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
Rana Amra I. ┐ Raja Gaj Singh ┌ Jahangir and
Rana Karan ┘ └ Shah Jahan.
Rana Raj Raja Jaswant Singh Aurangzeb.
┌ All the competitors
Rana Jai Singh ┐ Raja Ajit Singh ┤ for the throne after
Rana Amra II. ┘ └ Farrukhsiyar [724].
From Maldeo to Udai _le gros_ the first _Raja_ (hitherto _Raos_) of
Marwar, and the friend of Akbar, to Jaswant, the implacable foe of
Aurangzeb, and Ajit, who redeemed his country from oppression, all were
valiant men and patriotic princes.
“Where were the lions’ cubs,” I asked of my conductor, “the brave sons
of Ajit, who erected this monument to his manes, and who added provinces
to his dominions?” He pointed to two sheds, where the _kriya
karma_[4.27.17] was performed; there was
No funeral urn
To mark their obsequies:
but these lowly sheds told, in more forcible, more emphatic language,
the cause of this abrupt transition from grandeur to humility than pen
ever wrote; and furnished the moral epilogue to the eventful drama of
the lives of these kings of the desert. Abhai Singh’s parricidal hand
bereft his father of life; yet though his career was one splendid tissue
of success and honour, leaving his dominions more than doubled, the
contentions of his issue with that of his brother Bakhta Singh, alike
accessory, it is said, to the crime, have entailed endless misery upon
Marwar, and left them not the power, if they had the inclination, to
house his ashes. In the same line with the parricide and his brave
brother is the humble monument of the great Bijai Singh, whose life till
towards its close was a continued tide of action. I could not avoid an
exclamation of surprise: “Shame to the country,” I said, “that has
neglected to enshrine the ashes of a name equal to the proudest!” His
three sons, amongst them Zalim Singh, with the sketch of whom this
narrative opened, have their shrines close to his; and but a few yards
removed are those of Raja Bhim, and his elder brother Guman (who died in
his minority), the father of the reigning prince, Raja Man. The last,
which closed the line, pertained to Chhattar Singh, who, in all
probability, was saved by death from the murder of his parent. I passed
it in disgust, asking who had been so foolish as to entomb his ashes
better than those of some of the worthies of his race? I found that it
was the act of maternal fondness.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive