Annals of Jaisalmer

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James Tod: Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, Volume II,
Publisher: Madras: Higginbotham and Co. 1873.

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Annals of Jaisalmer

Jat clans originated from Yadu-Bhatti lineage

Here is the list of Jat Clans appearing in Annals of Jaisalmer. The clan whose originator is given in these Bhatti annals has been provided here. Clans simply mentioned in other references are put ?.

Abstract of Chapter I

[p.191]: Jaisalmer — The derivation of its name — The Rajpoots of Jaisalmer called Bhattis, are of the Yadu race. — Descended from Bharat, king of Bharatavarsha or Indo-Scythia — Restricted bounds of India of modern invention — The ancient Hindus a naval people. — First seats of the Yadus in India, Praga, Mathura, and Dwarica — Their international wars — Hari, king of Mathura and Dwarica, leader of the Yadus — Dispersion of his family — His great grandsons Naba and Khira — Naba driven from Dwarica, becomes prince of Marusthali, conjectured to he the Maru, or Merv of Iran — Jareja and Jud-bhan, the sons of Khira, — The former founds the Sind - Samma dynasty, and Jud-bhan. becomes prince of Behera in the Punjab — Prtihibahu succeeds to Naba in Maroo — His son Bahu — His posterity, — Raja Gaj founds Ghazni — Attacked by the kings of Syria and Khorasan, who are repulsed — Raja Gaj attacks Kashmir — His marriage — Second invasion from Khorasan — The Syrian king conjectured to he Antiochus — Oracle predicts the loss of Ghazni — Gaj slain — Gujni taken — Prince Salibahan arrives in the Punjab — Founds the city of Salbahana, S. V. 72. — Conquers the Punjab — Marries the daughter of Jaipal Tuar of Dehli — Re-conquers Gujni — Is succeeded by Balund — His numerous offspring — Their conquests — Conjecture regarding the Jadoon tribe of Eusofzye, that the Afghans are Yadus, not Yahudis or Jews — Balund resides at Salbahana — Assigns Gujni to his grandson Chakito, who becomes a convert to Islam and king of Khorasan — The Chakito Moguls descended from him — Balund dies — His son Bhatti succeeds — Changes the patronymic of Yadu, or Jadoo, to Bhatti — Succeeded by Mangal Rao — His brother Masur Rao and sons cross the Garah and take possession of the Lakhi jungle — Degradation of the sons of Mangal Rao — They lose their rank as Rajpoot. — Their offspring styled Abhorias and Juts — Tribe of Tak — The capital of Taxiles discovered — Mangal Rao arrives in the Indian desert — Its tribes — His son, Majum Rao, marries a princess of Amarkot — His son Kehur— Alliance with the Deora of Jhalore- The foundation of Thanote laid — Kehur succeeds — Thanote attacked by the Baraha tribe — Thanote completed, S. 787 — Peace with the Barahas — Reflections.


Jaisalmer is the modern name of a tract of country comprehended, according to ancient geography, in Marusthali, the desert of India.

[p.192]: Jaisalmer — The derivation of its name: It is termed Mer in the traditional nomenclature of this region, from being a rocky (mer) oasis in the heart of the sandy desert, interesting both from its physical features, and its position as the Ultim Thule of independent Hinduism. Yet, however entitled to regard from its local peculiarities or its products, the history of the which inhabits it presents a still more engrossing subject for investigation.

Bhattis, are of the Yadu race: This tribe is the Bhatti, a branch of the Yadu or Jadoo race whose power was paramount in India three thousand years ago ; and the prince now governing this distant corner of India, claims descend from those Yadu kings who ruled from the Yamuna to the 'worlds end,'1 at that remote period.

Indo-Scythian Origin

It were preposterous to expect to find, in the annals of a people so subject to the vicissitudes of fortune, an unbroken series of historical evidence in support of this ancestry ; but they have preserved links of the chain which indicate original affinities. In tracing the Yadu-Bhatti history, two hypotheses alternately present themselves to our minds, each of which rests upon plausible grounds ; the one supposing the Bhattis to be of Scythic, the other of Hindu origin. This incongruity may be reconciled by presuming the co-mixture of the two primitive races ; by enlarging our views, and contemplating the barrier, which in remote ages separated Scythia and India, as ideal ; and admitting that the various communities, from the Caspian to the Ganges, were members of one grand family, having a common language and common faith,2 in that ancient central empire whose existence has been contended for and denied by the first names in science3 the Bharatversha of the Hindus, the Indo-Scythic empire of king Bharat, son of Budha, the ancestor of the Yadu-Bhattis, now confined to a nook of the desert.

Restricted bounds of India of modern invention: It would be vain to speculate upon the first colonization of India proper by the Rajcula, or 'royal tribes.' It appears to have

1 Juggut Coont, the point of land beyond Dwarica, the last strong-hold of the Yadus when their power was extinguished.

2 Manu says : " The following races of Kshatriyas, by their omission of holy rites, and by seeing no Brahmans, have gradually sunk among men to the lowest of the fourth class (i. e., Sudra.) ; Paundrakas, Odras, and Draviras ; Kambojas, Yavanas, and Sacas ; Paradas, Pahlavas, Chinas, Kiratas, Dardas, and Khasas,—Arts. 43 and 44, Chap. X, page 279, Hauohton's 3rd edition, published by Higginbotham & Co.

It is a great mistake to suppose the Bactrian Greeks are these Yavanas, who are descended from Yavan, fifth son of Yayati third son of the patriarchal Nahusa, though the Ionians may be of this race. The Sacas are the Sacoe, the races of central Asia, (the Sac'ha Rajpoot) ; the Pahlavas, the ancient Peraians, or Guebres ; the Chinas, the inhabitants of China; and the Khashas, inhabitants of the great snowy mountains (kho) whence Kho-chasa (the Casia montes of Ptolemy), corrupted tu Caucasus.

3 The illustrious Cuvier questions the existence of an ancient central kingdom, because ni Moise, ni Homere, ne nous parlait d'un grand empire dans la " Haute- Asie." — {Disoours sur les Rerolutions de la Surface du Globe, p. 206.)— Who, then, were "the sons of Togarmah" (mentioned by Ezekiel) who conquered and long held Egypt ?

[p.193]: possessed an indigenous population prior to the races of Surya, or Indu, though the genealogies which give the origin of these degraded races of Cabas,1 Bhils, Meras, Goands, &c. assert that they were all from the same stem, and that their political debasement was the effect of moral causes. But as there is no proof of this, we must attribute the fable to the desire of the Brahmin archaeologist to account for the origin of all things. Modern inquiries into these matters have been cramped by an erroneous and contracted view of the power of this ancient people, and the direction of that power. It has been assumed that the prejudices originating in Mooslem conquest, which prevented the Hindu chieftain from crossing the forbidden waters of the Attoc, and still more from " going down to " the sea in ships," had always existed. But were it not far more difficult to part with erroneous impressions than to receive new and correct views, it would be apparent that the first of these restrictions is of very recent origin, and on the other hand, that the Hindus of remote ages possessed great naval power, by which communication must have been maintained with the coasts of Africa,2 Arabia, and Persia, as well as the Australian Archipelago.3 It is ridiculous, with all the knowledge now in our possession, to suppose that the Hindus always confined themselves within their gigantic barriers, the limits of modern India. The cosmography of the Puranas, imperfect and puerile as it is, and some of the texts of Manu, afford abundant evidence of an intimate intercourse between the countries from the

1 The Caba race is almost extinct ; it was famed, even in the days of Krishna, as the savage inhabitants of Saurashtra. When the forester Bhil, who mortally "Wounded Krishna, was expressing his contrition for the unintentional act, he was forgiven, with the remark, that it was only retributive justice, as "in a former birth", as the godlike Rama, Krishna had slain him. Thus Rama appears as the subjugator and civilizer of these indigenous tribes, of whom the Kaba are described as plundering Krishna's family after his decease.

2 Whence the Hindu names of towns at the estuaries of the Gambia and Senegai rivers, the Tambaconda and other condas, already mentioned?

3 Mr. Maraden, at an early period of his researches into Hindu literature, shares the merit of discovering with Sir W. Jones, that the Malayan language, disseminated throughout the Archipelago, and extending from Madagascar to Easter Island, a space of 200° of longitude, is indebted to the Sanscrit for considerable number of its terms, and that the intercourse which effected this was many centuries previous to their conversion to the Mahomedan religion. He is inclined to think that the point of communication was from Guzzerat. The legends of these islanders also abound with allusions to the Mahabharata and Ramayana. (See Asiatic Res., Vol. IV, p. 226, Second Edition.)

Since Mr. M. wrote, the revelation of the architectural antiquities in these isles, consequent to British Conquests, establishes the fact that they were colonized by the Suryas, whose mythological and heroic history is sculptured in their edifices and maintained in their writings. Nor should we despair that similar discoveries may yet disclose the link which of yore connected India with Egypt, and to which Ceylon was but the first stepping-stone. That Rama proceeded great naval means is beyond doubt, inherited from his ancestor Sagara 'the sea-king' twenty generations before the hero of Lanka, which place I havelong imagined to be Ethiopia ; whence ancient writers assert Egypt to have had her institutions, and that the Ethiopians were of Indian origin. Cavier, quoting Syncellus, even assigns the reign of Amenophis as the epoch of the colonization of Ethiopia from India.— Page 180of his 'Discours' &c.

[p.194]: Oxus to the Ganges ; and even in their allegories, we trace fresh streams of knowledge flowing into India from that central region, stigmatized in latter days as the land of the barbarian (Mlechchha), Manu corroborates the Poorans, from which we infer the fact, that in distant ages one uniform faith extended from Saca-dwipa, the continent of the Sacae, to the Ganges1

Migration of Yadus

These observations it is necessary to premise before we attempt, by following the tide of Yadu migration during the lapse of thirty centuries, to trace them, from Indraprastha, Surapura, Mathura, Prayaga, Dwarica, Judoo-ca-dang (the mountains of Jud), Behera, Gujni in Zabulistan ; and again refluent into India, at Salbahana or Salpoora in the Punjab. Tunnote, Derawul, Lodorva in the desert, and finally Jessulmer, founded in S. 1212, or A.D. 1156.

Having elsewhere descanted at length on the early history of the Yadus,2 we may refer those who are likely to take an interest in this discussion to that paper, and proceed at once to glean what we can from the native annals before us, from the death of their leader, Hari-Krishna, to the dispersion of the Yadus from India. The bare fact of their migration altogether out of India proper, proves that the original intercourse, which conducted Budha, the patriarch of the Yadu race, into India3 (where he espoused Ella, a princess of

1. The cosmography of the Agni Pooran divides the world then known to the Hindus into seven dwipas, or continents : one of these is " Saca-dwipa, whose inhabitants, descended from Bup'ha, are termed Sakeshwara (i. e, Sacae lords)" His (Bup'has) offspring or descendants were Juhid, Sookmar, Manichuk, Koorum, Ootures, Darbeeka, Drooma, each of whom gave his name to a khand, or division (qu. Sookmarkhand V) The chief ranges or mountains were Juldus, Raivat, Siamah, Indue, Amki, Rim, and Kesari. " There were seven grand rivers, viz., Mug, Mugud, Arvema, &c. The inhabitants worship the sun."

Slight as this information is, we must believe that this Saca-dwipa or Sacatai, is the Scythia of the Ancients ; and the Sakeshswara (the Sacas of Manu), the Sacae so well known to western history, the progenitors of the Parthians, whose first (ad) king was Arsaca. The sun- worship indicates the adorer of Mithras, the Mitra or Surya of the Hindu ; the Arverna recalls the Araxes applied to the Jaxartes ; while Julud, the proper name of the son of the first King of Saca-dwipa, appears to be the Juldus of the Tatar historian Abulgazi, who uses the same term as does the Hindu, to designate a range of mountains. Whence this identity between Pooranic and Tatar cosmograpny ?

" A chief of the twice-born tribe (i. e., Brahmins) was brought by Vishnu's "eagle from Saca-dwlpa, and thus have Saca-dwipa Brahmins become known in " Jambu-dwipa" (India). — Mr. Colebrooke on Indian Classes, Asiatic Rea, Vol V, p. 63. And Manu says that it was only on their ceasing to sanction Brahmins residing amongst them, that the inhabitants of these remote western regions became ' Malechchha,' or barbarians : testimonies which must be held conclusive of perfect intercourse and reciprocity of sentiment between the nations of Central Asia and India at periods tne most remote.

2 Vide "Essay on the Hindu and Theban Hercules," Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. III.

3 The Bhagvat says, '"Budha (a wiseman — a patriarch) came to Bharatkhand to perform penitential rites, and espoused Ella, by whom he had Pururwa (founder of Mathura), who had six sons, viz., Ayu,&c. who carried on the lunar " (Indu) races in India." Now this Ayu is likewise the patriarch of the Tatars, and in that language signifies the moon, a male divinity both with Tatars and

[p.195]: the Surya race, and by whom his issue was multiplied), was not forgotten, though fifty generations had elapsed from the patriarchal Budha to Hari — to whom and the chronicle we return.

" Prayaga1 is the cradle of the Yadus who are Somavansa (of the lunar race). Thence Mathura founded by Pururwa remained for ages the seat of power. The name of Jadoo (Yadu), of whom there were fifty-six tribes,2 became famous in the world, and of this race was the mighty Hari-Krishna, who founded Dwarica."

The grand international conflicts amongst the " fifty-six Yadu " tribes," at Kurukshetra, and subsequently at Dwarica, are sufficiently known to the reader of Hindu history, and may be referred to elsewhere.3 These events are computed to have happened about 1,100 years before Christ. On the dispersion of these races many abandoned India, and amongst these, two of the many sons of Krishna. This deified leader of the Yadus had eight wives, and the offspring of the first and seventh, by a singular fate, now occupy what may be termed the outposts of Hinduism.4

Rukmani was the senior of these wives ; and the eldest of her sons was Pradyumna, who was married to a princess of Vidarbha ; she bore him two sons, Aniruddha and Vajra, and from the latter the Bhattis claim descent. Vajra had two sons, Naba and Khira.

" When the Yadus were exterminated in the conflict at Dwarica, and Hari had gone to heaven, Vajra was on his way from Mathura to see his father, but had only marched twenty coss (forty miles), when he received intelligence of that event, which had swept away his kindred. He died upon the spot, when Naba was elected king and returned to Mathura, but Khira pursued his journey to Dwarica.

" The thirty-six tribes of Rajpoots hitherto oppressed by the Yadus, who had long held universal dominion, now determined to be revenged. Naba was compelled to fly the holy city (Dwarica) ; he became prince of Marusthali in the west.

Rajpoots. Throughout there are traces of an original identity, which justifies the application of the term Indo-Scythic to the Yadu race. — Vide Genealoincal Table, Vol L

1 Prayaga is the modern Allahabad, at the confluence of the Jumna and Ganges the capital of the Prasii of Megasthenes.

2 This is alternately called Chhapan Kula and Chhapan Crcre " fifty-six "tribes." and "fifty-six millions," of Yadus. As they were long supreme over India this number is not inadmissible.

3 Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol III. Vide paper entitled, Comparison of the Hindu and Theban Hercules."

4 Jambuvati was the name of the seventh wife, whose eldest son was called Samba — he obtained possession of the tracts on both sides the Indus, and founded the Sind-Samma dynasty, from which the Jharejas are descended. There is every probability that Sambus of Samba-nagari (Minagara), the opponeot of Alexander, was a descendant of Samba, son of Krishna. The Jhareja chroniclea, in ignorance of the origin of this titular appellation, say that their " ancestors came from Sham, or Syria."

Genealogy of Yadubhan

[p.196]: " Thus far from the Bhagvat, (says the Bhatti chronicler) and I continue the history of the Bhattis, by the Brahmin Sukhdharma of Mathura.

" Naba had issue Prithibahu.

" Khira had two sons, Jhareja and Jud-bhan.1 (Yadubhan)

" Jud-bhan was on a pilgrimage ; the goddess heard his vows ; she awoke him from his sleep, and promised whatever he desired. 'Give me land that I may inhabit' said the youth ; 'Rule in these hills' replied the goddess, and disappeared. When Jud-bhan awoke, and was yet pondering on the vision of the night, a confused noise assailed him ; and looking out, he discovered that the prince of the country had just died without issue, and they were disputing who should succeed him. The prime minister said, 'he dreamed that a descendant of Krishna had arrived at Behera2 and proposed to seek him out and invest him as their prince. All assented, and Jud-bhan was elected king. He became a great prince, had a numerous progeny, and the place of their abode was henceforth styled Jadu Ka Dang, 'the mountains of Jadu'

" Prithi-bahu ('the arm of the earth'), son of Naba, prince of Maroosthali, inherited the insignia of Sri-Krishna with the regal

1 Jid, Jud, Jadoo, are the various modes of pronouncing Yadu in the Bhakha, or spoken dialects of the west. Jud-Bhan, ' the rocket of the Yadus' would imply the knowledge of gunpowder at a very remote period.

2 The precise knowledge of the topograpny of these regions, displayed in the Bhatti annals, is the most satisfactory proof of their authenticity. In the present day, it would be in vain to ask any native of Jessulmer the position of the hill of Jud," or the site of Behera ; and but for the valuable translation of Babar's Memoirs, by Mr. Erskine, we should have been unable to adduce the following testimony. Baber crossed the Indus the l7th February 1619, and on the 19th, between that river and one of its great towns, the Behat, he reached the very tract where the descendant of Krishna established himself twenty-five centuries before. Baber says, " Seven kos from Behreh to the north there is a hill. This hill in the Zefer Nameh (History of Timoor), and other books, is called the Hill of Jud. At first I was ignorant of the origin of its name, but afterwards discovered that in this hill there were two races of men descended of the same father. One tribe is called Jud, the other Jenjuheh. From old times they have been the rulers and lords of the inhabitants of this hill, and of the Ils and Uluses (political divisions) between Nilab and Behreh. Their power is exerted in a friendly and brotherly way. They cannot take from them whatever they please. They take as their share a portion that has been fixed from very remote times. The Jud is divided into various branches or families, as well as the Jenjuheh. The chief man amongst them gets the name of Rae. — Erskine's Baber, p, 254.

Here is a decided confirmation that this Hindu colony preserved all their original manners and customs even to Baber's day. The tribe of Jenjuheh beyond a doubt, is the tribe of Johya, so celebrated in the region skirting the Sutlej, and which will be noticed hereafter. I presented a small work entirely relating to their history, to the Royal Asiatic Society. As Baber says they are of the same family as the Juds, they are probably toe descendants of Jinj, the brother of Bhatti, who changed the family patronymic from Jadoo or Judoo to Bhatti ; and thus it appears, that when the elder branch was driven from Gujni, they retreated amongst their relations of the hills of Jud. Baber was quite enamoured with the beauty of the hill of Jud, which, with its lake and valleys, he describes as a miniature Kashmir. — P. 266,

[p.197]: umbrella (chhatri) made by Vishwakarma. He had a son Bahubal, ('strong arm'), who espoused Kamlavati, daughter of Vijaya Singh", Prince of Malwa, who gave in dower {daeja)1 one thousand horses of Khorasan, one hundred elephants, pearls, gems, and gold innumerable, and five hundred handmaids, with chariots and bedsteads of gold. The Puar (Pramar) Kamlavati became the chief queen and bore her lord one son,

"Bahu, killed by a fall from his horse ; he left one son,

"Subahu, who was poisoned by his wife, a daughter of Mund Raja Chohan of Ajmer : he left a son,

" Rijh, who reigned twelve years. He was married to Subhag Sundri, daughter of Ber Sing, prince of Malwa. Having, when pregnant, dreamed that she was delivered of a white elephant, the astrologers, who interpreted this as an indication of greatness, desired he might be named Guj2 :f as he approached manhood, the coco-nut came from Jud-bhan, prince of Poorubdes (the eastern), and was accepted. At the same time tidings arrived that from the shores of the ocean, the barbarians (Malechchha), who had formerly attacked Subahu3 were again advancing, having Ferid Shah of

1 The Pramars were formerly the most powerful potentates of central India. Handmaids, and bedsteads of gold, were always a part of the daeja or dower of Hindu princesses.

2 Abulfazi mentions Joga as prince of Gasmien and Cashmere, who was slain by Oguz Khan, the Patriarch of the Tatar tribes.

3 In this early portion of the annals there is a singular mixture of historical facts, and it appears that the Yadu scribes confound their connections with the Syrian and Bactrain Greeks, and with the first Mooslem conquerors. Imperfect as is this notice of Soobahu, his son Rijh, and grandson Gug, who were thus assailed by Ferid of Khorasan (Bactria), and his auxiliary, the king of Room (Syria), we have a powerful allusion to Antiochus the Great, who, two hundred and four years before Christ, invaded Bactria and India. Amongst the few facts left of this expedition is his treaty with Sophagasenus, the Indian monarch, in which the Syrian king stipulated for a tribute in elepbants. There are, even in this medley of incidents, grounds for imagining that Sophagasenus is the Yadu prince of Gujni. Whether, out of Soobahu and Guj the Greeks manufactured their Sophagasenus, or whether prince Guj could have been entitled Soobagh'h-sen, in compliment to his mother, Soobag'h- Soondri, of Malwa, must be left for the speculative to decide. It is not unlikely that the nature of the tribute, said to have been elephants, which the Indian agreed to furnish to the Greek prince, may have originated with the name of Guj which means 'elephant'


There is at the same time much that refers to the early progress of Islam in these regions of central Asia. Price, in his excellent history, extracting from the Xholausut-ul'Akbar, says, "Hejaage was entrusted with the government of Khorasan, and Obaidoolah with Seistan, who had orders from Hejauge, his enperior, to invade Cabul whose prince was Reteil or Retpeil, whom the author supposes either a Tatar or Hindoo prince. Artfully retiring, he drew the Mohammedan army into the defiles, and blocking up the rear, cut off their retreat, and Obaidoolah was compelled to purchase his liberation by the payment of seven hundred thousand dirhems.

This was the seventy-eighth year of the Hegira, or A. D. 697. Conjoined to what follows, it appears to have reference to Rijh, father of Guj. Again, "Obaidoolah and Abdoorehman invaded Seistan with forty thousand men. The prince of Cabul tried the same manoeuvre, but was outwitted by the Mohammedan, who conquered a great part of Cabul and acquired great booty, with which he returned to Seistan, to the great displeasure of Hejauge ; and Abdoorehman entered into a confederacy with Retpeil to attack Hejauge, and absolve Cabul from tribute. Moghairah was the successor of Abdoorehman in Khorasan, while his father, Mohilel, was employed beyond the Jehoon, but died at Meru of a burning diarrhoea, bequeathing his government to Yozzid."

This account of Moghaurah's (the governor of Khorasan) death, while carrying on war against the Hindu Retpeil of Cabul, has much analogy to the sudden death of Mamraiz, the foe of Rijh of Zabulistan. One thing is now proved, that princes of the Hindu faith ruled over all these regions in the first ages of Islainism, and made frequent attempts, for centuries after, to reconquer them. Of this fact, Baber gives us a most striking instance in his description of Gujni, or, as he writes, Ghazni. He says,

" I have seen, in another history, that when the Rai of Hind besieged Subuktegin in Ghazni, Subaktegin ordered dead flesh and other impurities to be thrown into the fountain, when there instantly arose a tempest and hurricane, with rain and snow, and by this device he drove away the enemy." Baber adds, "I made then inquiry in Ghazni for this well but nobody could give me the slightest information regarding it," p. 150.

Doubtless, when Baber conquered India, and became better acquainted with the Hindu warriors, he would have got to the bottom of this anecdote, and have seen that the success of the ruse of Subaktegin arose out of the religion of his foes, who could not use water thus contaminated by the flesh of the sacred kine. The celebrated Balabhi was reduced by the same stratagem.

[p.198]: Khorasan at the head of four lacs of horse, from whom the people fled in dismay.

Raja Gaj founds Ghazni

The Raja sent scouts to obtain accurate intelligence, and marched to Harreou to meet him ; while the foe encamped two coss from Koonjsheher.1 A battle ensued, in which the invader was defeated with the loss of thirty thousand men, and four thousand on the part of the Hindus. But the foeman rallied, and Raja Rijh, who again encountered him, was wounded and died just as prince Guj returned with Hansavati, his bride, daughter of Jud-bhan of the east. In two battles the king of Khorasan was vanquished, when he obtained an auxiliary in the king of Room (Romi-pati), to establish the Koran and the law of the prophet in infidel lands. While the armies of the Asuras were thus preparing their strength. Raja Guj called a council of ministers. There being no strong-hold of importance, and it being impossible to stand against numbers, it was determined to erect a fortress amidst the mountains of the north. Having summoned his friends to his aid, he sought council of the guardian goddess of his race ; who foretold that the power of the Hindus was to cease, but commanded him to erect a fort and call it Gujni. While it was approaching completion, news came that the kings of Room and Khorasan were near at hand :

Roomi-pat, Khorasan-pat hae, gai pakhur, pāi,
Chinta terā, cht'h legi ; soono Jud-pat Rai2

" The stick wounded the drum of the Jadoo prince ; the army was formed, gifts were distributed, and the astrologers were commanded to assign such a moment for marching as might secure the victoiy.

1. Neither of these towns appears in any map. There is a Koonj Reshak in " Khorasan, and a Penjher in Balk." Sir W. Ousley's Ebn Hauhal, pp. 213-223.

2. " The king of Room and the king of Khorasan, with horse (hae) elephants " (gāi or guj) caparisons (pākhur) and foot-soldiers (pāi or pāek) [are at hand]. "Beware, let it enter your mind, oh Rae, Lord of the Judoos !"

[p.199]: " Thursday (Vrishpatrvar) the 13th of Mah, the enlightened half of the moon, when one ghurri of the day had fled, was the auspicious hour ; and the drum of departure sounded. That day he marched eight coss, and encamped at Doolapoor. The combined kings advanced, but in the night the Shah of Khorasan died of indigestion. When it was reported to the king of Room (Shah Secunder Roomi) that Shah Mamraiz was dead, he became alarmed and said, ' while we mortals have grand schemes in hand, he above has other views for us' Still his army advanced like waves of the ocean ; caparisons and chains clank on the backs of elephants, while instruments of war resound through the host. Elephants move like walking mountains ; the sky is black with clouds of dust ; bright helms reflect the rays of the sun. Four coss (eight miles) separated the hostile armies. Raja Guj and his chieftains performed their ablutions, and keeping the Joginis1 in their rear, advanced to the combat each host rushed on like famished tigers ; the earth trembled ; the heavens were overcast ; nor was aught visible in the gloom but the radiant helm. War-bells resound ; horses neigh ; masses of men advance on each other, like the dark rolling clouds of Bhadoon. Hissing speeds the feathered dart ; the lion roar of the warriors is re-echoed ; the edge of the sword deluges the ground with blood ; on both sides the blows resound on the crackling bones. Here was Jud-Rae, there the Khans and Ameers, as if Time had encountered his fellow. Mighty warriors strew the earth; heroes fall in the cause of their lords. The army of the Shah fled ; he left twenty-five thousand souls entangled in the net of destruction ; he abandoned elephants and horses, and even his throne. Seven thousand Hindus lay dead on the field. The drum of victory resounded, and the Jadoon returned triumphant to his capital.

" On Sunday, the 3d of Bysāk, the spring season (Vasant), the Rohini Nikhitra, and Samvat Dharma-raja (Yudhishthira) 3008,2 seated on the throne of Gujni, he maintained the Jadoon race With this victory his power became firm : he conquered all the countries to the west, and sent an ambassador to Kashmir to call its prince Kandrupkel3 to his presence. But the prince refused the summons : he said the world would scoff at him if he attended the stirrup of another without being first worsted in fight. Raja Guj invaded Kashmir ; and married the daughter of its prince, by whom he had a son, called Salbahan.

"When this child had attained the age of twelve, tidings of another invasion came from Khorasan. Raja Guj shut himself up for three entire days in the temple of Kuladevi :4 on the fourth day the god-

1 The unclear spirits of Rajpoot martial mythology, who feed on the slain.

2 This date is circumstantial, and might be fixed or disproved bv calculation; if the heterogeneous mixture of such widely separated incidents as those in Syro-Macedonian and Mahomedan History aid not deter us from the attempt.

3 No such name appears in Wilson's Raj Taringini.

4 Tutelary goddess, or "of the race (kula)"

[p.200]: dess appeared and revealed to him his destiny ; that Gujni would pass from his hands, but that his posterity would re-inherit it, not as Hindus but as Mooslems; and directed him to send his son Salbahan amongst the Hindus of the east, there to erect a city to be named after him. She said that he would have fifteen sons, whose issue would multiply ; 'that he (Raja Guj) would fall in the defence of Gujni, but would gain a glorious reward hereafter.'

Prince Salivahana arrives in the Punjab

" Having heard his fate revealed, Raja Guj convened his family and kin, and on pretence of a pilgrimage to Jwalamukhi,1 he caused them to depart, with the prince Salbahan, for the east.

" Soon after the foe approached within five coss of Gujni. Leaving therein his uncle Seydeo for its defence. Raja Guj marched to meet him. The king of Khorasan divided his army into five divisions ; the Raja formed his into three : a desperate conflict ensued, in which both the king and the Raja were slain. The battle lasted five pahars,2 and a hundred thousand Meers and thirty-thousand Hindus strewed the field. The king's son invested Gujni ; for thirty days it "was defended by Seydeo, when he performed, the Saka;3 and nine thousand valiant men gave up their lives.

" When tidings of this fatal event were conveyed to Salbahan, for twelve days the ground became his bed.4 He at length reached the Punjab, where he fixed on a spot with abundance of water, and having collected his clansmen around him, he laid the foundation of a city which he named after himself, Salbahanpoor. The surrounding Bhomias attended, and acknowledged his supremacy. Seventy-two years of the era of Vikrama had elapsed when Salbahanpoor was founded, upon Sunday, the 8th of the month of Bhadoon.5

" Salbahan conquered the whole region of the Punjab.

Salbahan had fifteen sons, who all became Rajas : viz., Balund, Rasaloo, Dhurmungud, Vacha, Roopa, Soondur, Lekh, Juskurn, Naima, Maut, Neepak, Gangeou, Jugeou ; all of whom, by the strength of their own arms, established themselves in independence.

1. This volcano is a well-known place of pilgrimage in the Siwalik mountains.

2. A pahar is one-fourth of the day.

3. For a description of this rite, see Vol. I, p. 276.

4. In conformity with the Hindu ordinances of matam or mourning.

5. Here is another circumstantial datee S. 72, or A. D. 16, for the foundation of Salbahana in the Punjab, by the fugitive Yadu prince from Gujni Of its exact position we have no means of judging, but it could not have been remote from Lahore. It may be deemed a fortunate coincidence that I should discover that ancient inscription (Vol. I, pp. 700-1,) of this capital, styled Salpoor, governed by a Gete or Jit in the fourth century ; which suggested the idea (which many facts tend to prove), whether these Yadus (whose illegitimate issue, as will appear in the sequel, are called Juts) may not be the Yuti or Getes from Central Asia. The coincidence of the date of Salbahan- Yadu with that of the Saca Salivahan, the Tak, will not fail to strike the enquirer into Hindu antiquities : and it is not the least curious circumstance, that these Yadus, or Yuti, displaced the Takshac, or Tak, from this region, as will appear immediately. In further corroboration, see notes 2 and 2, pp. 700-1, and Inscriptions, II, p. 702 and VI, p. 707.

[p.201]: " The coco-nut from Raja Jeipal Tuar was sent from Dehli, and accepted.1 Balund proceeded to Dehli, whose prince advanced to meet him. On his return with his bride, Salbahan determined to redeem Gujni from the foe and avenge his father's death. He crossed the Attoc to encounter Jellal, who advanced at the head of twenty thousand men. Crowned with victory, he regained possession of Gujni, where he left Balund, and returned to his capital in the Punjab: he soon after died, having ruled thirty-three years and nine months.

" Balund Succeeded. His brothers had now established themselves in all the mountainous tracts of the Punjab. But the Toorks2 began rapidly to increase, and to subjugate all beneath their sway, and the lands around Gujni were again in their power. Balund had no minister, but superintended in person all the details of his government.

Descendants of Raja Baland

Balund had seven sons : Bhatti, Bhupati, Kullar, Jinj,3 Surmor, Bhynsrecha, Mangreo.

The second son Bhupati (i. e., lord of the earth) had a son, Chakito, from whom is descended the Chakito (Chagitai) tribe.4

" Chakito had eight sons, viz., Deosi, Bharoo, Khemkhan, Nahur, Jeipal5 Dharsi, Beejli-Khan, Shah Summund.

" Balund, who resided at Salbahanpoor, left Gujni to the charge of his grandson Chakito ; and as the power of the barbarian {Mletcha) increased, he not only entertained troops of that race, but all his nobles were of the same body. They offered, if he would quit the religion of his fathers, to make him master of Balich- Bokhara, where dwelt the Oosbek race, whose king had no offspring but one daughter. Chakito married her, and became king of Balich Bokhara, and lord of twenty-eight thousand horse. Between Balich and Bokhara runs a mighty river, and Chakito was king of all from the gate of Balichshan to the face of Hindusthan ; and from him is descended the tribe of Chakito Moguls.6

1. At every page of these annals, it is evident that they have been transcribed by some ignoramus, who has jumbled together events of ancient and modern date. The prince of Dehli might have been Jeipal, but if we are to place any faith in the chronology of the Tuar race, no prince of this family could be synchrouons with the Yadu Salbahan. I am inclined to think that the emigration of Salbahan's ancestors from Gujni was at a much later period than S. 72, as I shall note as we proceed.

2. Toork is the term in the dialects which the Hindus apply to the races from Central Asia, the Turshka of the Poorans.

3. Doubtless the ancestor of the Johya race, termed the Jenjuheh by Baber, and who dwelt with the Juds in the hills of Jud, the Juddoo-ca-dang of the Bhatti MSS.

4. However curious this assertion, of tus : I repeat, that all these tribes, whether termed Indo-Scythic or Tatar, prior to Islamism, professed a faith which may be termed Hinduism.

5. As it is evident the period has reference to the very first years of Islamism, and it is stated that the sons of Guj were to be proselytes, it is by no means improbable that this is Jypal, the infidel prince of Khwarezm.— See Prices Mahomedan History.

6. This is a most important admission of the proselytism of the ancient Indo Scythic- Yadu princes to the faith of Islam, though there can be no reasonable doubt of it. Temugin, better known by his nomme de guerre Jungees, the father of Chagitai, according to the Mahomedan historians, is termed an infidel, and so was Tacash, the father of Mahomed of Khwarezm : the one was of the Getic or Yuti race ; the other, as his name discloses, of the Tak or Takshac, the two grand races of central Asia. The insertion of this pedigree in this place completely vitiates chronology : yet for what purpose it could have been interpolated, if not founded on some fact, we cannot surmise.

[p.202]: "Kullar, third son of Balund, had eight sons, whose descendants are designated Kullar1 Their names were, Seodas, Ramdas, Asso, Kistna, Samoh, Gango, Jesso, Bhago ; almost all of whom became Moosulmauns. They are a numerous race, inhabiting the mountainous countries west of the river,2 and notorious robbers.

" Jinj, the fourth son, had seven sons ; Champo, Gokul, Mehraj, Hunsa, Bhadon, Rasso, Juggo, all whose issue bore the name of Jinj3 and in like manner did the other sons become the patriarchs of tribes.

" Bhatti succeeded his father Balund. He conquered fourteen princes, and added their fortunes to his own. Among his effects, he reckoned twenty-four thousand mules4 laden with treasure ; sixty- thousand horse, and innumerable foot. As soon as he mounted the gadi, he assembled all his forces at Lahore preparatory to the teeka-dour5 destined against Beerbhan Bhagel, lord of Kenekpoor. Beerbhan fell in the battle which ensued, at the head of forty thousand men.

Bhatti had two sons, Mangal Rao and Masur Rao. With Bhatti, the patronymic was changed, and the tribe thenceforth was distinguished by his name.

" Mangal Rao succeeded, but his fortune was not equal to that of his fathers. Dhoondi, king of Guzni, with a mighty force, invaded

1. We can, by means of the valuable translation of the Commentaries of Baber, trace many of these tribes.

2. It has already been stated, that the fifteen brothers of Balund established themselves in the mountainous parts of the Punjab, and that his sons inherited those West of the Indus, or Damaun. The Afghan tribes, whose supposed genealogy from the Jews has excited so much curiosity, and who now inhabit the regions conquered by the sons of Salbahan, are possibly Yadus, who on conversion, to give more edāt to their antiquity, converted Yadu into Yahudi, or Jew, and added the rest of the story from the Koran. That grand division of Afghans called the Eusofzye, or ' Sons of Joseph,' whose original country was Cabul and Guzni, yet retain the name of Jadoon (vulgar of Yadu), as one of their principal subdivisions ; and they still occupy a position in the hilly region east of the Indus, conquered by the sons of Balund. It would be a curious fact could we prove the Afghans not Yahudis but Yadus.

3. Doubtless the junction of Jinj with that of Johya, another numerous tribe, formed the Jenjuheh of Baber ; the Johyas of the Bhatti annals, now known only by name, but whose history forms a volume. The sons of Jinj have left numerous traces — Jenjian on the Garah ; Jinjinialli in the desert, &c.

4. Even the mention of an animal unknown in the desert of India, evinces the ancient source whence these annals are compiled. Had the Yadu colony at this period obtained a footing in the desert, south of the Sutlej, the computation would have been by camel loads, not by mules.

5. Sec Vol, I. p. 313, for an account of this military foray.

[p.203]: Lahore;1 nor did Mungul Rao oppose him, but with his eldest son fled into the wilds on the hanks of the river. The foe then invested Salbahanpoor, where resided the family of the Raja ; but Musoor Rao escaped and fled to the Lakhi Jungle.2 There being only a cultivating peasantry in this tract, he overcame them, and became master of the country.

Musoor Rao had two sons, Abhe Rao and Sarun Rao. The elder, Abhe Rao, brought the whole Lakhi Jungle under his control, and his issue, which multiplied, became famous as the Abhoria Bhattis.

Saran quarreled with and separated from his brother, and his issue descended to the rank of cultivators, and are well known as the Saran Jats.3

"Mungul Rao, the son of Bhatti, and who abandoned his kingdom, had six sons : Mujum Rao, Kullursi, Moolraj, Seoraj, Phool, Kewala.

"When Mungul Rao fled from the king, his children were secreted in the houses of his subjects. A Bhomia named Satidas, of the tribe of Tak,4 whose ancestors had been reduced from power and wealth by the ancestors of the Bhatti prince, determined to avenge himself, and informed the king that some of the children were concealed in the house of a banker (sahoocar). The king sent the Tak with a party of troops, and surrounded the house of Sridhar, who was earned

1. This would almost imply that Lahore and Salbahana were one and the same place but from what follows, the intervening distance could not have been great between the two cities. There is a Sangala, south of Lahore, near the altars of Alexander, and a Sialkote in our modern maps. Salbahana, Salbahanpoor, or simply Salpoora, may have been erected on the ruins of Kampilanagri. We may hope that researches in that yet untouched region, the Punjab, will afford much to the elucidation of ancient history.

2. The Lakhi Jungle is well known in India for its once celebrated breed of horses, extinct within the last twenty years.

3. Thus it is that the most extensive agricultural races spread all over India, called Jats or Jits, have a tradition that they are descended from the Yadu race, (qu. Yuti?) and that their original country is Candahar. Such was stated to be the origin of the Jats of Biana and Bhurtpore. Why the descendants of Saran assumed the name of Juts is not stated.

4. This incidental mention of the race of Tak, and of its being in great consideration on the settlement of the Yadus in the Punjab, is very important. I have given a sketch of this tribe (Vol. I, p. 93), but since I wrote it, I have discovered the capital of the Tak, and on the very spot where I should have expected the site of Taxila, the capital of Taxiles, the friend of Alexander. In that sketch I hesitated not to say, that the name was not personal, but arose from his being the head of the Takshac or Naga tribe, which is confirmed. It is to Baber, or rather to his translator, that I am indebted for this discovery. In describing the limits of Banu, Baber thus mentions it : "And on the west is Desht, which is also called Bazar and Tak ;" to which the erudite translator adds, "Tak is said long to have been the capital of Damān." In Mr. Elphinstone's map, Bazar, which Baber makes identical with Tak, is a few miles north of the city of Attoc. There is no question that both the river and city were named after the race of Tak or Takshac, the Nagas, Nagvansi, or 'snake race', who spread over India. Indeed, I would assume that the name of Omphis, which young Taxiles had on his father's death, is Ophis, the Greek version of Tak, the 'serpent' The Taks appear to have been established in the same region at the earliest period. The Mahabharata describes the wars between Janamejaya and the Takshacs, to revenge on their king the death of his father Parikshita, emperor of Indraprastha, or Dehli.

[p.204]: before the king, who swore he would put all his family to death if he did not produce the young princes of Salbahana. The alarmed banker protested he had no children of the Raja's, for that the infants who enjoyed his protection were the offspring of a Bhomia, who had fled, on the invasion, deeply in his debt But the king ordered him to produce them ; he demanded the name of their village, sent for the Bhomias belonging to it, and not only made the royal infants of Salbahana eat with them, but marry their daughters. The banker had no alternative to save their lives but to consent: they were brought forth in the peasant's garb, ate with the husbandmen (Juts), and were married to their daughters.

Thus the offspring of Kullur-rai became the Kullorea Jats ;

those of Moondraj and Seoraj, the Moonda and Seora Jats;

while the younger boys, Phool and Kewala, who were passed off as a barber (nie), and a potter (khomar'), fell into that class.

" Mungul Rao, who found shelter in the wilds of the Garah, crossed that stream and subjugated a new territory. At this period, the tribe of Baraha1 inhabited the banks of the river; beyond them were the Boota Rajpoots of Bootaban.2 In Poogul dwelt the Pramara3: in Dhat the Soda4 race ; and the Lodra5 Rajpoots in Lodorva.

Here Mungul Rao found security, and with the sanction of the Soda prince, he fixed his future abode in the centre of the lands of the Lodras, the Barahas, and the Sodas. On the death of Mungul Rao, he was succeeded by

Majam Rao escapes from Salivahanpura

" Mujum Rao, who escaped from Salbahanpoor with his father. He was recognized by all the neighbouring princes, who sent the usual presents on his accession, and the Soda prince of Amarkot made an offer of his daughter in marriage, which was accepted, and the nuptials were solemnized at Amerkote. He had three sons, Kehur, Moolraj,6 and Gogli

1. The names of these Rajpoot races, several of which are now blotted from the page of existence, prove the fidelity of the original manuscript. The Barahas are now Mahomedans.

2. The Boota is amongst the extinct tribes.

3. Poogul from the most remote times has been inhabited by the Pramar race. It is one of the No-Koti Maroo-ca, the nine castles of the desert.

4. The Sodas of Amarkot have inhabited the desert from time immemorial, and are in all probability the Sogdi of Alexander. See Vol. I, p. 85.

5. Lodorva will be described hereafter.

6. Moolraj had three sons, Raj pal, Lohwa, and Choobar. The elder son had two sons, Ranno and Geegoh ; the first of whom had five sons, Dhookur. Pohor, Bood, Koolroo, Jeipal, all of whom had issue, and became heads of clans. The descendants of Geegoh bore the name of Khengar (qu. chiefs of Girnar ?) The annals of all these states abound with similar minute genealogical details, which to the Rajpoots are of the highest importance in enabling them to trace the affinities of families, but which it is imperative to omit, as they possess no interest for the European reader. I have extracted the names of the issue of Moolraj to shew this. The Khengars were famed in the peninsula of Saurashtra — nine of them ruled in Junagarh Girnar ; and but for this incidental relation, their origin must have ever remained concealed from the archaeologist, as the race has long been extinct.

[p.205]:

" Kehur became renowned for his exploits. Hearing of a caravan (kafila) of five hundred horses going from Arore1 to Multan, he pursued them with a chosen band disguised as camel-merchants, and came up with his prey across the Punjnud,2 where he attacked and captured it, and returned to his abode. By such exploits he became known, and the coco-nut (naryal) was sent to Mujum Rao, and his two elder sons, by Allansi Deora, of Jhalore. The nuptials were celebrated with great splendour, and on their return, Kehur laid the foundation of a castle, which he named Tunnote in honour of Tunno-devi. Ere it was completed, Rao Mujum died.

" Kehur succeeded. On his accession, Tunnote was attacked by Jesrit, chief of the Barahas,3 because it was erected on the bounds of his tribe ; but Moolraj defended it, and the Barahas were compelled to retire.

" On Mungulwar (Tuesday), the full moon of Mah, S. 7874 (A.D.731), the fortress of Tunnote was completed, and a temple erected to Tunno-Mata. Shortly after a treaty of peace was formed with the Barahas, which was concluded by the nuptials of their chief with the daughter of Moolraj."

Having thus fairly fixed the Yadu-Bhatti chieftain in the land of Maruca, it seems a proper point at which to close this initiatory chapter with some observations on the diversified history of this tribe, crowded into so small a compass ; though the notes of explanation, subjoined as we proceeded, will render fewer remarks requisite,

1. The remains of this once famous town, the ancient capital of the upper valley of the Indus, I had the happiness to discover by means of one of my parties, in 1811. It is the Alore of Abulfazil, the capital of Raja Sehris, whose kingdom extended north to Kashmir, and south to the ocean ; and the Azour of D'Anyille, who on the authority of Ibn Haukal, says, " Azour est presque comprable d Multan pour la grandeur" He adds, that Azizi places it " trente parosangesade Mansora" If Mansora is the ancient Bekher (capital of the Sogdi), we should read three instead of thirty. See Map.

2. Punjnud is the name which the Indus bears immediately below the point confluenoe of the five streams (panch-nadi). The mere mention of such terms as the Punjnud, and the ancient Arore, stamps these annals with authenticity, however they may be deformed by the interpolations and anachronisms of ignorant copyists. Of Arore, or the Punjnud, excepting the regnlar casids, or messengers, perhaps not an individual living in Jessulmer could now speak.

3. This shews that the Baraha tribe was of the same faith with the Yadu Bhatti ; in fact "the star of Islam" did not shine in these regions for some time after, although Omar, in the first century, had established a colony of the faitfaful at Bekher, afterwards Mansoora. The Barahas are mentioned by Pottinger in his travels in Balochistan.

4. There are but six descents given from Salbahan, the leader of the Yadu colony from Zabulistan into the punjab, and Kehur, the founder of their frst settlement in the desert of India. The period of the first is S.72, of the other S.787. Either names are wanting, or the period of Salbahan is erroneous. Kehur's period, viz., S.787, appears a landmark, and is borne out by numerous subsequent most valuable synchronisms. Were we to admit one hundred years to haw elapsed between Salbahan and Kehur, it would make the period of expulsion from Zabulistan about S.687, which is just about the era of

[p.206]: since with their help the reader may draw his own conclusions as to the value of this portion of the Bhatti annals, which may be divided into four distinct epochs :

1st. — That of Hari, the ancestor of the Yadu race.

2d. — Their expulsion, or the voluntary abandonment of India by his children, with their relations of the Hericula and Pandu races, for the countries west of the Indus : their settlements in Marusthali : the founding of Gujni, and combats with the kings of Room and Khorasan.

3d. — Their expulsion from Zabulistan, colonization of the Punjab, and creation of the new capital of Salbahanpoor.

4th. — Their expulsion from the Punjab, and settlement in Mer, the rocky oasis of Maroo, to the erection of Tunnote.

It is the more unnecessary to enter into greater details on these outlines of the early Yadu history, since the subject has been in part treated elsewhere.1 A multiplicity of scattered facts and geographical distinctions, fully warrants our assent to the general truth of these records, which prove that the Yadu race had dominion in central Asia, and were again, as Islamism advanced, repelled upon India. The obscure legend of their encounters with the allied Syrian and Bactrian kings would have seemed altogether illusory, did not evidence exist that Antiochus the Great was slain in these very regions by an Indo-Scythian prince, called by the Greek writers Sophagasenas : a name in all probability compounded from Subahu and his grandson Guj (who might have used the common affix of sena), the Yadu princes of Gujni, who are both stated to have had conflicts with the Bactrian (Khorasan) kings.

Seestan (the region of cold, ' see') and both sides of the valley, were occupied in the earliest periods by another branch of the Yadus ; for the Sind-Samma dynasty was descended from Samba (which like Yadu became a patronymic) — of which the Greeks made Sambus — and one of whose descendants opposed Alexander in his progress down the Indus. The capital of this dynasty was Samma-ca-kote, or Samanagari, yet existing on the lower Indus, and which was corrupted into Minagara by the Greeks.

It is an interesting hypothesis, that would make the Chagitais descendants of the Yadus.2 In like manner, Bappa, the ancestor of

1. See " Essay on the Hindu and Theban Hercules," Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. III.

2. Mr. Wilson discovered the name of Pandu in Ptolemy's Geography of Sogdiana ; and according to Ibn Haukal, the city of Herat is also called Hari. This adjoins Maru, or Murve, and to Maroost'hali the Pandu and Hericula races retired on their exile from India. If ever these remote regions are seurched for ancient inscriptions, we may yet ascend the ladder of Time, What was that Hamiri language, inscribed on the gate of Samarkand? (Ouseley, Ibn Haukal, p. 254.) The lamented death of that enterprizing traveller, Mr. Brown, when he was about visiting Transoxiana, leaves a fine field to the adventurous. The Buddhist colossal sculptures and caves at Bamian, with such inscriptions as they may contain, are of the highest importance ; and I have little doubt, will be found of the same character as those discovered in the cave-temples of India, attributed to the Pandus.

[p.207]: the Ranas of Mewar, abandoned central India after establishing: his line in Cheetore, and retired to Khorasan. All this proves that Hinduism prevailed in these distant regions, and that the intercourse was unrestricted between central Asia and India. We have undiscovered fields of inquiry in Transoxiana, and in the still more accessible region of the Punjab, where much exists to reward the archaeologist : Salbahanpoor, Kampilnagari, Behera, the hill of Jud, perhaps Bucephalia,1 the seven towns of Ooch, but, above all, the capital of Taxiles. Let us hope that, in this age of enterprize, these suggestions may be followed up : we can promise the adventurer a very different result from that which tempts the explorer of barbarous Africa, for here he would penetrate into the first haunts of civilization, and might solve one of the great problems which still distract mankind.

1. In a portion of the essay " On the Theban and Hindu Hercules," which I suppressed as better suited to an intended dissertation "On the Sepulchral Monuments of the Rajpoots," where I trace a close analogy between their customs and those of the Scythic and Scandinavian Warriors, my particular attention was drawn to that singular monument discovered by Elphinstone, called the " Tope Manikyanla." I had before (Trans. R. A. S., Vol I, p. 330) conjectured it to be one of the many mausoleums erected to Menander, but on observing the geography of St. Croix, in his "Examcn Critique des Historiens d' Alexandre," who places the city of Bucephalus on the very spot where the monument found by Mr. E. exists, I gave up Menander for Alexander's horse, and this long anterior to its reported excavation by the Chev. Ventura, for whose subsequent observations we impatiently wait.

Abstract of Chapter II

[p.208]: Rao Kehar, contemporary of the Caliph Al Walid — His offspring become heads of tribes, — Kehur, the first who extended his conquests to the plains — He is slain, — Tunno succeeds — He assails the Barahas and Langas, — Tunnote invested by the prince of Multan, who is defeated — Rao Tunno espouses the daughter of the Boota chief — His progeny. — Tunno finds a concealed treasure, — Erects the castle of Beenote — Tunno dies, — Succeeded by Beeji Roe — He assails the Bahara tribe, who conspire with the Langas to attack the Bhatti prince, — Treacherous massacre of Beeji Rae and his kindred. — Deoraj saved by a Brahmin. — Tunnote taken — Inhabitants put to the sword, — Deoraj joins his mother in Bootaban — Erects Deorawul, which is assailed by the Boota chief , who is circumvented and put to death by Deoraj — The Bhatti prince is visited by a Jogi, whose disciple he becomes — Title changed from Rao to Rawal — Deoraj massacres the Langas, who acknowledged his supremacy — Account of the Langa tribe — Deoraj conquers Lodorva, capital of the Lodra Rajpoots - Avenges an insult of the prince of Dhar — Singular trait of patriotic devotion — Assaults Dhar. — Returns to Lodorva — Excavates lakes in Khadal — Assassinated, — Succeeded by Rawul Moond, who revenges his father's death — His son Bachera espouses the daughter of Bullub-Sen, of Puttun Anhultoarra — Contemporary of Mahmud of Ghazni, — Captures a caravan of horses — The Pahoo Bhattis conquer Poogul from the Johyas — Doosaj, son of Bachera, attacks the Kheechies, — Proceeds with his three brothers to the land of Kher, where they espouse the Guhilote chiefs daughters, — Important synchronisms — Bachera dies, — Doosaj succeeds — Attacked by the Soda prince Hamir, in whose reign the Caggar ceased to flow through the desert — Traditional couplet — Sons of Doosaj — The youngest, Lanja Beeji Rae, marries the daughter of Sidraj Solanki, king of Anhulwarra — The other sons of Doosaj, Jesul, and Beeji Rae — Bhojdeo, son of Lanja Beeji Rae, becomes lord of Lodorva on death of Doosaj -Jesul conspires against his nephew Bhojdeo — Solicits from the Sultan of Ghor, whom he joins at Arore — Swears allegiance to Sultan — Obtains his aid to dispossess Bhojdeo — Lodorva attacked and plundered — Bhojdeo slain — Jesul becomes Rawal of the Bhattis — Abandoned Lodorva as too exposed — Discovers a site for a new capital — Prophetic inscription on the Brimsir-coond, or fountain — Founds Jessulmer — Jesal dies and is succeeded by Salbahan II.

*****

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 Yudhisthira's era, for the victory obtained by the Jadoon prince of Gujni over the kings of Room and Khorasan ;1 as well as that of S.72 assigned for the exode of Salbahan and his Yadus from Zabulistan

1. The emperor Babar tells us, in his Commentaries, that the people of India apply the term Khorasan, to all the regions west of the Indus.

[p.209]: and their colonization of the Punjab 1 but their settlements in the desert, and the foundation of Tunnote, their first seat of power, in S. 787 (A.D. 731), are corroborated by incontrovertible synchronisms in almost every subsequent reign of these annals.

Rao Kehar and His offsprings who become heads of tribes

Kehar, a name highly respected in the history of the Bhatti race, and whose exploit has been already recorded, must have been the contemporary of the celebrated Khalif Al Walid, the first whose arms extended to the plains of India, and one of whose earliest conquests and chief positions was Arore, the capital of Upper Sinde.

Kehur 2 had five sons; viz., Tunno, Ooti-rao, Chunnur, Kafrio, Thaem.

Rao Kehar is slain - All of them had offspring, 3 who became the heads of clans, retaining the patronymic. All were soldiers of fortune, and they conquered the lands of the Channa Rajpoots; 4 but the latter revenged themselves upon Kehur, whom they attacked and slew as he was hunting.

Tunno succeeded. He laid waste the lands of the Barahas, 5 and those of the Langaha of Mooltan. But Husein Shah advanced with the Langaha Pathans, 6 clothed in armour with iron helms, with the men of Doodi, 7 of Kheechee; 8 the Khokur ; 9 the Mogul, Johya, 10 the Jood, 11 and Syed, all mounted on horses, to the number

1. Notwithstanding the lapse of eleven hundred years since the expulsion of the Bhattis from the Punjab, and in spite of the revolutions in laws, language, and religion, since the descendants of Salbahan abandoned that region, yet, even to this day, there is abundant testimony in its geographical nomenclature that the Bhattis had dominion there. We have Pindi Bhattia-ca, Bhatti-ca-chak, in the very position where we should look for Salbahanpoor.

2. Although I omit the inverted commas indicative of translation, the reader to understand that what follows is a free interpretation of the original chronicle.

3. Ooti-rao had five sons, Soma, Sehesi, Jeeva, Chako, and Ujo ; their issue had the generic term of Ootirao, It is thus their clans and tribes are multiplied ad infinitum and since the skill of the genealogist (bhat) is required to keep them clear of incestuous marriages, even such uninteresting details have some value, as they stamp their annals with authenticity.

4. The tribe of Chunna is now extinct

5. These Indo-Scythic tribes were designated by the names of animals. The Barahas are the hogs ; the Noomries, the foxes ; Takshacs, the snakes ; Aswas or Asi, the horses, etc.

6. These Langaha Pathans were proselytes from the Solanki Rajpoots, one of the four Agnicula races. Probably they inhabited the district of Lumghan, west of the Indus. It is curious and interesting to find that the Solanki gotra-charya or ‘genealogical creed,' claims Lokote as their settlement. The use of the woia Pathan by no means precludes their being Hindus.

7. Babar in his valuable Autobiography, gives us the names of all the tribes he met in his passage into India, and this enumeration goes far to improve the authenticity of the early annals of the Bhattis. Babar does not mention "the men of Doodi"

8. The introduction of the name of this tribe here is highly important, and interesting to those who have studied, in the Rajpoot bards, their early history. The bards of the Kheechees give them this northern origin, and state that ail Sindsagar, one of the doabs of the Punjab, belonged to them.

9. The Khokur is most probably the Ghiker. Babar writes the name ‘Gukar' a singular race, and decidedly Scythic in their habits even in his day.

10. Of the Joodis and Johyas we have already spoken as inhabiting the range called in the native annals Jaddoo-ca-dang, and by Baber ' the hill of Jud,' skirting the Behat. The position of Behera is laid down in that monument of genius and industry, the Memoir of Rennel (who calls it Bheera), in 32° N. and 72° 10' E. ; and by Elphinstone in 32°10', but a whole degree further to the east, or 73° 15'. This city, so often mentioned in the Yadu-Bhatti annals as one of their intermediate places of repose, on their expulsion from India and migration to Central Asia, has its position minutely pointed out by the Emperor Baber (p. 259), who, in his attack on the hill tribes of Jats, Gujar, Gukers, &c., adjoining Kashmir, " expelled Hati Guker from Behreh, on the Behat River, near the cave-temples of Gar-kotri at Bikrum," of which the able annotator remarks, that as well as those of But Bamian, they were probably Buddhist. Baber (p. 294) also found the Jits masters of Sialkote, most likely the Salpoor of the Inscription (Yol. I, p. 707), conquered from a Jit prince in the twelfth century by the Patun prince, and presumed to be the Salbahanpoor founded by the fugitive Yadu prince of Gujni.

[p.210]: of ten thousand men, to attack the Jadoo. They reached the territory of the Barahas, who joined them, and there they encamped. Tunno 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, Beeji Rae, 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 Asoors. The victors carried the spoils of the field into Tunnote. As soon as the armies of Mooltan and Langaha were driven off, the coco-nut came from Jeejoo, chief of the Bootas of Bootaban, 1 and an alliance offensive and defensive was formed against the prince of Mooltan.

Tunno had five sons, Beeji Rai, Makur, Jeytung, Allun, and Rakecho. The second son, Makur, had issue Maipah, who had two sons, Mohola and Decao, the latter of whom excavated the lake known by his name. His issue became carpenters (sootar), and are to this day known as the Makur sootar.2

The third son, Jeytung, had two sons, Ruttunsi and Chohir. The first repaired the ruined city of Beekumpoor.3 Chohir had two sons, Kola and Gir-raj, who founded the towns of Kolasir and Girajsir.3

The fourth son, Allun, had four sons, Deosi, Tirpal, Bhaoni, and Rakecho. The descendants of Deosi became Rebarris (who rear camels), and the issue of Rakecho became merchants (baniah), and are now classed amongst the Oswal tribe.4

1 Bootaban, probably from vanu pronounced in the dialect bun, the ' wild' or 'forest' of Boota.

2 Illegitimate children can never overcome this natural defect amongst the Rajpoots. Thus we find among all classes of artizans in India, some of royal but spurious descent.

3 These towns and lakes are well known, but have been seized by Bikaner. See Map.

4 The Oswal is the richest and most numerous of the eighty-four mercantile tribes of India, and is said to amount to one hundred thousand families. They are called ' Oswal' from their first settlement the town of Ossi. They are all of pure Rajpoot birth, of no single tribe, but chiefly Puars, Solankis, and Bhattis. All profess the Jain tenets, and it is a curious fact, though little

[p. 211]: Tanno having, by the interposition of the goddess Beejasenni, discovered a hidden treasure, erected a fortress, which he named Beejnote ; 1 and in this he placed a statue of the goddess, on the 13th, the enlightened part of the month Megsir, the Rohini Nikhitra, S. 813 (A.D. 757). He died after ruling eighty years.

Beeji had succeeded in S. 870 (A.D. 814). He commenced his reign with the teeka-dour against his old enemies, the Barahas, whom be defeated and plundered. In S. 892, he had a son by the Boota queen, who was called Deoraj. The Barahas and Langahas once more united to attack the Bhatti prince ; but they were defeated 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 Beeji Rai 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 Brahmin threw the Brahminical 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. Tunnote 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.

Deoraj remained for a long time concealed in the territory of the Barahas ; but at length he ventured to Boota, his maternal abode, where he had the happiness to find his mother, who had escaped the massacre at Tunnote. 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 Boota 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 Kekeya, who had constructed the castle of Bhutnair. 2

known, that the pontiffs of that faith must be selected from the youth of Ossi. The wealthy bankers and merchants of these regions scattered throughout India, are all known under one denomination, Marwari, which is erroneously supposed to apply to the Jodpoor territory, whereas, in fact, it means belonging to the desert. It is singular that the wealth of India should centre in this region of comparative sterility !

1. See Map.

2. This deception practised by the Bhatti chief to obtain land on which to erect a fortress is not unknown in other parts of India, and in more remote regions. Bhutnair owes its name to this expedient, from the division (bhatna) of the hide. The etymology of Calcutta is the same, but should be written Khalkutta, from the cuttings of the hide (khal), Byrsa, the castle of Carthage, originates from the same story. If there existed any affinity between the ancient Pali language of India and the Punic or Phoenician (as the names of its princes and their adjuncts of bal would indicate), and the letters B and Ch were as little dissimilar in Punic as in Sanscrit, then Byrsa would become

[p.212]: Deoraj immediately commenced erecting a place of strength, which he called after himself Deogurh, or Deorawul, 1 on Monday, the 5th of the month Mah (sudi) the Pookh Nikhitra, S. 909.

Soon as the Boota chief heard that his son-in-law was erecting, not a dwelling, but a castle, he sent a force to raze it. Deoraj des-

Chursa, ' hide or akin,' which might have originated the capital of the Africa Mauritania, as of the Indian Marusthan. ThusMoracco may be from Maru-ca. of, or belonging to Maru, the desert, also probably the origin of the Murve of Iran. The term Moor may likewise be corrupted from Mauri, an inhabitant of Maruca while the Sahrai of our Indian desert is the brother in name and profession of the Saracen of Arabia from Sehra, a desert, and zuddun, to assault The Nomadic princes of Mauritania might therefore be the Pali or shepherd kings of Maruhan, the great African desert. And who were these Philita or Pali kings of Barbary and Egypt? It is well known that the Barbars who inhabited Abyssinia and the south coast of the Red Sea, migrated to the northern coast, not only occupying it, as well as Mount Atlas, but pushing their tribes far into the grand sehra, or desert. To those colonists, that coast owes its name of Barbary. From the days of Solomon and his cotemporary Sishac, an intimate communication subsisted between the eastern coast of Africa and India ; and I have already hazarded the opinion, that we must look to this coast of Ethiopia and Abyssinia for the Lanka of the Rameses (Rameswar) of India ; and from the former country the most skilful archaeologists assert that Egypt had her mythology, and more especially that mystery, the prominent feature of both systems — the Phallic rites, or worship of the lingam. Berber, according to Bruce, means a shepherd, and as Ber is a sheep in the language of India, berber is a shepherd in the most literal sense,

and consequently the synonym of Pali, It has been asserted that this race colonized these coasts of Africa from India about the time of Amenophis, and that they are the Yksos or ‘shepherd-kings,' who subjugated Egypt. On this account a comparison of the ancient architectural remains of Abyssinia and Ethiopia with those of the ancient Hindus is most desirable. It is asserted, and with appearance of truth, that the architecture of the Pyramids is distinct from the Pharaonic, and that they are at once Astronomic and Phallic. In India, the symbolic pinnacle surmounting the temples of the sun-god are always pyramidal. If the forthcoming history of the Barbars should reveal the mystery of their first settlements in Abyssinia, a great object would be attained ; and if search were made in the old cave-temples of that coast, some remains of the characters they used might aid in tracing their analogy to the ancient Pali of the East : an idea suggested by an examination of the few characters found in the grand desert inhabited by the Tuaricks, which have a certain resemblance to the Punic, and to the unknown characters attributed to the Indo-Scythic tribes of India, as on their coins and cave-temples. Wide asunder as are these regions, the mind that will strive to lessen the historical separation may one day be successful, when the connexion between Ethiopia (qu : from aditya and contracted ait, the Sun ?) and Saurashtra, ' the land of the Sun,' or Syria of India, may become more tangible. Feriahta (vide Briggs) Translation VoL IV, p. 408,) quoting original authorities, says, "the inhabitants of Selandip, or the island of Ceylon, were accustomed to send vessels to the coast of Africa, to the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, from the earliest ages, and Hindu pilgrims resorted to Mecca and Egypt for the purpose of paying ' adoration to the idols. It is related also that the people trading from Ceylon became converts to the true faith at so early a period as the first caliphs ;' which confirms the fact of early intercourse between Egypt and India—See Vol I, p. 517.

1. Deorawal is in the map ; it was one of the points of halt in Elphinstone's mission to Cabul. This discloses to us the position of the Boota territory, and as astronomical data are given, those inclined to prove or disprove the Bhatti chronology have ample means afforded.

[p. 213]: patched his mother with the keys to the assailants, and invited the leaders to receive the castle and his homage ; when the chief men, to the number of a hundred and twenty, entering, 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.

Title changed from Rao to Rawal

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 Sid, 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 jirghirkunta, or ‘tattered doublet,' in which was the Rascoomipa, 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 Deorawul. 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. 1 He placed the moodra2 in his ear, the little horn round his neck, and the bandage (langota) about his loins ; and with the gourd (cupra) in his hand, he perambulated the dwellings of his kin, exclaiming, Aluc ! Aluc ! 3 The gourd was filled with gold and pearls ; the title of Rao was abandoned for that of Rawal4 the teeca was made on his forehead; and exacting a pledge that these rites of inauguration should be continued to the latest posterity, the Baba Ritta (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 Deorawal, he prepared for an attack on Langaha, the heir of which was then on a marriage expedition at Aleepoor. There, Deoraj attacked and slew a thousand of them, the rest henceforth acknowledged his supremacy. The Langahas were gallant Rajpoots.

Account of the Langa 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 Punjab 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 Langas were Rajpoots ; and they are in fact a subdivision of the Solanki or Chalook race, one of the four Agnikula, ; and it is important to observe that in their

1 Galled geeroo ; garments coloured with this dye are worn by all classess of mendicants.

2 The moodra is a round prickly seed worn by the ascetics as ear-rings.

3 The Supreme Being ; the universal and One God.

4 Bound is still the title of the princes of Jessulmer, as it once was that of the Mewar house.

[p.214]: gotra- acharya, or 'genealogical creed' they claim Lohkot in the Panjab as their early location ; in all probability prior to their regeneration on Mount Aboo, when they adopted Brahminical principles. From the year S. 787 (A.D. 731), when the castle of Tunnote 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 Langas, which terminated in that singular combat, or duel, of tribe against tribe, during the reign of Rawul Chachik, in the last-mentioned period. Shortly after this, Baber conquered India, and Mooltan 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 Mooltan. 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 Rawul Chachik. The Mooslem historian (see Briggs' Ferishta, Vol. IV, p. 388), says that when Khizer Khan Syud was emperor of Dehli, he sent Shekh Yusooph as his lieutenant to Mooltan, who gained the esteem of the surrounding princes ; amongst whom was Rae Sehra, chief of Seevee, head of the tribe of Langa, 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 Seevee and Mooltan, till at length Rae Sehra disclosed the object of all this solicitude ; he threw aside the mask, confined the Shekh, sent him off to Dehli, and crowned himself king of Mooltan under the title of Kootub-d-din.

Ferishta calls Rae Sehra and his tribe of Langa, Afghans ; and Abulfazil says, the inhabitants of Seevee were of the Noomrie (fox) tribe, which is assuredly one of the most numerous of the Jit or Gete race, though they have all, since their conversion, adopted the distinctive term of Baloch. The Bhatti chronicle calls the Langas in one page Pathan, and in another Rajpoot, which are perfectly reconciieable, and by no means indicative that the Pathan or Afghan of that early period, or even in the time of Rae Sehra was a Mahomedan. 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 Pooshtoo, or language of this tribe, although it has much affinity to the Zend and Sanscrit. 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 Getes, remains to be proved.

Deoraj conquers Lodorva, capital of the Lodra Rajuts

To the south of Deorawul dwelt the Lodra Rajpoots ; their capital was Lodorva, an immense city, having twelve gates. The family Purohit, having been offended, took sanctuary (sirna) with Deoraj, and stimulated him to dispossess his old masters of their territoiy. A marriage was proposed to Nirp-bhan, 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

[p.215]: with his suite, than swords were drawn, and Deoraj made himself master of Lodorva.1 He married the chiefs daughter, left a garrison in Lodorva, and returned to Deorawal. Deoraj was now lord of fifty-six thousand horse, and a hundred thousand camels.2

At this period, a merchant of Deorawal, named Jiskurn, having gone to Dharanagari, was imprisoned by its prince, Brij-bhan Puar, and compelled to pay a ransom for his liberty. On his return to Deorawal, 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 (gār-rā-dhār) 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 Puar t'hyān Dhār hyn
Or Dhār t'hyān Puar
Dhār binna Puar nuhyn
Or nuhyn Puar binna 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.3

Under their leaders, Tejsi and Sarang, they protected the mock Dhar, and were cut to pieces to the number of one hundred and twenty. 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. Brij-bhan 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, Moond and Chedoo ; the last, by a wife of the Baraha tribe, had five sons, whose descendants were styled Cheda

1. We are not told of what race (cula) was the Lodra Rajpoot ; in all probability it was Pramara, or Puar, which at one time occupied the whole desert of India. Lodorva, as will be seen, became the capital of the Bhattis, until the founding of their last and present capital, Jessulmer : it boasts a high antiquity, though now a ruin, occupied by a few families of shepherds. Many towns throughout the desert were formerly of celebrity, but are now desolate, through the conjoined causes of perpetual warfare and the shifting sands. I obtained a copper-plate inscription of the tenth century from Lodorva, of the period of Beeji Raj, in the ornamental Jain character; also some day signets, given to pilgrims, bearing Jain symbols. All these relics attest the prevailing religion to have been Jain.

2. A gross exaggeration of the annalist, or a cypher in each added by the copyist

3. Dhar, or Dharanagari, was the most ancient capital of this tribe, the most numerous of the Agnicula races. See a sketch of the Puars, or Pramaras, Vol I, p, 82.

[p.216]: Rajpoots. Deoraj excavated several large lakes in the territory of Khadal (in which Deorawul is situated) ; one at Tannote is called Tunno-sirr ; another, after himself, Deo-sirr. Having one day gone to hunt, slightly attended, he was attacked by an ambush of the Channa Rajpoots, and slain with twenty-six of his attendants, after having reigned fifty-live years. His kin and clans shaved their locks and moustaches, excepting.1

Rawal Moond

Moond, 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 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 punj-amrut, consisting of curds, milk, butter, sugar, and honey ; likewise pearls, gems, the royal umbrella, the grass called doob, 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 nuk'hunk (unknown), a bullock, a shell, a lotus, a vessel of water, the tail of the wild ox (chaonr), 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 (bhuboot), with the moodra in his ears), — the white chaonr (ox-tail) was waved over his head, and he was inaugurated on the gadi of Deoraj, while the Purohit and chiefs presented their offerings. The teeka-dour was against the assassins of his father, who had congregated for defence, eight hundred of whom were put to death.

Rawal Moond had one son, who was called Bachera. When about fourteen years of age the coco-nut came from Bullub- sen Solanki, Raja of Patun.2 He forthwith proceeded to Patun, where he married the Solanki princess, and died not long after his father.

Bachera succeeded on Saturday the 12th Sravan, S. 1035.3 The same rites of installation were performed ; the kanferra (split-eared) Jogi was the first to put the regal tilak on his forehead, and ' his

1 There is no interregnum in Rajwarra : the king never dies.

2 This affords a most important synchromsm, corroborative of the correctness of these annals. Raja Bullub-sen of Patun (Anhulwarra) immediately followed Chamund Rae, who was dispossessed of the throne by Mahmud of Ghazni, in the year A.D. 1011, or S. 1067. Bullub-sen died the year of his installation, and was succeeded by Doorlubh, whose period has also been synchronically fixed by an inscription belonging to the Pramaras. — See Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol I, p. 223.

3 This date S. 1035, is evidently an error of the copyist Bachera married Bullub-Sen's daughter in S. 1067, and he died in S. 1100 ; so that it should be either S. 1055 or 1065. It is important to clear this point, as Rawul Bachera was the opponent of Mahmoud of Ghizni in his invasion of India, A. H 393, A.D. 1000,=S. 1056 or S. 1066, the Samvat era being liable to a variation of ten years. (Colebrooke). If we are rights a passage of Ferishta, which has puzzled the translators, should run thus : 'Mahmoud directed his march against the Bhatti, and passing Mooltan, arrived at Behra, a Bhatti city."— Compare Dow, Vol. I, p. 58, (4to. edition) and Briggs, Vol. I, p. 38.

[p.217]: hand upon his back.'

Rawal Bachera had five sons, Doosaj, Singh, Bappi Bao, Unkho, and Maal-Posao ; 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 lac of rupees was fixed as his price ; the breed belonged to a Pathan chief, west of the Indus. To obtain it, Doosaj and his son Unkho put themselves at the head of a band, crossed the Indus, slew Gazi Khan, the Pathan chief, and carried off his stud.

Sing had a son, Sacha-rai ; his son was Balla, who had two sons, Ruttun and Jugga ; they attacked the Parihar prince Juggernath of Mandore, and carried off five hundred camels : their descendants are styled Singrao Rajpoots.

Bappi Rao had two sons, Pahoo and Mandun. Pahoo had likewise two, Beerum and Toolir, whose numerous issue were styled the Pahoo Rajpoots. The Pahoos issued from their abode of Beekumpur,and conquered the lands of the Johyas, as far as Devi-jhal; and having made Poogul1 their capital, they dug numerous wells in the thuls, which still go by the name of the Pahoo wells.

Near Khatoh, in the Nagore District of Marwar, there dwelt a warrior of the Kheechee tribe, named Jiddra, who often plundered even to the gates of Poogul, slaying many of the Jytung Bhattis. Doosaj prepared a kafila ( 'caravan,') under pretence of making a pilgrimage to the Ganges, invaded unawares the Kheechee chiefs territory, and slew him, with nine hundred of his men.

Doosaj, with his three brothers, went to the land of Kher, where dwelt Pertap Sing, chief of the Guhilotes,2 whose daughters they espoused. " In the land of Kher, the Jadoon showered gold, enriching it." In the daeja (dower) with his daughter, the Guhilote gave fifteen Dewa-darries, or 'virgin lamp-holders.' Soon after, the Baloches 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

Doosaj, in the month of Asar, S. 1100. Hamir, prince of the Sodas3 made an incursion into his territories, which he plundered. Doosaj having unavailingly remonstrated, reminding him of ancient ties, he

1. See Map. This was one of the points touched at in Mr. Elphinstone'a journey.

2. The chief of the Guhilotes is now settled at Bhaonagar, at the estuary of the Myhie : where I visited him in 1823. The migration of the family from Kherdhar occurred about a century after that period, according to the documents in the Rao's family, and we have only to look at the opening of the Annals of Marwar to see that from its colonization by the Rahtores, the Gohil community of Kherdhur was finally extinguished. To the general historian these minute facts may be unimportant, but they cease to he so when they prove the character of these annals for fidelity.

3. If this is the Hamira alluded to in the Annals of Bikaner, in whose time the Caggar river ceased to flow in these lands, we have another date assigned to a fact of great physical importance.

[p.218]: marched into Dhat, and gained a victory.

Dusaj had two sons;, Jaisal and Beejiraj, and in his old age a third son, by a Ranawut princess of the house of Mewar, called Lanja Beeji Rai, who, when Doosaj 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 Sidraj Jey Sing, Solanki. During the nuptial ceremonies, as the mother of the bride was marking the forehead of the bridegroom with the tiluk, 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."1

Bhojdeo became lord of Lodorva

By the princess of Puttun he had a son, 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 Doosaj were at this time advanced in manhood, Jesul being thirty-five, and Beejiraj thirty-two years of age.

Some years before the death of Doosaj, Raedhuwal Puar, son (or descendant) of Udyadit of Dhar, had three daughters, one of whom he betrothed to Jeipal (Ajipal) Solanki, son of Sidraj2 another to Beejiraj Bhatti, and the third to the Rana of Cheetore. The Bhatti prince left Lodorva for Dhar at the head of seven hundred horse, and arrived at the same time with the Seesodia and Solanki princes. On his return to Lodorva, he erected a temple to Sheshlnga, close to which he made a lake. By the Puar princess he had a son named Rahir, who had two sons, Netsi and Keksi.

Jaisal conspires against his nephew Bhojdeo

Bhojdeo had not long occupied the gadi of Lodorva, when his

1. Here we have another synchronism. In the Komarpal Charitra, or history of the kings of Anhulwarra Puttun, the reign of Sidraj was from S. 1150 to S. 1201, or A.D. 1094 to 1145 ; the point of time intermediate between the invasion of Mahmud of Ghazni and the final conquest of India by Shabudin, during which there were many irruptions into India by the lieutenants of the monarchs of Ghizni. There was one in the reign of Musood, in A,H. 492 (A.D. 1098), four years after the accession of Sidraj ; another in A.D. 1120, in the reign of Byram Shah, during which, according to Ferishta, the Ghaznevide general, Balin, rebelled and assailed the Hindu Rajas from Nagore, where he establiwed himself. In all probability this is the event alluded to by the queen of Puttun, when she nominated the Bhatti prince as her champion.

2. The mention of these simultaneous intermarriages in three of the principal Rajpoot monarchies of that day, viz,, Dhar, Puttun, and Cheetore, is important, not only as establishing fresh syncnronisms, but as disclosing the intercourse between the Bhattis and the more ancient princely families of India. The period of Udyadit Pramar has been established beyond cavil (see Trans. R A. S., Vol. I, p. 223), and that of Sidraj, likewise, whose son and successor, Ajipal, had byt a short reign when he was deposed by Komarpal, whose date is also found from inscriptions. It is a singular fact, that all the Rajpoot dynasties of these regions were established about the same epoch, viz, Puttun by tne Chauras, Cheetore by the Gehlotes, Dehli, refounded by the Tuars, and the Bhatti principality by the descendant of Salbahan. This was in the middle of the eighth century of Vicramaditya, when the older Hindu governments were broken up. The admission of the Bhatti to intermarry with their families proves one of two facts : either that they were considered Rajpoots, notwithstanding their being inhabitants of the regions beyond the Indus ; or, that the families mentioned, with which they intermarried, were Indo-Scythic like themselves.

[p.219]: uncle Jaisal conspired against him ; but being always surrounded by a guard of five hundred Solanki Rajpoots, ms person was unassailable. At this time, the prince of Puttun was often engaged with the king s troops from Tatha. Jesul, in pursuance of his plan, determined to coalesce with the king, and cause an attack on Puttun (Anhulwarra), 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 Punjnud, where he saw the king of Ghor, who had just overcome the king of Tatha,1 and placed his own garrison there, and he accompanied him to Arore, the ancient capital of Sinde. 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 Kureem Khan departed for Bekher with the spoils.

Jaisal becomes Rawal of the Bhattis

Jaisal thus obtained the gadi 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 Brahmin, whose solitary hermitage adjoined the fountain of Brimsir. 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 Tretay 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 Arjuna, 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 mount2 While Krishna thus prophesied, it was observed to him by Arjoon 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

1. At every step we see, however meagre may be the outline, the correctness of this historical sketch. It was, according to Ferishta, in A.H. 555 (A.D. 1159, or S. 1215), that the prince of Ghor conquered Ghizni, and immediately after overran Mooltan and Sind (see Briggs, Vol. I, p, 157) ; and doubtless it was on this occasion that the Bhatti prince swore allegiance to Shabudin, and obtained the force which drove his nephew from Lodorva, which being sacked by his auxiliaries, he founded Jessulmer in S. 12l2. The three years' discrepancy between the Mahomedan and Hindu dates is of little consequence ; but even this could be remedied, when we recollect that the Samvat, according to Mr. Colebrooke, is liable to a variation of ten years.

2. If there were no better support for the assumed descent of the Bhatti founder of Jessulmer from the Yadus of the Bharata, than this prophecy, we should be confirmed in our suspicion that they are a colony of the Yuti, and that the Brahmins took advantage of the nominal resemblance to incorporate them in the Chatees Rajcula or thirty-six royal races.

[p.220]: stanzas which the hermit Eesul now pointed out to the Bhatti prince, who read as follows :

1.

"Oh prince of Jidoo-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 Jesanoh, a site of twice its strength.

3.

"Prince, whose name is Jaisal, who will be of Yadu race, abandon Lodorpoora ; here erect thy doweling."

The hermit Eesul 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 westward of the castle should retain his name, " the fields of Eesul" 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 Rubwar, '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 Jessulmer was laid, and soon the inhabitants, with all that was valuable, abandoned Lodorva,1 and began to erect new habitations.

Jaisal had two sons, Kailan and Salivahan II. He chose his chief ministers and advisers from the children of Sodil, of the Pahoo tribe, who became too powerful. Their old enemies, the Channa Rajpoots, 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, Salivanan II

1. Lodorva remains in ruins : a journey thither might afford subject-matter for the antiquary, and enable him to throw light upon the origin of the Bhatti tribe. I omitted to place it in the Map : it is ten miles N. W. of the present capital.

Abstract of Chapter III

[p.221]:Preliminary observations — The early history of the Bhattis not devoid of interest — Traces of their andcient manners and religion — The chronicle resumed — Jaisal survives the change of capital twelve years — The heir Kailun banished, — Salbakan, his younger brother, succeeds — Expedition against the Catti or Kathi — Their supposed origin, — Application from the Yadu prince of Badrinath for a prince to fill the vacant gadi — During Salbahan's absence, his son Beejal usurps the gadi — Salbahan retires to Khadal, and falls in battle against the Baloches. — Beejal commits suicide — Kailun recalled and placed on the gadi — His issue form clans — Khizzur Khan Baloch again invades Khadal — Kailan attacks him, and avenges his father's death — Death of Kailun — Succeeded by Chachik Deo — He expels the Chunna Rajpoots — Defeats the Sodas of Amarkot — The Rahtores lately arrived in the desert become troublesome — Important synchronisms — Death of Chachick — He is succeeded by his grandson Kurrun to the prejudice of the elder, Jaetsi, who leaves Jessulmer — Re-dresses the wrongs of a Baraha Rajpoot — Kurrun dies — Succeeded by Lakhur Sen - His imbecile character — Replaced by his son Poonpal, who is dethroned and banished — His grandson, Raning-deo, establishes himself at Marote and Poogal — On the deposed of [[Poonpal, Jaetsi is recalled and placed on the gadi — He chords a refuge to the Purihar Prince of Mundore, when attacked by Allaudin — The sons of Jaetsi carry off the imperial tribute of Tatha and Multan — The king determines to invade Jessulmer — Jaetsi and his sons propose for the storm — Jessulmer invested — First assault repulsed — The Bhattis keep an army in the field — Rawal Jaetsi dies — The siege continues — Singular friendship between his son Ruttun and one of the besieging generals — Moolraj succeeds — General Assault — Again defeated — Garrison reduced to great extremity — Council of war. — Determination to perform the saka — Generous conduct of the Mahomedan friend of Ruttun to his sons — Final Assault — Rawal Moolraj and Ruttun and their chief kin fall in battle — Jaisalmer taken, dismantled, and abandoned.

****

Having thus epitomized the Bhatti annals, from the expulsion of the tribe from the Punjab, and the establishment of Tunnote in the Indian desert, in A.D. 731, to the foundation of the existing capital, Jaisalmer, in A.D. 1156, we shall continue the sketch to the present day, nearly in the language of the chronicle, adding explanatory notes as we proceed.

The interval between the erection of the castle of Tunnote and present time is exactly eleven hundred years ; during which the historical narrative, whatever may be its value, is at least continuous, and the events recorded are corroborated, even in the darkest period, by numerous synchronisms in the annals of the other states ; and viewed synoptically, it presents matter of deep interest to the explorer of Indian history. The period of four hundred and twenty-five ^ years, embraced in the preceding chapter, is full of incidents. It a record of a people who once deemed their consequence and their fame imperishable. And even were it less diversified by anecdotes

[p.222]: descriptive of manners, it would still possess claims to interest us as simple relation of the gradual peopling of a great portion of the Indian desert. We see tribes and cities disappearing ; new races and new capitals taking their place ; and although not a syllable is written which bears directly upon religion, we can see, incidentally, the analogy of these Indo-Scythic tribes, from Zabulistan and Salbahana, with the Hindu, confirming what Manu says, that the Sakas, Yavanas, Pahlavis, and the Khasas1 of Central Asia, were all Chhettris or Rajpoots. We now proceed with the chronicle.

Jaisal, the founder of Jessulmer, survived the change of capital only twelve years. His elder son, Kailun, having given displeasure to the Pahoo minister, was expelled, and his younger brother placed upon the gadi.

Expedition against the Catti or Kathi

Salivahan II, a name of celebrity in the annals, renewed in the of Jesul, succeeded in S. 1224 (A.D. 1168). His first expedition against the Catti or Cathi tribe, who, under their leader, Jogbhao, dwelt between the city of Jalore and the Aravulli.2 The Cathi Rao was killed, and his horses and camels were carried to Jessulmer. The fame of this exploit exalted the reputation of Salivahan II. He had three sons, Beejir, Banar, and Hasso.

Rule of Salivahan descendants in Badrinath

In the mountains of Badrinath, there was a state, whose princes were of the Jadoon (Yadu) race, descended from the first Salbahan at the period of the expulsion from Gujni.3 At this time, the prince of this state dying without issue, a deputation came to Jaisalmer to obtain a prince to fill the vacant gadi. Hasso was accordingly sent, but died just as he arrived. His wife, who was pregnant, was taken

1. There is a race in the desert, now Mahomedan, and called Khosas, Elphinstone mentions the Khasa-Khel. Khasgar is 'the region of the Khasas,' the Casia Region of Ptolemy.

2. We can scarcely refuse our assent to the belief, that the Cathi, or Catti tribe, here mentioned, is the remnant of the nation which so manfullly opposed Alexander. It was then located about Mooltan, at this period occupied by the Langas. The colony attacked by the Bhatti was near the Aravalli, in all probabihty a predatory band from the region they peopled and gave they peopled and gave name to Cattiawar, in the Saurashtra peninsula.

3. Mr. Elphinstone enumerates the Jadoon as a subdivision of the Yusufzai, one of the great Afghan tribes, who were originally located about Cabul and Ghizni. I could not resist surmising the probability of the term Jadoos applied to a subdivision of the Afghan race, originating from the Hindu-Scythic Jadoon, or Yadu ; whence the boasted descent of the Afghans from Saul king of the Jews (Ydhudis), The customs of the Afghans would support this hypothesis : "The Afghans (says the Emperor Baber, page 159) when reduced to extremities in war, come into the presence of their enemy with grass between their teeth, being as much as to say, "I am your ox.'" This custom is entirely Rajpoot, and ever recurring in inscriptions recording victories. They have their bards or poets in like manner, of whom Mr. Elphinstone gives as interesting account. In features, also, they resemble the Northern Rajputs who have generally acquiline noses, or, as Mr. Elphinstone expresses it, in the account of his journey through the desert, "Jewish features" thoug this might tempt one to adopt the converse of my deduction, and say, that these Yadus of Gujni were, with the Afghans, also of Yahudi origin ; from the lost tribes of Israel.

[p.223]: with the pains of labour on the journey, and was delivered of a son under the shade of a palas tree, whence the child was called Palaseo. This infant succeeding, the raj (principality) was named after him Palaseoh.

Proposals of marriage came from Maunsi Deora of Sirohi. The Rawal left Jessulmer to the care of his eldest son Beejil. Soon after his departure, the foster-brother (dhabhae) of the young prince propagated the report of the Rawul's death in an encounter with a tiger, and prompted Beejil to assume the dignity. Salbahan, on his return, finding his seat usurped, and having in vain expostulated with his traitorous son, proceeded to Khadal, of which Deorawul is the capital, where he was slain, with three hundred of his followers, in repelling an irruption of the Baloches. Beejil did not long enjoy the dignity : having in a fit of passion struck the dhabhai, the blow was returned, upon which, stung with shame and resentment, he stabbed himself with his dagger.

Kailan recalled and placed on the gadi

Kuilun, the elder brother of Salbahan, who was expelled by the Pahoos, was now (A.D. 1200) recalled, and installed at the age of fifty.

Kuilun had six sons, Chachick Deo, Palhan, Jeichund, Peetumsi, Petumchund, and Usrao. The second and third had numerous issue, who are styled Jaseir and Seehana Rajpoots.

Khizzur Khan Baloch, with five thousand men, at this time again crossed the Mehran (Indus), and invaded the land of Khadal, which was the second irruption since he slew Salbahan. Kailun marched against him at the head of seven thousand Rajpoots, and, after a severe engagement, slew the Baloch leader and fifteen hundred of his men. Kailun ruled nineteen years.

Chachick Deo succeeded, in S. 1275 (A.D. 1219). Soon after his succession, he carried on war against the Chunna Rajpoots (now extinct), of whom he slew two thousand, capturing fourteen thousand cows, and compelling the tribe to take refuge with the Johyas. Soon after, the Rawul invaded the lands of Rana Urmsi, prince of the Sodas, who, though taken by surprise, assembled four thousand horse: but was defeated, and forced to fly for shelter to the walls of his capital, Amarkot. The Puar was glad to obtain the absence of his foe by the offer of his daughter in marriage.2

1. See Mr. Elphinstone's map for the position of the Jadoon branch of the Yusufzais at the foot of the Sewalik hills.

2. In this single passage we have revealed the tribe(got) race (kula) capital, and proper name, of the prince of Dhat, The Soda tribe, as before stated, is an important branch of the Pramara (Puar) race, and with the Umras and Sumras are dynasties to the valley of Sinde from the most remote period. The Sodas, I have already observed, were probably the Sogdi of Alexander, occupying Upper Sinde when the Macedonian descended that stream. The Soomra dynasty is mentioned by Ferishta from ancient authorities, but the Mahomedan historians knew nothing, and cared nothing, about Rajpoot tribes. It is from such documents as these, scattered throughout the annals of these principalities, and from the ancient Hindu epic poems, that I have concentrated the "Sketches of the Rajpoot Tribes," introductory to the first volume, which, however slight they appear, cost more research than the rest of the book. I write this note chiefly for the information of the patriarch of oriental lore on the Continent, the learned and ingenuous De Sacy. If this Mentor ask, "Where are now the Sodas"" I reply, the ex-prince of Amarkot, with whose ancestors Hemayoon took refuge, — in whose capital in the desert the great Akbar was born,— and who could on the spur of the moment oppose four thousand horse to invasion has only one single town, that of Chore, left to him. The Rahtores, who in the time of Urmsi Rana and Rawul Chachick, were hardly known in Marudesh, have their flag waving on the battlements of the "immortal castle" (amarakuta) and the Ameers of Sinde have incorporated the greater part of Dhat with their state of Hydrabad.

[p.224]: The Rahtores, recently established in the land of Kher, had become troublesome neighbours; Chachick obtained the aid of the Soda troops to chastise them, and he proceeded to Jessole and Balotra where they were established ; but Chadoo and his son Theedo averted his wrath by giving him a daughter to wife.1

Rawal Chachick ruled thirty-two years. He had only one son, Tej Rao, who died at the age of forty-two, from the small-pox leaving two sons, Jaetsi and Kurrun. To the youngest the Rawal was much attached ; and having convened the chiefs around his death-bed, he entreated they would accede to his last wish, that his youngest grandson might be his successor.

Kurrun having succeeded, his elder brother, Jaetsi, abandoned his country, and took service with the Mahomedans in Guzzerat. About this time, Mozuffer Khan, who occupied Nagore with five thousand horse, committed great outrages. There was a Bhomia of the Barah tribe, named Bhagaoti-das, who resided fifteen coss from Nagore, and was master of one thousand five hundred horse. He had an only daughter, who was demanded by the Khan, and being unwilling to comply, and unable to resist, he resolved to abandon the country. For this purpose he prepared carriages, in which he placed his family and chattels, and at night proceeded towards Jessulmer; but the Khan, gaining intelligence of his motions, intercepted the convoy; A battle ensued, in which four hundred of the Barahas were killed; and his daughter and other females were carried off. The afflicted Baraha continued his route to Jessulmer, and related his distress it Rawul Kurrun, who immediately put himself at the head of his followers, attacked the Khan, whom he slew, with three thousand of his people, and re inducted the Bhomia in his possessions. Kurrun ruled twenty-eight years, and was succeeded by his son,

Lakhur Sen, in S. 1327 (A.D. 1271). He was so great a simpleton, that when the jackals howled at night, being told that it was from being cold, he ordered quilted dresses (duglas) to be prepared for them. As the howling still continued, although he was assured

1 To those interested in the migration of these tribes, it must be gratifying to see these annals thus synchronically corroborating each other. About two centuries before this, in the reign of Doosaj, when the Bhatti capital was at Lodorva, an attack was made on the land of Kher, then occupied by the Guhilots, who were, as related in the Annals of Marwar, dispossessed by the Rahtores. None but an inquirer into these annals of the desert tribes can conceive the satisfaction arising from such confirmations.

[p.225]: his orders had been fulfilled, he commanded houses to be built for the animals in the royal preserves (ramna), many of which yet remain. Lakhur was the contemporary of Kanirdeo Sonigurra, whose life was saved by his (Lakhur's) wife's knowledge of omens. Lakhur was ruled by this Rani, who was of the Soda tribe. She invited her brethren from Amarkot ; but the madman, her husband, put them to death, and threw their bodies over the walls. He was allowed to rule four years, and was then replaced by his son,

Poonpal. This prince was of a temper so violent that the nobles dethroned him, and recalled the exiled Jaietsi from Guzzerat. Poonpal had a residence assigned him in a remote quarter of the state. He had a son, Lakumsi, who had a son called Rao Raningdeo, who by a stratagem pointed out by a Khurl1 Rajpoot, took Marote from the Johyas, and Poogul from the Thories, thieves by profession, whose chief, styled Rao, he made captive ; and in Poogul he settled his family. Rao Raning had a son called Sadool, who alternately bathed in the sea of pleasure, and struggled in that of action : to their retreat the father and son conveyed the spoils seized from all around them.

Jaetsi obtained the gadi in S. 1332 (A.D. 1276). He had two Sons, Moolraj and Ruttunsi. Deoraj, the son of Moolraj, espoused the daughter of the Sonigurra chief of Jhalore. Mahomed [khooni] Padsha invaded the dominions of Rana Roopsi, the Purihar prince of Mundore.2 who, when defeated, fled with his twelve daughters, and found refuge with the Rawul, who gave him Baroo as a residence.

Deoraj, by his Sonigrra wife, had three sons, Janghan, Sirwun, and Hamir. This Hamir was a mighty warrior, who attacked Kompoh Sen of Mehwo, and plundered his lands. He had issue three sons, Jaito, Loonkurn, and Mairoo.

Alla-o-din destroyed Jaisalmer 1995 AD

At this period, Ghori Alla-o-din commenced the war against the castles of India. The tribute of Tatha and Mooltan, consisting of fifteen hundred horses and fifteen hundred mules laden with treasure and valuables, was at Bekher in progress to the king at Dehli. The sons of Jaetsi determined to lay an ambush and capture the tribute. Disguised as grain-merchants, with seven thousand horse and twelve hundred camels they set out on their expedition, and on the banks of the Punjnud found the convoy, escorted by four hundred Mogul and the like number of Pathan horse. The Bhattis encamped near the convoy ; and in the night they rose upon and slew the escort, carrying the treasure to Jessulmer. The survivors carried the news to the King, who prepared to punish this insult. When tidings reached Rawul Jaetsi that the king was encamped on the Anasagur at Ajmer, he prepared Jessulmer for defence. He laid in immense stores of grain, and deposited all round the ramparts of the fort

1. This tribe is unknown to Central India.

2. The title, tribe, and capital of this race, shew that the Bhattis were intimately connected with the neighbouring states.

[p.226]: large round stones to hurl on the besiegers. All the aged, the infirm, and his female grand-children, were removed into the interior of the desert, while the country around the capital for many miles was laid waste, and the towns made desolate. The Rawul, with his two elder sons and five thousand warriors, remained inside for the defence of the castle, while Deoraj and Hamir formed an army to act against the enemy from without. The Sooltan in person remained at Ajmer, and sent forward an immense force of Khorasanis and Koreishes, cased in steel armour, '"who rolled on like the clouds in Bhadoon." The fifty-six bastions were manned, and three thousand seven hundred heroes distributed amongst them for their defence, while two thousand remained in reserve to succour the points attacked. During the first week that the besiegers formed their entrenchments, seven thousand Moosulmans were slain, and Meer Mohabet and Alli Khan remained on the field of battle. For two years the invaders were confined to their camp by Deoraj and Hamir, who kept the field, after cutting off their supplies, which came from Mundore, while the garrison was abunaantly furnished from Khadal, Barmer, and Dhat. Eight years1 had the siege lasted, when Rawal Jaitsi died, and his body was burnt inside the fort.

During this lengthened siege, Ruttunsi had formed a friendship with the Nawab Maboob Khan, and they had daily friendly meetings under a khaijra-tree, between the advanced posts, each attended by a few followers. They played at chess together, and interchanged expressions of mutual esteem. But when duty called them to oppose each other in arms, the whole world was enamoured with their heroic courtesy. Jaetsi had ruled eighteen years when he died.

Moolraj III, in S. 1350 (AD. 1294), ascended the gadi surrounded by foes. On this occasion, the customary rejoicings on installation took place, at the moment when the two friends, Ruttunsi and Maboob Khan, had met, as usual, under the khaijra tree. The cause of rejoicing being explained to the Nawab, he observed that the Sooltan had heard of, and was offended with, these meetings, to which he attributed the protracted defence of the castle, and acquainted Ruttunsi that next day a general assault was commanded, which he should lead in person. The attack took place ; it was fierce, but the defence was obstinate, and the assailants were beaten back with the loss of nine thousand men. But the foe obtained reinforcements, and towards the conclusion of the year, the garrison was reduced to the greatest privations, and the blockade being perfect, Moolraj assembled his kinsmen and thus addressed them : " For so many years we have defended our dwellings ; bat our supplies are expended, and there is no passage for more.

1. This can mean nothing more than that desultory attacks were carried on against the Bhatti capital. It is certain that Alia never carried his arms in person against Jaisalmer.

[p.227]:

" What is to be done ?' The chiefs, Sehir and Bikurasi, replied, " a saka must take place ; we must sacrifice ourselves :" but that same day the royal army, unaware of the distress of the besieged, retreated.

The friend of Ruttunsi had a younger brother, who, on the retreat of the royal forces, was called inside the fort, when, seeing the real state of things, he escaped and conveyed intelligence of it, upon which the siege was renewed. Moolraj reproached his brother as the cause of this evil, and asked what was fit to be done ? to which Ruttunsi replied, " there is but one patti open ; to immolate the females, to destroy by fire and water whatever is destructible, and to bury what is not ; then open wide the gates, and sword in hand rush upon the foe, and thus attain swarga." The chiefs were sssembled ; all were unanimous to make Jesa-nuggur resplendent by their deeds, and preserve the honour of the Jadoo race. Moolraj thus replied : "you are of a warlike race, and strong are your arms in the cause of your prince ; what heroes excel you, who thus tread in the Chetrie's path ? In battle, not even the elephant could stand before you. For the maintenance of my honour the sword is in your hands ; let Jessulmer be illumined by its blows upon the foe."

Having thus inspired the chiefs and men, Moolraj and Ruttun repaired to the palace of their queens. They told them to take the Sohag1 and prepare to meet in heaven, while they gave up their lives in defence of their honour and their faith. Smiling, the Soda Rani, replied, " this night we shall prepare, and by the morning's light we shall be inhabitants of swarga" (heaven) ; and thus it was with the chiefs and all their wives. The night was passed together for the last time in preparation for the awful morn. It came ; ablutions and prayers were finished, and at the Rajdwara2 were convened bala, prude, and bridu. They bade a last farewell to all their kin ; the johur commenced, and twenty-four thousand females, from infancy to old age, surrendered their lives, some by the sword, others in the volcano of fire. Blood flowed in torrents, while the smoke of the pyre ascended to the heavens : not one feared to die, every valuable was consumed with them, not the worth of a straw was preserved for the foe. This work done, the brothers looked upon the spectacle with horror. Life was now a burthen, and they prepared to quit it. They purified themselves with water, pud adoration to the divinity, made gifts to the poor, placed a branch of the tulsi in their casques, the saligraram round their neck ; and having cased themselves in armour and put on the safron robe, they

1. Sohagann, one who becomes sati previous to her lord's death : Dohagun, who follows him after death, 2.Literally, ' the royal gate ;' an allusion to the female apartments, or 3. Bala is under sixteen ; prude, middle-aged ; bridu, when forty. 4. The funereal qualities of the toolsi plant, and the emblematic saligram, or stone found in the Gundak river, have been often described.

[p.228]: bound the mor1 (crown) around their heads, and embraced each other for the last time. Thus they awaited the hour of battle. Three thousand eight hundred warriors, with faces red with wrath, prepared to die with their chiefs.

Ruttunsi had two sons, named Garsi and Kanur, the eldest only twelve years of age. He wished to save them from the impending havoc, and applied to his courteous foeman. The Mooslem chief swore he would protect them, and sent two confidential servants to receive the trust ; to whom, bidding them a last farewell, their father consigned them. When they reached the royal camp they were kindly welcomed by the Nawab, who, putting his hand upon their heads soothed them, and appointed two Brahmins to guard, feed, and instruct them.

On the morrow, the army of the Sooltan advanced to the assault. The gates were thrown wide, and the fight began. Ruttun was in the sea of battle ; but one hundred and twenty Meers fell his sword ere he lay in the field. Moolraj plied his lance on the bodies of the barbarians : the field swam in blood. The unclear spirits were gorged with slaughter ; but at length the Jidoon Chief fell, with seven hundred of the choice of his kin. With his the battle closed ; the victors ascended the castle, and Maboob caused the bodies of the brothers to be carried from the field bullied. The saka took place in S. 1351, or A.D. 1295. Deoraj who commanded the force in the field, was carried off by a fever. The royal garrison kept possession of the castle during two and at length blocked up the gateways, and dismantled and abandoned the place, which remained long deserted, for the Bhattis neither means to repair the kangras (battlements), nor men to defend them.

1. On two occasions the Rajpoot chieftain wears the mor, or 'coronet ;' on head his marriage, and when going to die in battle ; symbolic of his nuptials with the Apsara, or 'fair of heaven.'

End of Chapter II

Chapter III

[p.229]: Some years subsequent to this disastrous event in the Bhatti annals, Jugmal, son of Maloji Rahtore, chief of Mehwo, attempted a settlement amidst the ruins of Jessulmer, and brought thither a large force, with seven hundred carts of provisions.

Dudu elected Bhatti Chief

On hearing this, the Bhatti chiefs, Doodoo and Tiluksi, the sons of Jesir, assembled their kinsmen, surprised the Rahtores, drove them from the castle, and captured the supplies. Doodoo, for this exploit, was elected Rawul, Old commenced the repairs of Jessulmer. He had five sons. Tiluksi, his brother, was renowned for his exploits. He despoiled the Baloch, the Manguleo, the Mehwo, and the Deoras and Sonigurras of Aboo

[p.230]: and Jalore felt his power. He even extended his raids to Ajmer; and carried off the stud of Feeroz Shah from the Anasagur (lakej, where they were accustomed to be watered. This indignity provoked another attack upon Jessulmer, attended with the same disastrous results. Again the saka was performed, in which sixteen thousand females1 were destroyed ; and Doodoo, with Tiluksi and seventeen hundred of the clan, fell in battle, after he had occupied the gadi ten years.

Rawal Gharsi re-established Jaisalmer

On the death of Rawul Doodoo, in S. 1362 (AD. 1306), the young princes, Gursi and Kanur, by the death of their patron Maboob, were left to the protection of his sons, Zoolficar and Gazi Khan. Kanur went privately to Jessulmer, and Gursi obtained leave to proceed westward to the Mehwo tract, where he married Bimladevi, a widow, sister to the Rahtore, who had been betrothed2 to the Deora. While engaged in these nuptials, he was visited by his relation Soningdeo, a man of gigantic strength, who agreed to accompany him on his return to Dehli. The king made trial of his force, by giving him to string an iron bow sent by the king of Khorasan, which the nervous Bhatti not only bent but broke. The invasion of Dehli by Timoor Shah3 having occurred at this time, the services of Gursi were so conspicuous that he obtained a grant of his hereditary dominion with permission to re-establish Jessulmer. With his own kindred and the aid of the vassals of his friend Jugmal of Mehwo, he soon restored order, and had an efficient force at command. Hamir and his clansmen gave their allegiance to Gursi, but the sons of Jesir were headstrong.

Kehar son of Deoraj proclaimed Rawal

Deoraj, who married the daughter of Roopra, Rana of Mundore, had a son named Kehur, who, when Jessulmer was about to be invested by the troops of the Sooltan, was conveyed to Mundore with his mother. When only twelve years of age, he used to accompany the cowherds of the old Rao's kine, and his favourite amusement was penning up the calves with twigs of the ak, to imitate the picketting of horses. One day, tired of this occupation, young Kehur fell asleep upon the hole of a serpent, and the reptile issuing there- from, arose and spread its hood over him as he slept. A Charan (bard, or genealogist), passing that way, reported the fact and its

1. The Rajpoots, by their exterminating sakas, facilitated the views of the Mahomedana. In every state we read of these horrors.

2. The mere act of being betrothed disqualifies from a second marriage ; the affianced becomes a rand (widow), though a komari (maid).

3. Even these anachronisms are proofs of the fidelity of these Annals. Ignorant native scribes, aware but of one great Mogul invasion, consider the invader to be Timoor ; but there were numerous Mogul invasions during the reign of Alla-o-din. In all probability, that for which the services of the Bhatti prince obtained him the restoration of his dominions, was that of Eibilc Khan, general of the king of Transoxiana, who invaded India in AH 706 (A.D. 1305), and was so signally defeated, that only three thousand out of fifty-seven thousand horse escaped the sword, and these were made prisoners and trod to death by elephants, when pillars of skulls were erected to commemorate the victory.— See Briggs' Ferisnta, Vol I, p. 364.

[p.231]: import immediately to the Rana, who, proceeding to the spot, found it was his own grandson whom fate had thus pointed out for sovereignty. Gursi, having no offspring by Bimladevi, proposed to her to adopt a son. All the Bhatti youth were assembled, but none eualled Kehur, who was chosen.

Rawal Kehar II

Rawal Gharsi assassinate by sons of Jesir: But the sons of Jesir were disused, and conspired to obtain the gadi. At this time, Rawul Gursi was in the daily habit of visiting a tank, which he was excavating, and they seized an occasion to assassinate him ; whereupon, in order to defeat their design, Bimladevi immediately had Kehur proclaimed. The widowed queen of Gharsi, with the view of securing the completion of an object which her lord had mach at heart, namely, finishing the lake Gharsisar, as well as to ensure protection to her adopted son Kehur, determined to protract the period of self-immolation ; but when six months had elapsed, and both these objects were attained, she finished her days on the pyre. Bimladevi named the children of Hamir as the adopted sons and successors of Kehur. These sons were Jaita and Loonkurn.

The coco-nut was sent by Koombho, Rana of Cheetore, to Jaita. The Bhatti prince marched for Mewar, and when within twelve coss of the Aravulli hills, was joined by the famous Sankla Meeraj, chief of Salbanny. Next morning, when about to resume the march, a partridge began to call from the right : a bad omen, which was interpreted by the brother-in-law of the Sankla, deeply versed in the science of the Sookuni and the language of birds.1 Jaita drew the rein of his horse, and to avert the evil, halted that day. Meanwhile, the partridge was caught and found to be blind of an eye, and its ovary quite filled. The next morning, as soon as they had taken horse, a tigress began to roar, and the Sookuni chieftain was again called upon to expound the omen. He replied that the secrets of great houses should not be divulged, but he desired them to despatch a youth, disguised as a female Nae (barber class), to Komulmer, who there would learn the cause. The youth gained admission to ' the ruby of Mewar,' {Lala Mewari), who was anointing for the nuptials. He saw things were not right, and returning made his report ; upon hearing which, the Bhatti prince married Marrud, the daughter of the Sankla chief. The Rana was indignant at this insult, but a sense of shame prevented his resenting it ; and instead of proclaiming the slight, he offered his daughter's hand to the famous Kheechee prince, Achaldas of Gagron, and it was accepted.2 Jaita met his death, together with his brother Loonkurn, and his brother-in-law, attempt to surprise Poogul : he fell with a hundred and

1. It is scarcely necessary to repeat that this is a free translation of the chronicle.

2. The Kheechee prince, we may suppose, had no follower skilled in omens — they lived very happily, as appears by the Kheechee chronicle, and she bore him a son, who was driven from Gagron. The scandal propagated against the 'ruby of Mewar' was no doubt a ruse of the Sankla chief, as the conclusion shewn. However small the intrinsic worth of these anecdotes, they afford links of synchronisms, which constitute the value of the annals of all these states.

[p.232]: twenty followers. When the old Rao, Raningdeo, discovered against whom he had thus successfully defended himself, he clad himself in black garments, and in atonement performed pilgrimage to all the shrines in India.1 On his return, he was forgiven and condoled with by Kehur.

Kehur had eight sons :

1st, Somaji, who had a numerous offspring, called the Soma-Bhattis ;
2d, Lukmun ;
3d, Kailun, who forcibly seized Beekumpoor, the appanage of his elder brother Soma, who departed with all his bussie2 and settled at Giraup ;
4th, Kilkurn ;
5th, Satul, who gave his name to an ancient town, and called it Satulmer.

The names of the rest were 6. Beejo, 7. Tunno, and 8. Tejsi.

When the sons of Raningdeo became converts to Islam, in order to avenge their father's feud with the Rahtore prince of Nagore, they forfeited their inheritance of Poogul and Marote, and thenceforward mixed with the Abhoria Bhattis, and their descendants are termed Momun Moosulman Bhutti.

On this event, Kailun, the third son of the Rawal Kehar II, took possession of the forfeited lands, and besides Beekampur, regained Deorawul, which had been conquered by their ancient foes, the Dahya Rajpoots.

Kailun built a fort on the Beyah, called, after his father, Kerroh, or Kerore, which again brought the Bhattis into collision with the Johyas and Langas, whose chief. Ameer Khan Korai, attacked him, but was defeated. Kailun became the terror of the Chahils,3 the Mohils3: and Johyas,3 who lived in this quarter, and his authority extended as far as the Punjnud. Kailun married into the Samma family of Jam,4 and arbitrated their disputes on succession, which

1. Sadoo was the son and heir of Raningdeo, and it was from this portion of the Bhatti annals I extracted that singular story, related at page 539, Vol I, to illustrate the influence which the females of Rajpootana have on national manners. The date of this tragical event was S. 1462, according to the Bhatti annals ; and Rana Mokal, the cotemporary of Rawul Jait and Rao Raningdeo, was on the throne of Mewar from S. 1454 to S. 1475. The annals of this state (p. 238) notice the marriage of the 'Ruby' to Dheruj, son of Achildas, but say nothing on the other point. A vague recollection of some matrimonial insult being offered evidently yet prevails, for when a marriage was contracted in A.D. 1821, through the author's intervention, between the Rana of Oodipoor's daughter and the present Rawul Guj Sing of Jessulmer, it was given out that there was no memorial of any marrige-alliance between the two houses. After all, it may be a vain-glorious invention of the Bhatti annalist

2. The term bussie has been explained in Vol. I p. 158. The bussie is a lave in the mildest sense ; one who in distress sells his liberty. His master cuts the choti, or lock of hair, from the centre of the head, as a mark of bondage. They are transferable, like cattle. This custom prevails more in the desert states than in central Rajwarra ; there every great man has his bussie, Shiam Sing Champawut of Pokurn had two hundred when he fled to Jeipoor, and they all fell with him lighting against the Mahrattas. All castes, Brahmins and Rajpoots, become bussie : they can redeem their liberty by purchase.

3. These three tribes are either extinct, or were lost on becoming proselytes to Islamism.

4. The Samma or Summa tribe, which is well known in Mahomedan history, as having given a dynasty to Sinde in modern times, is a great branch of the Yadus, and descended from Samba, son of Krishna ; and while the other branch

[p.233]:

had causedd much bloodshed. Shujahit Jam, whom he supported, accompanied him to Marote, on whose death, two years after, Kailuu possessed himself of all the Samma territory, when the Sinde river became the boundary of his dominion. Kailun died at the age of seventy-two, and was succeeded by1

Rawal Chachick

[p.233]: Chachick-deo, who made Marote his head-quarters, to cover his territories from the attacks of Mooltan, which took umbrage at the return of the Bhattis across the Garah. The chief of Mooltan united in a league all the ancient foes of the Bhattis, the Langas. the Johyas, the Kheechees, and all the tribes of that region. Chachick formed an army of seventeen thousand horse and fourteen thousand foot, and crossed the Beyah to meet his foes. The encounter was desperate ; but the Bhattis were victorious, and returned with rich spoil to Marote. In the year following another battle took place, in which seven hundred and forty Bhattis were slain, and three thousand of the men of Mooltan. By this success, the conquests of Chachick were extended, and he left a garrison [thanna] under his son in Asini-kote, beyond the Behah, and returned to Poogul. He then attacked Maipal, chief of the Doondis, whom he defeated. After this victory he repaired to Jessulmer, to visit his brother Lukmun, reserving the produce of the lands dependent on Asini-kote for his expenses at court. On his return home by Baroo, he was accosted by a Jinj Rajpoot, pasturing an immense flock of

[p.234]: goats, who presented the best of his flock, and demanded protection against the raids of Birjung Rahtore. This chief had wrested the celebrated fortress of Satulmer,1 the abode of wealthy merchants, from a Bhatti chief, and extended his forays far into the desert, and the Jinj was one of those who had suffered by his success. Not long after Rao Chachick had passed by the pastures of the Jinj, he received a visit from him, to complain of another inroad, which had carried off the identical goat, his offering. Chachick assembled his kinsmen, and formed an alliance with Shoomar Khan, chief of the Seta tribe2, who came with three thousand horse. It was the custom of the Rahtores of Satulmer to encamp their horse at a place some distance from the city, to watch, while the chief citizens daily to go abroad. Chachick surprised and made prisoners of the whole. The bankers and men of wealth offered large sums for this ransom ; but he would not release them from bondage, except on condition of their settling in the territory of Jessulmer. Three hundred and sixty-five heads of families embraced this alternative and hence Jessulmer dates the influx of her wealth. They were distributed over the principal cities, Deorawul, Poogul, Marote etc.3 The three sons of the Rahtore were also made prisoners ; the two youngest were released, but Mairah, the eldest, was detained and a hostage for his father's good conduct. Chachick dismissed his ally, the Seta chief, whose grand-daughter, Sonaldevi, he married, father of the bride, Hybat Khan,4 gave with her in daeja (dowry) fifty horses, thirty-five slaves, four palkis, and two hundred female camels, and with her Chachick returned to Marote.

Two years after this, Chachick made war on Thir-raj Khokur, the chief of Peeleebunga,5 on account of a horse stolen from a Bhatti. The Khokurs were defeated and plundered ; but his old enemies the Langas, taking advantage of this occasion, made head against Chachick, and drove his garrison from the new possession of

1. Now belonging to Marwar, and on its north-western frontier ; but I believe in ruins.

2. Most likely the Swatees, or people of Swat, described by Mr. Elphinstone (Vol. I, p. 506), as of Indian origin, and as possessing a Kingdom from the Hydaspes to Jellalabad, the Suastene of Ptolemy.

3. It must not be forgotten, that Satulmer was one of the Bhatti castles wrested from them by the Rahtores, who have greatly curtailed their frontier.

4. From this and many other instances we come to the conclusion that the Tatar or Indo-Scythic title of Khan is by no means indicative of the Mahomedan faith. Here we see the daughter of the prince of Swat, or Suvat, with a genuine Hindi name.

5. The position of Peeleebunga is unknown ; in all probability it has undergone a metamorphosis with the spread of ' the faith' over these regions. As before mentioned, I believe this race called Khokur to be the Ghiker, so well known to Baber, and described as his inveterate foes in all his irruptions into India. Their manners, especially that distinctive mark, polyandrism, mentioned by Ferishta, mark the Ghikers as Indo-Scythic. The names of their chiefs are decidedly Hindu. They were located with the Joudis in the upper part of the Punjab, and, according to Elphinstone, they retain their old position., contiguous to the Eusofzye Jadoans.

[p.235]: Dhooniapoor.1 Disease at length seized on Rawal Chachick, after a long course of victorious warfare, in which he subdued various tracts of country, even to the heart of the Punjab. In this state he determined to die as he had lived, with arms in his hands ; but having no foe near with whom to cope, he sent an embassy to the Langa prince of Mooltan, to beg, as a last favour, the jood-dan, or ' gift of battle,' that his soul might escape by the steel of his foeman, and not fall a sacrifice to slow disease.2 The prince, suspecting treachery, hesitated ; but the Bhatti messenger pledged his word that his master only wished an honourable death, and that he would only bring five hundred men to the combat. The challenge being accepted, the Rawal called his clansmen around him, and on recounting what he had done, seven hundred select Rajpoots, who had shared in all his victories, volunteered to take the last field, and make suncluf (oblation) of their lives with their leader. Previous to setting forth, he arranged his affairs.

His son Guj Sing, by the Seta Rani, he sent with her to her father's house. He had five other sons, viz., Koombho, Birsil, Bheemdeo (by Lala Rani, of the Soda tribe), Rutto and Rindheer, whose mother was Soorajdevi, of Chohan race.

Birsil, his eldest son, he made heir to all his dominions, except the land of Khadal (whose chief town is Deorawul), which he bestowed upon Rindheer, and to both he gave the tika, making them separate states. Birsil marched to Kerore3, his capital, at the head oi seventeen thousand men.

Meanwhile, Rawul Chachick marched to Dhooniapoor, ' to part with life.' There he heard that the prince of Mooltan was within two coss. His soul was rejoiced ; he performed his ablutions, worshipped the sword4 and the gods, bestowed charity, and withdrew his thoughts from this world.

The battle lasted four ghurris (two hours), and the Jadoon prince fell with all his kin after performing prodigies of valour. Two thousand Khans fell beneath their swords : rivers of blood flowed in the field ; but the Bhatti gained the abode of Indra, who shared his throne with the hero. The king crossed the Behah, and returned to Mooltan.

While Rindheer was performing at Deorawul the rites of the twelve days of matum, or ' mourning,' his elder brother, Koombho,

1. Dhooniapoor is not located.

2. In this chivalrous challenge, or demand of the Jood-dan, we recognize another strong trait of Scythic manners, as depicted by Herodotus. The ancient Gete of Transoxiana could not bear the idea of dying of disease ; a feeling which his offspring carried with them to the shores of the Baltic, to Yeut-land, or Jutland !

3. This fortress, erected by Rao Kailun, is stated to be twenty-two coss, about forty miles, from Bahwulpoor ; but though the direction is not stated, there is little doubt of its being to the northward, most probably in that do-ab called Sindsagar.

4. Couple this martial rite with the demand of jood-dan, and there is an additional reason for calling these Yadus, Indo-Scythic. See Vol. I, p. 499, for an account of the worship of the sword, or Kharg-thapana.

[p.236]: afflicted with insanity, rushed into the assembly, and swore to avenge his father's death. That day he departed, accompanied by a single slave, and reached the prince's camp. It was surrounded by a ditch eleven yards wide, over which the Bhatti leaped his horse in the dead of night, reached the harem, and cut off the head of Kaloo Shah, with which he rejoined his brethren at Deorawul. Birsil re-established Dhooniapoor, and then went to Kerore. His old foes, the Langas, under Hybat Khan, again attacked him, but they were defeated with great slaughter. At the same time, Husein Khan Baloch invaded Beekumpoor.1

Rawul Bersi, who at this time occupied the gadi of Jessulmer, went forth to meet Rao Birsil on his return from his expedition in the Punjab. In S. 1530 (A.D. 1474), he made the gates and palace of Beekumpoor.

We may, in this place, desert the literal narrative of the chronicle; what follows is a record of similar border-feuds and petty ware, between 'the sons of Kailun2 and the chiefs of the Punjab, alternately invaders and invaded, which is pregnant with mighty words and gallant deeds, but yielding no new facts of historical value. At length, the numerous offspring of Kailun separated, and divided amongst them the lands on both sides of the Garah ; and as Sultan Baber soon after this period made a final conquest of Mooltan from the Langas, and placed therein his own governor, in all probability the Bhatti possessors of Kerore-kot and Dhooniapoor, as well Poogul and Marote (now Mahomedans), exchanged their fat (sanctioned even by Manu) for the preservation of their estates. The bard is so much occupied with this Poogul branch that the chronicle appears almost devoted solely to them.

He passes from the main stem, Rawul Bersi, to Rawuls Jaita Noonkurn, Bheem, Munohur-das, to Subbul Sing, five generations, with little further notice than the mere enumeration of their issue. With this last prince, Subbul Sing, an important change occurred in the political condition of the Bhattis.

1. The foregoing (from page 233), including the actions of Kailun, Chacliick, and Birsil, must be considered as an episode, detailing the exploits of the Raos of Poogul, established by Kailun, third son of Rawul Kehur of Jessulmer. It was too essential to the annals to be placed in a note.

2. Rao Kailun had established his authority over nine castles, heads of districts, viz., Asini, or Aswini-kote, Beekumpoor, Marote, Poogul, Deorawul, Kerore (twenty-two coss, or about forty miles, from Bahwulpore), Guman, Bahun, Nadno, and Matailoh, on the Indus.

3. There was never anything so degrading to royalty as the selfisg protection guaranteed ti it by lycurgas of the Hindus who says, "against misfortune let him preserve his wife but let him at all events preserve himself, even at the hazard of his wife and riches." — Manu on Government, or on the Military Class. The entire history of the Rajpoots shews they do not pay much attention to such unmanly maxims.

Chapter V

[p.237]: We have now reached that period in the Bhatti annals, when Shah Jahan (1594 –1666) was emperor of India. Elsewhere, we have minutely related the measure which the great Akbar adopted to attach his Rajpoot vassalage to the empire ; a policy pursued by his successors.

Subbul Sing, the first of the princes of Jessulmer who held his dominions as a fief of the empire, was not the legitimate heir to the gadi of Jaisal.1 Munohur-das had obtained the gadi by the assassination of

1. Noonkurn had three sons, Hur-raj, Maldeo, and Kaliandas ; each had issue. Hur-raj had Bheem (who succeeded his grandfather Noonkurn). Maldeo had Kaetsi, who had Dialdis, father of Subbul Sing, to whom was given in appanage the town of Mundilla, near Pokurn. The third son, Kaliandas had Munohur-das, who succeeded Bheem. Ramchund was the son of Munohur-das. A slip from the genealogical tree will set this in a dear Light.

Noonkarn → 1. Hur-raj + 2. Maldev + 3.Kalyandas

1.Hur-raj → Bheem → Nathoo
2. Maldev → Kaitsi → Dayaldas → Sabbal Singh
3.Kalyandas → Manohardas → Ramchand

[p.238]: his nephew, Rawul Nathoo, the son and heir of Bheem, who returning from his nuptials at Bikaner and had passed the day at Filodi, then a town of Jessulmer, when poison was administered him by the hands of a female. But it was destined that the line of the assassin should not rule, and the dignity fell to Subbul Sing the third in descent from Maldeo, second son of Rawul Noonkurn.

The good qualities of young Subbul, and the bad ones of Ramchund, son of the usurper, afforded another ground for the prefeence of the former. Moreover, Subbul was nephew to the prince of Amber, under whom he held a distinguished post in the government of Peshore, where he saved the royal treasure from being captured by the Afghan mountaineers. For this service, and being a favouring of the chiefs who served with their contingents, the king gave Jeswunt Sing of Jodpoor command to place him on the gadi. The celebrated Nahur Khan Koompawut1 was entrusted with this duty, for the performance of which he received the city and domain of Pokurn, ever since severed from Jessulmer.

This was the first considerable abstraction from the territory which had been progressively increased by Rawul Jessul and his successors, but which have since been wofully curtailed. A shoe time before Baber's invasion, the dependencies of Jessulmer extended on the north to the Garah river,2 west to the Mehran or Indus ; and on the east and south, they were bounded by the Rahtores of Bikaner and Marwar, who had been gradually encroaching for two centuries, and continue to do so to this day. The entire thul of Barmair and Kottorah, in the south, were Bhatti chieftainships, and eastward to the site of Bikaner itself.

Umra Sing, son of Subbul, succeeded. He led the tika-dour against the Baloches, who had invaded the western tracts, and installed on the field of victory. Soon after, he demanded aid from his subjects to portion his daughter, and being opposed by

1. Another synchronism (see Annals of Marwar for an account of Nahar Khan) of some value, since it accounts for the first abstraction of territory by the Rahtores from the Bhattis.

2. The Garah is invariably called the Behah in the chronicle. Garah, or Gharra, is so called, in all probability, from the mud (gar) suspended in its waters. The Garah is composed of the waters of the Behah and Sutlej.

[p.239]: Rajpoot, minister, Raghonath, he put him to death. The Chunna Rajpoots from the north-east, having renewed their old raids, lie in person attacked and compelled them to give bonds, or written obligations, for their future good conduct.

Provoked by the daily encroachments of the Kandulote Rahtores, Soonder-das and Dilput, chiefs of Beekumpoor, determined to retaliate : " let us get a name in the world," said Dilput, " and attack the " lands of the Rahtores" Accordingly, they invaded, plundered, and fired the town of Jujoo, on the Bikaner frontier. The Kandulotes retaliated on the towns of Jessulmer, and an action took place, in which the Bhattis were victorious, slaying two hundred of the Rahtores. The Rawul partook in the triumph of his vassals. Raja Anop Sing of Bikaner was then serving with the imperial armies in the Dekhan. On receiving this account, he commanded his minister to issue a summons to every Kandulote capable of carrying arms to invade Jessulmer, and take and raze Beekumpoor, or he would consider them traitors. The minister issued the summons ; every Rahtore obeyed it, and he added, as an auxiliary, a Pathan chief with his band from Hissar. Rawul Umra collected his Bhattis around him, and instead of awaiting the attack, advanced to meet it; he slew many of the chiefs, burnt the frontier towns, and Recovered Poogul, forcing the Rahtore chiefs of Barmair and Kottorah to renew their engagements of fealty and service.

Umra had eight sons, and was succeeded by Jeswunt, the eldest, in S. 1758 (A.D. 1702), whose daughter was married to the heir- apparent of Mewar.

*****

Here ends the chronicle

Here ends the chronicle, of which the foregoing is an abstract : the concluding portion of the annals is from a MS. furnished by a living chronicler, corrected by other information. It is but a sad of anarchy and crime.

Soon after the death of Rawul Umra, Poogul, Barmair, Filodi, and various other towns and territories in Jessulmer, were wrested from this state by the Rahtores.1

The territory bordering the Garah was taken by Daod Khan, an Afgan chieftain from Shikarpoor, and it became the nucleus of a state called after himself Daodpotra.

Jeswunt Sing succeeded. He had five sons, Juggut Sing, who

1. The most essential use to which my labours can be applied, is that of enabling; the British Government, when called upon to exercise its functions, as protector and arbitrator of the international quarrels of Rajpootana, to understand the legitimate and original grounds of dispute. Here we perceive the germ of the border-feuds, which have led to so much bloodshed between Bikaner and Jessulmer, in which the former was the first aggressor ; but as the to; for the purpose of redeeming her lost territory, most frequentlv appears as the agitator of public tranquility, it is necessary to look for the remote in pronouncing our award.

[p.240]: committed suicide, Esuri Sing, Tej Sing, Sirdar Sing, and Sooltan Sing. Juggut Sing had three sons, Akhi Sing, Bood Sing, and Zoorawur Sing.

Akhi Sing succeeded, Bood Sing died of the small-pox ; Tej Sing, uncle to the Rawul, usurped the government, and the princes fled to Dehli to save their lives. At this period, their grand-uncle, Hurri Sing (brother of Rawul Jeswunt), Was serving the king, and he returned in order to displace the usurper. It is customary for the prince of Jessulmer to go annually in state to the lake Gursi-sirr, to perform the ceremony of Las, or clearing away the accumulation of mud and sand. The Raja first takes out a handful, when rich and poor follow his example. Hurri Sing chose the time when this ceremony was in progress to attack the usurper. The attempt did not altogether succeed ; but Tej Sing was so severely wounded that he died, and was succeeded by his son,

Sowae Sing, an infant of three years of age. Akhi Sing collected the Bhattis from all quarters, stormed the castle, put the infant to death, and regained his rights.

Akhi Sing ruled forty years. During this reign, Bahwul Khan, son of Daod Khan, took Deorawul and all the tract of Khadal, the first Bhatti conquest, and added it to his new state of Bahwulpoor, or Daodpotra.

Moolraj succeeded in S. 1818 (A.D.1762)

Moolraj succeeded in S. 1818 (A.D. 1762). He had three sons, Rae Sing, Jaet Sing, and Man Sing. The unhappy choice of a minister by Moolraj completed the demoralization of the Bhatti principality. This minister was named Suroop Sing, a Bania of the Jain faith and Mehta family, destined to be the exterminators of the laws and fortunes of the ' sons of Jasal.' The cause of hatred and revenge of this son of commerce to the Bhatti aristocracy arose out of a disgraceful dispute regarding a Bukktun, a fair frail one, a favourite of the Mehta, but who preferred the Rajpoot, Sirdar Sing, of the tribe of Aef. The Bhatti chief carried his complaint of the minister to the heir-apparent, Rae Sing, who had also cause of grievance in the reduction of his income. It was suggested to the prince to put this presumptuous minister to death ; this was effected by the prince's own hand, in his father's presence ; and as the Mehta, in falling, clung to Moolraj for protection, it was proposed to take off Moolraj at the same time. The proposition, however, was rejected with horror by the prince, whose vengeance was satisfied. The Rawul was allowed to escape to the female apartments ; but the chieftains, well knowing they could not expect pardon from the Rawul, insisting on investing Rae Sing, and if he refused, on placing his brother on the gadi. The an of Rae Sing was proclaimed ; but no intreaty or threat would induce him to listen to the proposal of occupying the throne ; in lieu of which he used a pallet (khat) Three months and five days had passed since the deposal and bondage of Moolraj, when a female resolved to emancipate him : this female was the wife of the chief conspirator, and confidential

[p.241]: adviser of the regent prince. This noble dame, a Rahtore Rajpootni, of the Mahecha clan, was the wife of Anop Sing of Jinjinialli, the premier noble of Jessulmer, and who, wearied with the tyranny of the minister and the weakness of his prince, had proposed the death of the one and the deposal of the other.

We are not made acquainted with any reason, save that of swamdharma, or 'fealty,' which prompted the Rahtorni to rescue her prince even at the risk of her husband's life ; but her appeal to her son Zoorawur, to perform his duty, is preserved, and we give it verbatim : " should your father oppose you, sacrifice him to your " duty, and I will mount the pyre with his corpse." The son yielded obedience to the injunction of his magnanimous parent, who had sufficient influence to gain over Arjoon, the brother of her husband, as well as Megh Sing, chief of Baroo. The three chieftains forced an entrance into the prison where their prince was confined, who refused to be released from his manacles, until he was told that the Mahechi had promoted the plot for his liberty. The sound of the grand nakarra, proclaiming Moolraj s repossession of the gadi, awoke is son from sleep ; and on the herald depositing at the side of his pallet the sable siropa1 and all the insignia of exile, — the black steed and black vestments, — the prince, obeying the command of the emancipated Rawul, clad himself therein, and accompanied by his party, bade adieu to Jessulmer and took the road to Kottoroh. When he arrived at this town, on the southern frontier of the state, the chiefs proposed to 'run the country ;' but ho replied, " the country was his mother, and every Rajpoot his foe who injured it". He repaired to Jodpoor, but the chieftains abided about Sheo Kottoroh and Barmair, and during the twelve years they remained outlaws, plundered even to the gates of Jessulmer. In the first three years they devastated the country, their castles were dismantled, the wells therein filled up, and their estates sequestrated. At the end of the twelve, having made the tilak, or oath against further plunder, their estates were restored, and they were re-admitted into their country.

The banished prince remained two years and a-half with Raja Beejy Sing, who treated him like a son. But he carried his arrogant demeanour with him to Jodpoor ; for one day, as he was going out to hunt, a Bania, to whom he was indebted, seized his horse by the bridle, and invoking the ān of Beejy Sing, demanded payment of his debt. The prince, in turn, required him, with the invocation "by Moolraj !" to unloose his hold. But the man of wealth, disregarding the appeal, insolently replied, " what is Moolraj to me ?" It was the last word he spoke ; the sword of Rae Sing was unsheathed, and the Bania's head rolled on the ground : then, turning his horse's head to Jessulmer, he exclaimed, " better be a slave at once, than

1. Siropa is the Rigpoot term for khelat, and is used by those who, like the Rana or Oodipoor, prefer the vernacular dialect to the corrupt jargon of the Islamite. Sir-o-pa (from 'head, sir, to 'foot' pa) means a complete dress ; in short, eap-a-pied,

[p.242] - [p.242]: (Not wikified)

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