=The Chauhān Rāj.=—This sovereignty (_raj_) of the Chauhans occupies the most remote corner of Rajputana, and its existence is now for the first time noticed. As the quality of greatness as well as goodness is, in a great measure, relative, the Raj of the Chauhans may appear an empire to the lesser chieftains of the desert. Externally, it is environed, on the north and east, by the tracts of the Marwar State we have just been sketching. To the south-east it is bounded by Koliwara, to the south hemmed-in by the Rann, and to the west by the desert of Dhat. Internally, it is partitioned into two distinct governments, the eastern being termed Virawah, and the western from its position ‘across the Luni,’ Parkar;[8.2.1] which appellation, conjoined to Nagar, is also applied to the capital, with the distinction of Srinagar, or metropolis. This is the Negar-Parker of the distinguished Rennel, a place visited at a very early stage of our intercourse with these regions by an enterprising Englishman, named Whittington.[8.2.2] =History of the Chauhāns.=—The Chauhans of this desert boast the great antiquity of their settlement, as well as the nobility of their blood: they have only to refer to Manik Rae and Bisaldeo of Ajmer, and to Prithiraj, the last Hindu sovereign of Delhi, to establish the latter fact; but the first we must leave to conjecture and their bards, though we may [305] fearlessly assert that they were posterior to the Sodhas and other branches of the Pramar race, who to all appearance were its masters when Alexander descended the Indus. Neither is it improbable that the Malli or Mallani, whom he expelled in that corner of the Panjab, wrested ‘the land of Kher’ from the Sodhas. At all events, it is certain that a chain of Chauhan principalities extended, from the eighth to the thirteenth century, from Ajmer to the frontiers of Sind, of which Ajmer, Nadol, Jalor, Sirohi, and Juna-Chhotan were the capitals; and though all of these in their annals claim to be independent, it may be assumed that some kind of obedience was paid to Ajmer. We possess inscriptions which justify this assertion. Moreover, each of them was conspicuous in Muslim history, from the time of the conqueror of Ghazni to that of Alau-d-din, surnamed ‘the second Alexander.’ Mahmud, in his twelfth expedition, by Multan to Ajmer (whose citadel, Ferishta says, “he was compelled to leave in the hands of the enemy”),[8.2.3] passed and sacked Nadol (transliterated Buzule);[8.2.4] and the traditions of the desert have preserved the recollection of his visit to Juna-Chhotan, and they yet point out the mines by which its castle on the rock was destroyed. Whether this was after his visitation and destruction of Nahrvala (Anhilwara Patan), or while on his journey, we have no means of knowing; but when we recollect that in this his last invasion, he attempted to return by Sind, and nearly perished with all his army in the desert, we might fairly suppose his determination to destroy