajsumund at Kankerowli, and which cost upwards of a million. When the spectator views this expanse of water, this royal sea' (rajsumund) on the borders of the plain; the pillar of victory towering over the plains of Malwa, erected on the summit of Cheetore by Rana

Deemed in the East, the most impure of all receptacles. These wells are dug at the sides of streams, and give a supply of pure water filtering through the sand.'

Mokul; their palaces and temples in this ancient abode; the regal residence erected by these princes when ejected, must fill the observer with astonishment at the resources of the state. They are such as to explain the metaphor of my ancient friend Zalim Sing, who knew better than we the value of this country. Every pinch of the soil of

Méwar contains gold."'

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Bappa, after various changes of fortune, dispossessed the Mori prince of Cheetore, and became master of the principality, in the eighth century of the Christian era. That consecrated fortress became thenceforward the centre of the power and glory of Méwar; and the Rajpoot still refers with horror and indignation to the disastrous story-the three and a half violations of their sanctuary. The 'half' destruction of this national citadel, was the act of Alla-o-din, the Patan emperor of Delhi, one of the ablest and most successful of the sovereigns of Hindostan. Crafty and hypocritical as Aurengzebe himself, he swept in the round of conquest, the regions of Rajasthan, and left every where in his desolating progress the signatures of his destructive hand. Inflamed by the brilliant beauty of Pudmani, the wife of Bheemsi, he employed treachery to effect his purpose, and kidnapped the husband; demanding the surrender of the bride as the price of his ransom. Both were rescued by the devoted bravery of the Rajpoot chiefs; but in that bloody strife, the best and bravest of the Mewar soldiery were cut off; and when, after a brief season, Alla-o-din laid siege to the fortress, it fell through lack of numbers to man its walls against the overpowering numbers of the Mogul host. The whole transaction is so vividly described, and is moreover so strikingly illustrative of Rajpoot feeling, that we shall extract the description, with all the poetical embellishments which it has received from the bard whose history of the event has been preserved.

Alla-o-din, having recruited his strength, returned to his object, Cheetore. The annals state this to have been in S. 1346 (A. D. 1290), but Ferishta gives a date thirteen years later. They had not yet recovered the loss of so many valiant men who had sacrificed themselves for their prince's safety, and Alla carried on his attacks more closely, and at length obtained the hill at the southern point, where he entrenched himself. . . . . The poet has found in the disastrous issue of this siege, admirable materials for his song. He represents the Rana, after an arduous day, stretched on his pallet, and during a night of watchful anxiety, pondering on the means by which he might preserve from the general destruction, one at least of his twelve sons; when a voice broke on his solitude, exclaiming, " Mýn bhooka hó” (I am hungry); and raising his eyes, he saw by the dim glare of the cheragh (lamp), advancing between the granite columns, the majestic form of the guardian goddess of Cheetore. "Not satiated," exclaimed the Rana, "though eight thousand of my kin were late an offering to thee?" "I must have regal victims; and if twelve who wear the diadem

bleed not for Cheetore, the land will pass from the line." This said, she vanished.

'On the morn he convened a council of his chiefs, to whom he revealed the vision of the night, which they treated as the dream of a disordered fancy. He commanded their attendance at midnight; when again the form appeared, and repeated the terms on which alone she would remain amongst them. Though thousands of barbarians strew the earth, what are they to me? On each day enthrone a prince. Let the Kirnia, the Chehtra, and the Chamra proclaim his sovereignty; and for three days let his decrees be supreme: on the fourth, let him meet the foe and his fate. Then only, may I remain."

Whether we have merely the fiction of the poet, or whether the scene was got up to animate the spirit of resistance, matters but little; it is consistent with the belief of the tribe; and that the goddess should openly manifest her wish to retain as her tiara the battlements of Cheetore, on conditions so congenial to the warlike and superstitious Rajpoot, was a gage readily taken up, and fully answering the end. A generous contention arose amongst the brave brothers, who should be the first victim to avert the denunciation. Ursi urged his priority of birth: he was proclaimed, the umbrella waved over his head, and on the fourth day, he surrendered his short-lived honours and his life. Ajeysi, the next in birth, demanded to follow; but he was the favourite son of his father, and at his request he consented to let his brothers precede him. Eleven had fallen in turn, and but one victim remained to the salvation of the city, when the Rana, calling his chiefs around him, said, "Now I devote myself for Cheetore." But another awful sacrifice was to precede this act of self-devotion, in that horrible rite, the Johur, where the females are immolated to preserve them from pollution or captivity. The funeral pyre was lighted within the "great subterranean retreat", in chambers impervious to the light of day, and the defenders of Cheetore beheld in procession the queens, their own wives and daughters, to the number of several thousands. The fair Pudmani closed the throng, which was augmented by whatever of female beauty or youth could be tainted by Tatar lust. They were conveyed to the cavern, and the opening closed upon them, leaving them to find security from dishonour in the devouring element.

A contest now arose between the Rana and his surviving son; but the father prevailed, and Ajeysi, in obedience to his commands, with a small band passed through the enemy's lines, and reached Kailwarra in safety. The Rana, satisfied that his line was not extinct, now prepared to follow his brave sons; and calling around him his devoted clans, for whom life had no longer any charms, they threw open the portals, and descended to the plain, and with a reckless despair carried death, or met it, in the crowded ranks of Alla. The Tatar conqueror took possession of an inanimate capital, strewed with brave defenders; the smoke yet issuing from the recesses where lay consumed the once fair object of his desire; and since their devoted day, the cavern has

The ensigns of kingly dignity; the Parasol, the Umbrella, and the tail of the wild Ox.'

!

ex

been sacred: no eye has penetrated its gloom; and superstition has placed as its guardian a huge serpent, whose 'venemous breath tinguishes the light which might guide intruders to the place of sacrifice.'

The fatal loss of brave men sustained in the rescue of Bheemsi and Pudmani, and in the ensuing battle under the very walls of the fortress, is considered as the half-sack of Cheetore'; and its fall, with the consequent destruction of its noble buildings and splendid monuments of art, is reckoned as the first entire storm and spoliation.

The second was in the reign of the emperor Baber; and its circumstances strongly resembled those of the first. There was the same stern determination to fall with the fortress; the infant prince was placed in safety; the fatal sacrifice of the Johur was consummated; the Rajpoots put on the saffron robe, and the chief who had assumed the garb and ensigns of royalty, rushed forth at their head to battle and welcome death. Baber had previously encountered a fearful example of the devotedness of these intrepid men. His memoirs give sufficient evidence of the difficulties to which he had been reduced by the valour of the Rana Sanka (Sanga) the Pagan,' and had the gallant Rajpoot been less confident of victory, the chances were, that the ex-king of Ferghana had terminated his eventful career at the 'yellow rivulet' of Biana. Sanga was one of the bravest of the brave series of the Seesoodia monarchs; and had not his life been cut short by domestic treachery, Baber might yet have found Hindustan no resting place. The Rana had been strongly curtailed of his fair proportion by his frequent exposure to the casualties of battle. In his own person, he was well-set and muscular; but, in addition to the loss of an eye and an arm, he was lame from the effects of a broken leg, and his body retained the scars of eighty wounds received in close fighting, from the sword or lance. His brother, Pirthi Raj, who was assassinated previously to his father's death, seems to have been a perfect model of a turbulent and daring Rajpoot; and we shall extract the curious description of his bearing and behaviour in a dangerous feud. His uncle, Soorajmul, aided by a chief named Sarungdeo, and by the king of Malwa, was in rebellion; and during a battle, in which the Rana, covered with wounds, was nearly defeated, Pirthi Raj came up with a reinforcement to the assistance of his father, and singled out his uncle, whom he wounded severely in several places. The fight ceased for the day from the mere exhaustion of both parties, and they bivouacked in sight of each other.

It will shew the manners and feelings so peculiar to the Rajpoot, to describe the meeting between the rival uncle and nephew unique 3 к

VOL. II.-N.S.

in the details of strife, perhaps, since the origin of man. It is taken from a MS. of the I'hala chief who succeeded Soorajmul in Sadri. Pirthi Raj visited his uncle, whom he fouud in a small tent reclining on a pallet, having just had "the Barber" (náe) to sew up his wounds. He rose and met his nephew with the customary respect, as if nothing unusual had occurred; but the exertion caused some of the wounds to open afresh, when the following dialogue ensued: Well, uncle, how are your wounds? "Quite healed, my child, since I have the pleasure

· Pirthi Raj. Soorajmul. of seeing you."

Pirthi Raj.

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"But, uncle (kaka), I have not yet seen the Dewanji*. I first ran to see you, and I am very hungry; have you any thing to eat?"

'Dinner was soon served, and the extraordinary pair sat down and "ate off the same platter"; nor did Pirthi Raj hesitate to eat the "pan" presented on his taking leave.

Pirthi Raj.

uncle."

"You and I will end our battle in the morning,

Soorajmul." Very well, come early."

They met, but Sarungdeo bore the brunt of the conflict, receiving thirty-five wounds. During "four gurries, swords and lances were plied, and every tribe of Rajpoot lost numbers that day;" but the rebels were defeated, and fled to Sadri, and Pirthi Raj returned in triumph, though with seven wounds, to Cheetore. The rebels, however, did not relinquish their designs, and many personal encounters took place between the uncle and nephew: the latter saying, he would not let him retain "as much land of Mewar as would cover a needle's point;" and Soojoh (a familiar contraction of Soorajmul) retorting, that he would allow his nephew to redeem only as much as would suffice to lie upon." But Pirthi Raj gave them no rest, pursuing them from place to place. In the wilds of Baturrho, they formed a stockaded retreat of the Dho-tree, which abounds in these forests. Within this shelter, horses and men were intermingled: Soojoh and his coadjutors communing by the night-fire on their desperate plight, when their cogitations were checked by the rush and neigh of horses. Scarcely had the pretender exclaimed," This must be my nephew!" when Pirthi Raj dashed his steed through the barricade, and entered with his troops. All was confusion, and the sword showered its blows indiscriminately. The young prince reached his uncle, and dealt him a blow which would have levelled him, but for the support of Sarungdeo, who upbraided him, adding that "a buffet now was more than a score of wounds in former days;" to which Soojoh rejoined, "Only when dealt by my nephew's hand." Soojoh demanded a parley; and calling on the prince to stop the combat, he continued, "If I am killed, it

* Regent,' the title the Rana is most familiarly known by. This compound of the betel, or areca-nut, cloves, mace, terra japonica, and prepared lime, is always taken after meals, and has not unfrequently been a medium for administering poison.

Hottrs of twenty-two minutes each.