To recover these ensigns of fallen dignity, many a stratagem has been tried. False keys of the city gates of Kotah and its citadel had been procured, and its guards won over by bribery to favour admission; but an unceasing vigilance defeated the plan when on the brink of execution: since which the gates of Kotah are always closed at sunset, and never opened even to the prince. This custom has been attended with great inconvenience; of which the following anecdote affords an instance. When Raja Durjan after his defeat reached Kotah at midnight, with a few attendants, he called aloud to the sentinel for admittance; but the orders of the latter were peremptory and allowed of no discretion. The soldier desired the Raja to be gone; upon which, expostulation being vain, he revealed himself as the prince. At this the soldier laughed [511]; but, tired of importunity, bade his sovereign “go to hell,” levelled his match-lock, and refused to call the officer on guard. The prince retired, and passed the night in a temple close at hand. At daybreak the gates were opened, and the soldiers were laughing at their comrade’s story of the night, when the Raja appeared. All were surprised, but most of all the sentinel, who, taking his sword and shield, placed them at his sovereign’s feet, and in a manly but respectful attitude awaited his decision. The prince raised him, and praising his fidelity, bestowed the dress he then wore upon him, besides a gift of money. The Hara chronicler states, that Raja Bhim’s person was seamed with scars, and so fastidious was he, through the fear of incurring the imputation of vanity, that he never undressed in presence of his attendants. Nor was it till his death-wound at Kurwai that this singularity was explained, on one of his confidential servants expressing his surprise at the numerous scars; which brought this characteristic reply: “He who is born to govern Haras, and desires to preserve his land, must expect to get these: the proper post for a Rajput prince is ever at the head of his vassals.” Raja Bhim was the first prince of Kotah who had the dignity of Panj-hazari, or ‘leader of five thousand,’ conferred upon him. He was likewise the first of his dynasty who bore the title of Maharao, or ‘Great Prince’; a title confirmed though not conferred by the paramount sovereign, but by the head of their own princely tribes, the Rana of Mewar. Previous to Gopinath of Bundi, whose issue are the great feudal chiefs of Haraoti, their titular appellation was Apji, which has the same import as herself (or rather himself), applied to highland chiefs of Scotland; but when Indarsal went to Udaipur, he procured the title of Maharaja for himself and his brothers; since which Apji has been applied to the holders of the secondary fiefs, the Madhani of Kotah. Raja Bhim left three sons, Arjun Singh, Shyam Singh, and Durjansal.