Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, v. 2 of 3: or the Central and Western Rajput States of IndiaTod, James
History
Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, v. 2 of 3: or the Central and Western Rajput States of India
Tod, James
Rajasthan (India) -- History; Rajput (Indic people) -- History
Ceremonials, on a scale of magnificence equal to the shortness of the
time, were going on. The song of joy had already stifled the discordant
voice of war, and at length the Khan was summoned to the terrace. Robed
in the marriage garb presented to him by the queen, with a necklace and
aigrette of superb jewels from the coffers of Ganor, he hastened to obey
the mandate, and found that fame had not done justice to her charms. He
was desired to be seated, and in conversation full of rapture on his
side, hours were as minutes while he gazed on the beauty of the queen.
But presently his countenance fell—he complained of heat; punkas and
water were brought, but they availed him not, and he began to tear the
bridal garments from his frame, when the queen thus addressed him [626]:
“Know, Khan, that your last hour is come; our wedding and our death
shall be sealed together. The vestments which cover you are poisoned;
you had left me no other expedient to escape pollution.” While all were
horror-struck by this declaration, she sprung from the battlements into
the flood beneath. The Khan died in extreme torture, and was buried on
the road to Bhopal; and, strange to say, a visit to his grave has the
reputation of curing the tertian of that country.[4.23.51]
=Rāja Jai Singh and his Wife.=—We may give another anecdote illustrative
of this extreme delicacy of sentiment, but without so tragical a
conclusion. The celebrated Raja Jai Singh of Amber had espoused a
princess of Haraoti, whose manners and garb, accordant with the
simplicity of that provincial capital, subjected her to the badinage of
the more refined court of Amber, whose ladies had added the imperial
costume to their own native dress. One day being alone with the prince,
he began playfully to contrast the sweeping jupe of Kotah with the more
scanty robe of the belles of his own capital; and taking up a pair of
scissors, said he would reduce it to an equality with the latter.
Offended at such levity, she seized his sword, and assuming a
threatening attitude, said, “that in the house to which she had the
honour to belong, they were not habituated to jests of this nature; that
mutual respect was the guardian, not only of happiness but of virtue”;
and she assured him, that if he ever again so insulted her, he would
find that the daughter of Kotah could use a sword more effectively than
the prince of Amber the scissors; adding, that she would prevent any
future scion of her house from being subjected to similar disrespect, by
declaring such intermarriages _talak_, or forbidden, which interdict I
believe yet exists.[4.23.52]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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