Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, v. 3 of 3: or the Central and Western Rajput States of IndiaTod, James
History
Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, v. 3 of 3: or the Central and Western Rajput States of India
Tod, James
Rajasthan (India) -- History; Rajput (Indic people) -- History
This is a fragment of a long poem relative to the rivalry of Raja
Chand of Abhaner, and Raja Sursen of Indrapuri, who was betrothed to
Parmala, daughter of Kaikum, and had gone to Girner, or Girnar, to
espouse her, when the Abhaner prince abducted her. Raja Sursen of
Indrapuri (Delhi), if the ancestor of the Suraseni, and founder of
Surpuri, existed probably twelve hundred years before Christ. That
sun-worshippers had established themselves in the peninsula of
Saurashtra (whose capital was Junagarh-Girnar), its appellation, in
the days of the Greeks of Bactria, as now, proves (see Strabo, Justin,
etc.), but whether Kaikum, the father of Parmala, is the Kaiomurs of
Firdausi, we shall not stop to inquire. The connexion between this
peninsula and Persia was intimate in later times, so as even to give
rise to the assertion that the Ranas of Mewar were descended from the
Sassanian kings. It was my good fortune to discover Surpuri, on the
Jumna, the residence of the rival of Chand of Abhaner, which city I
leave to some one imbued with similar taste to visit, and merely add,
he will find there an inscription in a kund or fountain dedicated to
the Sun. The distance, however, seven hundred coss (_kos sath so_),
whether from Indrapuri or Abhaner, to Girnar, even admitting them to
be _gao coss_, would be too much. I believe this would make it eight
hundred miles, and certainly, as the crow flies, it is not seven
hundred. Interwoven with the story there is much about Raja Chambha,
prince of Jajnagar, a city of great antiquity in Orissa, and
containing some of the finest specimens of sculpture I ever saw. There
is also mention of a Raja Saer (_qu._ Sahir or Siharas of Aror) of
Parman. In 1804, I passed through Jajnagar, after the conquest of the
province of Cuttack, with my regiment. At Jajnagar, my earliest
friend, the late Captain Bellet Sealy, employed his pencil for several
days with the sculptured remains. These drawings were sent to the
authorities at Calcutta: perhaps this notice may rescue from oblivion
the remains of Jajnagar, and of my deceased friend’s talent, for
Captain Bellet Sealy was an ornament equally to private life and to
his profession. He fell a victim to the fever contracted in the Nepal
war. The ruins of Abhaner are on the Banganga, three coss east of
Lalsont. [The speculations in this note are of no value. For the town
of Jājpur in Cuttack, see a full account by Sir W. Hunter, _Orissa_,
i. 265 f.; _IGI_, xiv. 10 f.]
Footnote 9.4.2.A:
_Parī-mālā_ means ‘fairy garland.’
Footnote 9.5.3:
[About 15 miles N.E. of Jaipur city.]
Footnote 9.5.4:
Strings, or threads, worn crossways by Muhammadan children. [See
Herklots, _Qanoon-e-Islam_, 156, 158.]
Footnote 9.5.5:
The town of Amritsar and forty-five villages are still left to the
Manoharpur branch.
Footnote 9.5.6:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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