THE RAJPUTANA GAZETTEER VOLUME I. CALCUTTA: OFFICE OF THE SUPEEINTENDENT OF GOVEENMENT FEINTING. 1879. CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION. SECTION I. Page. General Description and Physical Configuration of the Country ... ... 1 SECTION II.— GEOLOGY and MOUNTAIN SYSTEM. Part I. — Sketch of the Geology of Eajputana ... ... ... 8 „ II. — Mountains and Hill Eanges ... ... ... ... 10 „ III. — The useful Minerals of Eajputana ... ... ... ... 13 SECTION III. Climate and Hygiene ... ... ... ... ... ... 19 SECTION IV.— FOEESTS. Part I. — Porest Topography ... ... ... ... ... 22 „ IL— Forest Flora ... ... ... ... ... ... 24 SECTION V. Part I. — Eivers and Water Storage ... ... ... ... 32 „ II. — Lakes ... ... ... ... ... ••¦ 35 SECTION VI. History ... ... ... ... ... ••• 37 SECTION VIL Part I. — Political Institutions and State of Society ... ... ••¦ 54 „ IL— Population ... ... ... ... ... .... 65 „ III. — Statistics of Population ... ... ... ... ¦•• 81 IV. — Towns and Fortresses ... ... ... ... ••• 85 EeligionIndustrial Occupations Land Tenures ... Agriculture and Soils SECTION VIIL SECTION IX. SECTION X. SECTION XL 89 91 92 96 11 BANSWARA. Page. General Topography ... ... ... ... ... ... IQI Forests ... ... ... ... .,. .,. 102 Mineral Productions ... ... ... ... ... ... ih. Eivers and Lakes ... ... ... „. ... ,., 103 Climate and Eainfall ... ... ... ... ,„ ... H, History ... ... ... ... ... ... 104 Dominant Classes ... ... ... ... ... ... 106 Official Classes ... ... ... ... ... ... 108 Agriculture ... ... ... ... ... ... 109 General Eevenues ... ... ... ... ... ... 110 Land Tenures ... ... ... ... ... ... 114 Population ; Castes, Clans and Tribes ... ... ... ... 116 Social Customs ... ... ... ... ... ... 117 Administration ... ... ... ... ... ... 122 Communications ; Districts, Principal Towns, and Eemarkable Places ... ... 123 Fairs ... ... ... ... ... ... 126 APPENDIX, (State of Kusalgarh.) Natural Features ... ... ... ... ... ... 126 Climate and Eainfall ... ... ... ... ... .,, 127 History ... ... ... ... ... ... ib. Dominant Classes ... ... ... ... ... ... 128 Agriculture, Land Eevenue, and Land Tenures ... ... ... ... «5. Population ; Castes, Clans and Tribes ... ... ... ... 129 Administration, &c. ... ... ... ... ... ... iJ. Communications ; Districts, Towns, and Villages ... ... ... ih. Fairs ... ... ... ... ... ... 130 BHARTPUR. General Topography ... ... ... ... ... ... 131 Geology, Hill Eanges, and Minerals... ... ... ... ... 1^32 Climate and Eainfall ... ... ... ... ... ... X36 Eivers ... ... ... ... ... .„ 140 History ... ... ... ... ... ... 141 Form of Government ... ... ... ... ... ... 147 Aristocracy and Official Classes ... .. ... ... „ ... 143 Agriculture, Land Eevenue and Tenures, Proprietary and Cultivating Qassss ,.. 149 Population ; Castes, Tribes, and State of Society ... ,„ ... 157 Commerce and Trade ... ... ... , ... ... .^. 168 Ill Pagb. Administration, &c. ... ... ... ... ... ... 170 Communications ... ... ... ... ... ... 175 Principal Towns, Pairs, and Eemarkable Places.,, ... ... ... 178 BIKANIR. General Topography ... ... ,., ... ... ... 179 Minerals, Climate, and Eainfall ... ... ... ... ... 180 Eivers, Lakes, and Wells ... ... ... ... ... 181 History ... ... ... ... ... ... 182 Form of Government, and Dominant Classes ... ... ... ... 184 Agriculture ... ... ... ... ... ... 185 Land Eevenue ... ... ... ... ... ... 187 Land Tenures ... ... ... ... ... ... 189 Commerce ... ... ... ... ... ... 191 Population and Social Sub-divisions ... ... ... ... ... 193 Eeligion and State of Society ... ... ... ... ... 195 Administration ... ... ... ... ... ... 197 Communications ... ... ... ... ... ... 198 Principal Towns ... ... ... ... ... ... 199 Fairs, and Eemarkable Places ... ... ... ... ... 201 BUNDI. General Topography . ... ... ... ... ... ... 203 Geology ... ... ... ... ... ... 205 Eivers ... ... ... ... ... ... 210 Lakes and Tanks ... ... ... ... ... ... 215 History ... ... ... ... ... ... 218 Population, &o, ... ... ... ... .-¦ ... 221 Eeligion ... ... ... ... ••• •¦¦ 224 Administration, &o, ... ... ¦.• •.• ••• ••• *^- Agriculture ... ... ... ••• ••• ••• 227 Communications ... ... ... ••• ¦¦• ••¦ 234 Towns and Eemarkable Places ... ... ••• ¦¦¦ ••• 235 Pairs, and Holy-places ... ... ... ¦- ••• ¦•• 239 Forts ... ... ... ... - - 240 ArohsBology ... ... ... — ••• •¦• 241 DHOLPUR. General Topography ... ... ••• ••• — — 243 Geology ... ... — ••• ••¦ — **• Eivers ... ... ••• ••• ••• — ^^^ IV Climate and Eainfall History ... .., Particulars regarding the ruling family ... Administration and Form of Government Dominant Classes Agriculture Land Eevenue and Land Tenures ... Population and Social Sub-divisions ... Eeligion Jails and Police Communications ; Towns and Bemarkable Places Tabular Statements Page. 246 ib. 248 250 251 253259262 ib. 264 265 269 DUNGARPUR. General Topography Geology and Minerals ... Eivers and Lakes Climate and Eainfall History Form of Government, and Administration ... AgricultureLand Eevenue and Land Tenures ... Population and Social Sub-divisions Administration, &c. Communications ; Towns and Eemarkable Places 273 274 ib.ib. 275 276 278279281283 THE RAJPUTANA GAZETTEER. INTRODUCTION. ERRATA. Page 50, line 25, for "according to the revenue survey of 1847, an area of 2058-28 square mUes," read "according to the topographical survey, au area of 2,069-816 square miles." Page 50, line 32,/o»- •¦according to the revenue survey of 602-23 square miles," read "according to the topographical survey of 640-864 square miles." iJfiartpurBikanir Biindi Dholpur DungarpurJaipurJesulmerJh dia war Karauli Carried over . IjOX-l , 22,340 . 1,917 . 819 . 952 , 14,882 , 16,447 2,1461,260 63,909 J:^0T;a ^j-JfOI Marwar . . 37,000 Meywar . . 13,674 Pert^bgarh . 1,215 Sirohi . 2,057 Tonk (in Rajputana) . 1,688 Ulwar . 3,380 Ajmer-Merwarra Total 128,224 2,710 130,934 * The areas of many States can only be taken as representing an approximate calculation. IV Page Climate and Eainfall .. 246 History .. ib. Particulars regarding the ruling family ... 248 Administration and Form of Government ... 250 Dominant Classes ... 251 Agriculture .. 253 Land Eevenue and Land Tenures ... .. 259 Population and Social Sub-divisions ... .. 262 Eeligion .. ib. Jails and Police .. 264 Communications ; Towns and Eemarkable Places ... ... .. 265 Tabular Statements .. 269 THE RAJPUTANA GAZETTEER. INTRODUCTION. SECTION I.-GENEEAL DESCEIPTION AND PHYSICAL CONPIGUEATION OP THB COUNTEY. The word Rajptjtana signifies, in the administrative nomencla ture of the Indian Empire, a great territorial circle, which in cludes nineteen States, having each its own autonomy and separate Chief, and the British district of Ajmer. These territories lie between the parallels of 23° and 30° north latitude, and 69° 30' and 78° 15' east longitude ; their area is approximately estimated at 180,934 square miles.* Rajputana, as traced on the map of India, is shaped like an irregular rhomb ; its salient angles to the west, north, east, and Names. Bd,'nswara BhartpurBikanir Bundi Dholpur Dungarpur Jaipur JesulmerJh^lawar Karauli * Area of Baj Abba in bqttabe miles. . 1,322 . 1,824 . 22,340 . 1,917 . 819 . 952 . 14,882 . 16,447 . 2,146 . 1,260 'putana States. Brought over Kishengarh Kota . . . . Marwar . Meywar . PertSbgarhSirohi Tonk (in Rajputana) UlwarAjmer-Merwarra • Total . iHEA IN iBB MIIES. 63,909 817 4,484 37,000 13,674 1,2152,057 . 1,688 3,380 128,224 . 2,710 Carried over . . 63,909 . 130,934 * The areas of many States can only be taken as representing an approximate calculation. ( 2 ) south respectively, being joined by the extreme outer boundary lines of the States of Jesulmer, Bikanir, Dholpur, and Bdnsw4ra. On the west Rajputana is bounded by the province of Sinde, and on the north-west by the State of Bahawulpur ; thence aU its northern and eastern frontier marches with the Punjab and the North-Western Provinces, until, as it turns south-eastward, it touches Sindia's country : and its southern boundary runs across the central region of India in an irregular, zigzag line, which separates the Rajputana States from a number of other Native States in Central India, and which marks off generally the north ern extension of that great belt of territory subject, mediately or immediately, to the Maratha powers — Sindia, Holkar, and the Gaekwar. It may be useful to give roughly the geographical position of the States within this area, The States of Jesulmer, Marwar or Jodhpwr, and Bikanir form a homogeneous group in the west and north. In the north-east is XJTwar, and a tract called the Shekhawati, subject to Jaipur. Jaipur, Bhartpur, Dholpur, Karauli, Biindi, Kota, and Jhala- war, may be grouped together as the eastern and south-eastern States. The southern States are Pertdbgarh, Bdnswdra, Dungarpur, Meywar or Qodipur, with Sirohi in the south-west. And in the centre lie the British district of Ajmer, the Kishen garh State, the petty Chiefship of Shahpura, with parts of Tonk. As the Tonk State consists of six isolated patches of terri tory, it does not fall into any one of even these rough geographi cal groups. In order to make a general description of this great region intelligible by the use of broad landmarks, we may take separately each of the two maia divisions on either side of the Arvali Mountain range. Tbis range intersects the country almost from end to end by a bine running nearly north-east and south-west ; and about three-fifths of Rajputana lie north-west of this line, leaving two-fifths on the south-east. The heights of Mount Aboo may serve as a landmark of the south-western extension (in RaiT putana) of the Arvahs ; while to the north-east they end, as a connected range, ne&r Khetri in the Shekhawati country, though their hne may be traced, as far as Delhi by the series of incohe rent rocks and ridges which cross the plain in that direction. Our two main divisions are therefore — (1) — Rajputana, north-west of the Arvalis. (2) — Rajputana, south-east of the Arvalis. ( 3 ) Let us first take the north-western division, which comprises the whole vast tract stretching, from Sinde on the west, north ward along the southern Punjab frontier to near Delhi on the north-east. The character of this tract is throughout uniform ; it is sandy, unproductive and ill- watered, improving gradually from a mere desert in the far west and north-west, between Rajputana and Sinde, to comparatively habitable and fertile lands toward the north-east. Keeping the Arvali range as our base hne of observation, and looking from its south-west end at Aboo due west to the Runn of Kutch, we find that almost immediately beyond the mountain's skirt the soil alters from hard rock to sand mixed with very little loam. The country has many wide flats, but more commonly shows gentle undiilations ; while a good many isolated hflls, occasionally of some height, are seen; and as .far as the beginning of the desert proper tlfere is a succession of gentle swells, clothed with rather thick low jungle. This tract is fairly peopled, and to some extent cultivated, though the inhabitants rely largely for subsistence on great herds of cattle, which feed on the grass that covers aU this country after the rains. Beyond the Loni, and from the edges of the Runn of Kutch, stretches northward the great desert which divides Rajputana from Sinde along the whole of its western fron tier. Eastward of this great desert comes a tract of rocky country much cut up by limestone ridges, which to some degree protect it from the desert sands; and upon this zone of less absolutely sterile country (within which lies the Mallani dis trict) there is more cultivation and vegetation, though sand- hflls and hard stiff clay occupy the greater part. The zone serves, however, to separate the great desert in the west from what has been called the little desert lying east of it, which runs up from the Loni between Jesulmer and Jodhpur into the northern wastes. In the southern half of Jesulmer, again, and in the south and east of Bikanir, there is a light, cultivable sofl ; but over the greater part of North-Western Marwar, and throughout northern Jesulmer, Bikanir, and the upper portion of the Shekhawati country belonging to Jaipur, extends a sandy plain, traversed in the interior by long waves of sand-hills : towards the extreme north-west the sand gives place to extensive flats of hard clay. The character of the desert region is the same everywhere. It is covered by sand-hiUs, shaped generaUy m long, straight ridges, which seldom meet, but run iu paraUel lines, separated by short and fairly regular intervals, something like the ripple marks on a sea-shore upon a very magnified scale. Some of these ridges may be two miles long, varying from 50 to 100 ieet'tH ( 4 ) height : their sides are water-marked, and at a distance they look like substantial low hflls. Their summits are blown up and curved like waves by the action of the periodical westerly winds ; they are sparsely clothed with stunted shrubs and tufts of coarse grass in the dry season, and the Ught rains cover them with vege tation. The villages within the deserts, though always known by a local name, cannot be reckoned as fixed habitations, for their permanence depends entirely on the supply of water in the wells, which is constantly f afling or turning brackish ; and so soon as the water gives out, the village must shift. A Uttie water is col lected in small tanks or pools, which are dry before the stress of the heat begins, and in places there are long marshes impregnated with salt. This is the character, with more or less variation, of the whole north and north-west of Rajputana. The cultivation is everywhere poor and precarious, though certain parts have a. better soil than others, and some tracts are comparatively product ive. Nevertheless the principal towns within this region are well buflt and fairly prosperous : they have for ages managed the traffic across these deserts, and their position has given them im munity from plunder by great predatory armies. Along the base of the ArvaU range, from Aboo north-east towards Ajmer, the submontane region lying immediately under the abrupt northern slopes and absorbing their drainage is well cifltivated, where it is not covered by jungle, up to the Loni River. This river runs from Ajmer to the Runn of Kutch in a course , roughly paraUel with the Arvalis, which supply its water. The tract between the range and the river is at first dotted with conii cal rocky hills cropping up irregularly, and varying in height from 600 to 2,000 feet above their bases ; there are also long spnrs of the ArvaUs striking out into the plain. Hereabout are many substantial villages, and a good breadth of permanent tiUage, especially along the banks of the Loni. After the Loni is crossed north-west, the surface streams are mere rain gutters ; the water in the wells sinks lower and lower, cifltivation becomes more patchy and poorer, untfl the scanty loam shades off into the sandy waste. The whole of the north-western division of Rajputana may indeed be said to present much the same aspect, with a general level much lower than the country on the eastern side of the ArvaUs, and radiating, with a constant, though very sUght, slope towards the Runn of Kutch and the Indus. As the Arvalis approach Ajmer from the south-west, their continuous chain breaks up, and the spinal range is dislocated into separate hiUs and sets of hflls. The backbone of the country is, however, marked by a line of highest elevation, which about this part forms one of the main watersheds of India, whence ( 5 ) the rivers flow south-west and south-east to the two seas. Here is _ the central midland country of Rajputana ; the town of Ajmer stands among the disunited hills, upon the highest level of an open table-land spreading eastward towards Jaipur, and sloping by degrees to all points of the compass : northward the country is sandy as it leaves the hills; southward the soil im proves ; and the midland districts, comprising Kishengarh and the southern haU of the Jaipur State, are fertfle and well culti vated. Prom Ajmer the ArvaUs trending north-eastward never re-unite into a chain, though their range-direction is very plainly denoted by successive hiUs and rocky eminences, which stretch past the Sambhar Lake north-eastward through the Jai pur country up to the group of hills near Khetri, which rise bold and abrupt from the plains. Their Une, however, stfll serves to divide roughly the sandy country on the north and west from the kindlier soil on the south and east; though, as the range breaks up, its correspondence with any such division of charac teristics becomes, of course, more and more indistinct. Por where as, from Aboo north-east to near Ajmer the unbroken range stands Uke a barricade, and effectively protects the country behind it from the influx of sand ; beyond Ajmer, again, to the north-east, although the general elevation and run of the ridges have to some extent checked the spread of sand from the west, yet the sand has drifted through many openings and intervals among the hflls, and has overlaid large tracts on the eastern side of the line. Against the hflls that surround the city of Jaipur the sand lies piled up like a snow-drift on their western face. Nevertheless we may stiU say that the peculiar desert type of country only begins north-west of the Arvalis, whence as one goes farther towards that point of the compass the water sinks steadfly deeper ; while as the general slope of the land is in the same direction, it may be inferred that the beds of sand increase regularly in depth to the north-west. In the greater part of this country agriculture is difficult, yielding thin surface crops, dependent on the uncertain rains ; the land gives one crop within the year ; the wells are few and deep, and the towns and villages at long distances apart, buflt usually upon the beds of hard stone, which crop up occasionally. And though in the north-eastern angle of Rajputana the country is not so near a wilderness as on the extreme north and west, yet a great extent is comparatively waterless and waste. In this manner, along the whole of this north-western division of Rajputana, the Arvalis represent a coast Une, partly fenced by high cUffs, and partly an irregular shore pierced by bays and inlets, against which the sea of sand flows up continually from the shelving plains of the west. Close alone; ( 6 ) this coast the sand has hardly overflowed the fij^n sofl ; further out in the plains it is stfll shallow, with rocks showing above the level, with outlying strips of tilled sofl and hospitable oases -, whfle farther away in the distance the open sea of sand is deep and almost unbroken, roUing up in long waves driven forward by the strong westerly winds of the hot season. Our second great division, Rajputana south-east of the ArvaUs, contains the higher and more fertile countries that stretch inland, as it might be said, behind the coast Une, which we have supposed the range fronting north-west to represent. This division may be circumscribed by a Une starting from the south-western extremity of the ArvaUs, and sweeping round first south-eastward, then eastward along the northern frontiers of Guzerat and Malwa. Where it meets the GwaUor territory, the Rajputana border line turns northward, and eventually runs along the Chambal, until that river enters the British dominions. It then skirts the British possessions in the basin of the Jumna as it goes north ward past Agra and Muttra, up to the neighbourhood of Delhi. In contrast to the sandy plains, which are the uniform feature, more or less modified, of the north-west, this south-eastern division has a very diversified character. It contains extensive hill ranges, and long stretches of rocky wold and woodland ; it is traversed by considerable rivers, and in many parts there are wide vales, fertfle table-lands, and great breadths of excellent sofl. Behind that loftiest and most clearly defined section of the Arvalis, which runs between Aboo and Ajmer, Ues the Meywar country, occupying aU the eastern flank of the range, at a level 800 or 900 feet higher than the plains on the west. And where as the descent of the western slopes is abrupt towards Marwar (or the Jodhpur country), on the eastern or Meywar side the land falls very gradually as it recedes from the long parallel ridges, which mark the water-parting, through a country fuU of high hills and deep guUies, much broken up by irregular rocky eminences, until it spreads out and settles down into the open champaign of the centre of Meywar. Towards the south-western corner of Meywar, the broken country behind the ArvaUs is pro longed furthest into the interior ; and hereabout the outskirts of the main range do not soften down into level tracts, but become entangled in a confused network of outlying hiUs and valleys, covered for the most part with thick jungle, which forms that very pecuUar region known to British poUtical administration as the hilly tracts of Meywar. The interior of Meywar is generaUy open and weU cultivated, though there are long strips of waste and rocky sierras, with single ( 7 ) hiUs rising here and there in the plains. The easterly course of the main rivers, excepting those in the extreme south-west, indicates the general incUnation of the land. Beyond the hflly tracts there is Uttie forest, but much pasture, and the artificial lakes among the low hiUs are numerous. Prom November to June this country is easily traversed, but during and after the rainy season many swamps form ; the wretched cart tracks are repossessed by the water torrents, which originaUy cut them out through the hflls, and the river beds are often an impassable flood. Beyond Meywar, in the extreme south of Rajputana, lie the petty States of Dungar pur, Bdnswara, and Pertabgarh ; the slope is here marked by the drainage of the Mdhi River to the south-west, and the ascent east ward, in the direction of the Vindhyas, is very clearly marked. This country is hilly and much occupied by jungle. All the south-east of Rajputana is watered by the drainage of the Vindhyas carried north-eastward by the Bands and the Chambal Rivers. The south-east corner is occupied by the Jhala- war State, which belongs properly to the Malwa country, and a long narrow strip caUed the Chaumehla runs almost due south into Maratha territory. But to the north of Jhdlrapatan the whole country on the eastern side of Rajputana rises by a very distinct slope upward to the level of a remarkable plateau caUed the Patar, upon which lies almost aU the territory of the Kota State, with parts of Biindi to the north of Kota, and of Jhdlawar to the south ®f it. Prom the south tbis table-land is ascended by three distinct steppes or elevations out of the Malwa plain, and the line of hflls which marks its eastern edge runs round by Chitor to Mandalgarh. Thence its north-western face is very distinctly marked by the line of the Biindi hills, which run Uke a wall from Mdndalgarh north-west to Indargarh, and by the roundabout course which the Bands River takes to avoid the high ground in pushing its way north-east towards a junction with^ the Chambal. The general slope of this plateau to the north-east is signified by the course of the Chambal River, which forces its waters in a very striking manner from their source in the highlands of the Vindhyas through the three steppes before mentioned, untfl it reaches the main table-land of trap rock. Through this it drives a. deep bed Uke a raflway cutting, with banks a hundred feet high or more on each side, until it emerges into lower levels in the north west beyond its junction with the Bands. Eastward the plateau falls towards the GwaUor country and the catchment of the Betwa River so gradually, that the general aspect of the interior would not suggest a raised plateau, though the three low steppes leading up to it from the south and west are very distinctly contoured. The surface of the plateau is very ( 8 ) diversified ; wide uplands, more or less stony, broad dips or levels containing deep black culturable sofl between hills, with rugged and irregular summits, sometimes barren and sometimes covered with vegetation. Between the Chambal and the Parbati Rivers there is a considerable tract df rich black soil. Beyond the Patar, to the north-east of the junction of the Bands and Chambal, there is a very rugged region along the frontier Une of the Chambal in the Karauli State ; several ranges of no great height form an irregular wafl, parallel to the river's course, which separates the river basin from the uplands; and about Karauli town is a labyrinth of ravines. Purther northward the country smooths down and opens out towards the Bhartpur territory. It is traversed by constant ranges of hills, which break the landscape ; but graduaUy the chains part into single hills, and the single hflls be come rarer, while the fertfle levels expand and smooth out, untfl the land, sloping eastward, settles down into the flat plains of Bhartpur, which belong to the aUuvial basin of the Jumna. SECTION II.-GEOLOGY AND MOUNTAIN SYSTEM. PART I. SKETCH OF THE GEOLOGY OF RAJPUTAHA.* Rajputana may be divided into three geological regions, — a central, and the largest, comprising the whole width of the ArvaU system, formed of very old sub-metamorphic and gneissic rooks ; an eastern region, with sharply defined boundary, along which those most ancient formations are abruptly replaced by the great basin of Vindhyan strata, or are overlaid by the stfll more exten sive spread of the Deccan trap, forming the plateau of Malwa ; and a western region, of very iU-defined margin, in wjiich, besides some rocks of undetermined age, it is more or less known . or suspected that tertiary and secondary strata stretch across from Sinde, beneath the sands of the desert, towards the flanks of the ArvaUs. Of the central ArvaUs there are no reUable observations. It is tolerably certain, however, that these consist largely, if not en tirely, of the same rocks as are found in the northern extensions of the range, forming detached hflls and ridges in Ulwar and Bhartpur, Delhi and Gurgaon, where they gradually disappear beneath the deep aUuvial deposits. These hflls exhibit a very compUcated series, made up of strong quartzites, slates and lime stones, schists with much hornblende rock, and pseudo-gneiss. It is probable that when these are examined in more connected out crops, it wfll be possible to make out distinct formations with a • By H. B. Medlicott, Esq., Superintendent of the Geological Survey of India. ( 9 ) normal order of sequence. At present they are spoken of collect ively as the ArvaU rock-series. In a few places they are seen in abrupt contact with a much older gneiss. Although there are frequent irregular foldings of the strata, the north-north-easterly strike of thfe Arvali system is very pre dominant. At the southern extremity of the region in Guzerat, the gneissic rocks seem to preponderate. There is probably a gradual change throughout the region from one condition to the other. Several of the minor States of Eastern Rajputana belong in whole or in part to the eastern geological region — Dholpur, KarauU, Biindi, Kota, Jhdlawar, Jawad, Pertabgarh, Bdnswdra. The boundary of the Vindhyan formation is everywhere a marked feature — an abrupt scarp of sandstone. Prom Puttehpur Sikri it runs in a steady south-west direction to near Chitorgarh. Here it bends southwards, then south-east to Mandesor, when it passes under the Malwa trap. Prom Pertdbgarh to Jabuah and the Narbada vaUey, this latter rock forms the scarp of the Malwa plateau, overlooking the Arvali region. All these Vindhyan strata belong to the upper division of that great rock-system. The basin stretches from Chitorgarh to Sasseram in Behar. These Upper Vindhyans are again divided into three principal groups — Banrer (Bandair), Rewa, and Kaimur (Kymore), each consisting of strong bands of sandstone, overlying thick masses of shales with occasional limestone. These are all well represented in the area under notice ; the alternating arrangement of harder and softer strata, and their more or less horizontal position, produce the characteristic features of the country, — the scarped plateaux and the long ridges having one steep face and one gentle slope. The age of the Vindhyan rocks is quite unknown, save that they cannot be later than palaeozoic. A discovery of fossfls in them would be of the greatest interest to Indian geology. The horizontal flows of the Malwa trap continue the plateau- features of the adjoining Vindhyan area, but in less constant dimensions, owing to the more variable thickness and extension of hard and soft beds. There are many varieties of these erup tive rocks. MineralogicaUy they afl belong to the basaltic famfly, ' but the differences of structure and texture produce great super ficial contrasts : the baU-structure is very common, but sound amorphous beds occur everywhere ; columnar structure is more rare ; vesicular, amygdoloidal, and porphyritic characters are fre quent. The earthy, ash-Uke beds exhibit Uke changes of colour and texture. The age of this trappean formation is fixed as upper cretaceous, or as lowest tertiary. In many places there are intertrappean sedimentary beds with fresh- water fossfls, showiner, with other facts, that the eruptions were sub-aerial. ( 10 ) The western area consists of an immense sandy waste, extend ing from the flanks of the ArvaU Mountains to the frontiers of Sinde. This tract does not contain a single stream west of the Loni, and the greater portion of the surface is covered with blown sand. The geology is only known from a few traverses, and rocks are but seldom seen, being usually concealed by the covering of sand. The only crystalUne rocks hitherto found in this area are some compact quartzose porphyritic schists, of which it is difficult to say whether they were originally of volcanic or sedimentary origin. They now resemble Lydian stone, but contain smaU crystals of pink felspar, and they are associated with syenite. They form some scattered hiUs near Baliner, a number of small rises south west and south of Jodhpur, and some larger hills south of the Loni River, near Jasol. They are also found at Jodhpur, where they have a more decidedly volcanic character ; and at Pokaran, west-north-west of Jodhpur. Close to Pokaran some hardened shales, containing huge boulders in places, rest upon the crys talline rocks. The next formation in ascending order is a coarse, massive red sandstone, largely developed around Jodhpur, and between that town and Pokaran. This rock may perhaps be Vindhyan, though it looks more recent than any known Vin dhyan sandstone. Sandstones of later date are found at Balmer, and form some hills to the north and west of that town, and the same beds apparently recur to the west and south of Jesuhner, where they are much mixed with dark-coloured ferruginous bands. They only contain plant remains, which are rarely in a state fit for identification. Upon these sandstones rest other sandstones and limestones, theJatter abounding in marine Jurassic fossils. It is probable that the lower sandstones with the fer ruginous bands belong to the same series, and are very Uttie older. The oolitic beds extend for some distance west of Jesulmer, and upon them rest nummulitic Limestones, of which, however, very Uttie is seen. OoUtic beds are also found in Pdrkar, north of the Runn of Kutch. VA^ II. — MOUNTAINS AND HILL EANGES. Of mountains and hiU ranges, the ArvaUs are by far the most important. In the opening chapter some attempt has already been made to describe how they mark off the whole of Rajputana into two natural divisions ; and their elevated masses of course influence the cUmate, coUecting the waters and directing the outfaU of afl the western rivers. They contain, indeed, one of the watersheds of India, and supply some of the most distant ( 11 ) sources of the Gangetic drainage. Taking the range from the north-east, its first appearance on a large scale is near Khetri (latitude 28°, longitude 76<="), in the north of the Jai pur State, though detached peaks may be traced at long inter vals almost to the well-known ridge at Delhi. Near the vil lage of Babai, in Khetri, the range attains an altitude of 2,600 feet above the level of the sea, and then trending in a south-west direction displays the higher groups of Kho (3,212 feet), Rago- ndthgarh (3,450 feet), and the sacred mount of Harasnath (2,998 feet), in the Sikar district. Hence, skirting the western Umit of the Sambhar Lake, it continues in the same direction to Ajmer, and here begins to widen out considerably, several parallel ranges appearing, which are for the most part mere sharp ridges, with precipitous sides, enclosing deep cultivated vaUeys, running north west and south-east, the highest points ranging from 1,000 to 2,000 feet above the plain. One of the most conspicuous peaks in this neighbourhood is that on which stands the famous fort of Tdragarh, overlooking Ajmer town from a height of 2,855 feet above sea-level. Prom Ajmer south-west towards Bedwar the hflls are less imposing, but they gradually close up untfl south-west again of Beawar they begin to assume the consistency and compact elevation of a range, separating the plain of Marwar from the upland country of Meywar. Prom near Beawar, south-west for about 70 miles, the strip of hiU country enclosed by the Arvalis is caUed Merwarra, from the peculiar tribe of Mers which inhabit it. There are here no striking mountains ; the highest peaks rise about Todgarh to an elevation of 2,853 feet, the average level of the vaUeys being about 1,800 feet. There are three well-known passes across the upper part of this country, but further south-westward it is only crossed by mountain tracks. Beyond Merwarra the average width of the range may be 25 miles in parts, and it may be described as an intricate mass of hills, from among which rise lofty ridges ele vated here and there to 4,000 feet above the sea-level. TMs ridge formation is the characteristic of the ArvaUs ; where it most pre- vafls, there may be seen two or three ridges running parallel to each other, barring the passage Uke waUs of such perfect straight ness and symmetry that, when looked at endwise, they appear to be separate conical eminences, whfle seen broadside they show 14 or 15 mfles of even length. Such a formation accounts for the great difficulty of communication across this section of the ArvaUs between Meywar and Marwar. Several paths are known and used ; but the only pass really practicable for wheels and general traffic is that which comes down by Dasuri into Marwar, through a gap which presents a very tolerable gradient. The culminating point of the main range rises above the village ( 12 ) of Jargo (latitude 24° 58', longitude 73° 33') to the height of 4,330 feet above sea-level. Purther south-west the hiUs decrease in height and spread out, untfl the chain loses its distinctive forma tion amid wide tracts of hilly wastes extending southward over the whole western half of Meywar. A line drawn, for example, from Mount Aboo in the Sirohi State due east to the town of Oodipur would intersect a country of interminable hiUs ; and they stretch southward with a gradual depression of general level to the vaUey of the Som River, where it marks the frontier between Meywar and Dungarpur. The town of Oodipur stands on the western edge of a vale, or piece of open tract, encompassed by the hiUs, insomuch that the only practicable access is by passes more or less open. The country between Sirohi and Oodipur town is described as "a wonderfully interlaced series of hills alternating with defiles, with barely a valley, much less a plain, anywhere ;" though Ogna and Panarwa, the head- quarters of the principal Bhil Chiefs, are villages in a narrow strip of fertile vale. The communications are of the roughest ; they are mere tracks along the beds of torrents, foUowing the gradients which have been gradually cut by the hill waters, crossing continuaUy the tortuous streams from bank to bank, sometimes winding through deep defiles, and sometimes fetching a circuit to get round huge transverse dykes which the water has cut through without leaving room for a footpath to follow along the sides of its channel. On the south-eastern slope of the ArvaUs, the ascent through Meywar is so gradual as to be hardly noticed until the head of a pass is reached, when the abrupt fall into the Marwar plains below, and the breadth of the prospect over the flat sands west ward and northward, show the elevation which is being crossed. , The western slope is abrupt, and in parts very steep ; it is also better wooded than the eastern side, because it has some advantage in the rainfall, and because the forests are less accessible to the wood-cutters. Mount Aboo, which is specially described elsewhere, belongs by position to the Arvali range ; it is a cluster of hiUs, with the highest peak rising to 5,653 feet above the sea, standing away about 7 miles from the western face of the range, and rising very suddenly up from the flat plain, like a rocky island lying off the sea-coast of a continent. A narrow. valley separates Aboo from a very difficult and rugged district of the Arvalis, weU known as the Bhdkar, notorious as the refuge for marauders and out-laws. The other hiU ranges of Rajputana, though numerous, are comparatively insignificant. The towns of Ulwar and Jaipur lie among groups of hflls more or less connected by lines starting from a place called Rajgarh, 30 miles south of Ulwar, and run- ( 13 ) ning northward to the Ulwar group, and westward to the Jaipur group. In Bhartpur country there is also a range of some local importance, to wliich belong the heights of Bidna and Alipur (1,357 feet). South of these, again, are the Karauli hills, whose greatest height nowhere exceeds 1,400 feet. In the eastern States, a low but very well defined range runs transversely south-west and north-east from Mdndalgarh in Meywar, across the Biindi territory to about Indargarh in the north-east, near the Chambal. These hills present a clear scarp for about 25 mfles on their south eastern face, and give very few openings for roads, the best pass being that in which lies the town of Biindi, whence they are called the Biindi hflls. There is also a series of steep hflls run ning along the northern or left bank of the Chambal, as a sort of continuation of the Bundi hills through Karauli into Dholpur. The Makandarra range runs across the south-western districts of the Kota State from the Chambal to beyond Jhdlrapatan. It has a curious double formation of two separate ridges, running paraUel at a distance of more than a mile ; the interval being filled up with dense jungle, and in some parts with cultivated lands. It is an important feature in the landscape, and marks a considerable drop of general level towards the south. It takes its name from the famous pass in which Colonel Monson's rear guard was cut off by Holkar in 1803. There are no other definite hiU ranges worth mention. It will be understood that the whole of Rajputana, excepting only the sandy deserts, is studded with occasional hiUs and isolated crags, and even so far as Balmer, in the west of the Marwar country, there are one or two rising to nearly 1,000 feet. And afl the southern States are more or less hflly, especially Bdnswdra and Dungarpur, and the southernmost tracts of Meywar. PART III. USEFUL MINERALS OF RAJPUTANA.* Metallic ores, —Compared with many parts of peninsular India, Rajputana may be considered as rich, if not in the quantity, at least in the variety of metals which it produces. No ore of cobalt is known from any other locaUty in India ; and although zinc blend has been found elsewhere, Rajputana is the only part of the country in which zinc is known to have been extracted. Copper and lead exist in several parts of the ArvaU range, and of the minor ridges in Ulwar and Shekhawati, and iron ores abound in Ulwar, Meywar, about Nimach, Kota and Jhdlawar. Unfortunately the detafls are in most cases wanting ; only a very smaU portion of the country has been geologicaUy examined, * These notes apon Minernls were kindly furnished by Mr. W. Blanford and Mr. A. O. Hume. ( 14 ) and Uttie or nothing is known as to the probable abundance of valuable minerals. It may, however, be safely asserted that in many locaUties, perhaps in the majority, the quantity of ore produced is smaU,.and not likely to be largely increased by improved processes of mining ; but the extensive works of past times can only be explained by supposing that considerable deposits of metaUic minerals formerly existed, and it is far from probable that they have been exhausted. The mines hitherto worked are believed to be of but small depth, and in no case have they been sunk far below the level at which water accumulates from springs, the elaborate machinery necessary for draining deep mines being beyond the means of the miners, if not beyond their mechanical knowledge. Copper, — Perhaps the most important copper mines are those near Khetri, in Shekhawati, a province of Jaipur. The ores are copper pyrites, mixed, it is said, with grey copper ore (fahlerz or tetrahedrite) ; some carbonates also occur, and native copper has been found. Near the surface also, in the shales, blue vitriol is produced by the decomposition of the pyrites. In the same mines the cobalt mineral, to be presently noticed, is also obtained. The ore occurs in small veins. The Khetri mines must have produced copper for a long period. Some of the hflls in the neighbourhood are honey-comb ed with old excavations, and the heaps of slug from the furnaces have accumulated, until, in the course of time, they are said to have formed a range of hiUocks several hundred feet in length and from 30 to 60 feet high, some of the rises having even been fortified. In the Ulwar State the most important copper mines are at Daribo, about thirty miles south by west of the town of Ulwar. The ore here, as at Khetri, consists of copper pyrites, mixed, how ever, in the present instance with arsenical iron pyrites. No distinct lode occurs, but the ore is irregularly disseminated throughout some black slates intercalated in the Ulwar quartzites. Some copper has also been procured at Kushalgarh, Indawas, Pertab garh, Baghani, Bhdngarh, and some other places south-west of Ulwar. In Jaipur a Uttie copper has been procured in the range of hflls between Lalsot and Nitahar to the east of the principal town. In the neighbourhood of Ajmer also some copper ore has been mined about Gogra, Rdjgarh, and Rajauri, and traces of ores have been found between Kishengarh and Rajgarh. A copper mine is also said to have been formerly worked near Sirohi. Lead. — Extensive lead mines exist on the east face of Tdra garh hill, close to Ajmer, and in some of the neighbouring hiUs, ( 15 ) but the workings have been abandoned of late years. In 1830 the annual produce of lead is said to have been about 850 cwts., and attempts were then made to increase the yield of ore by drain ing the mines, but no permanent improvement appears to have been produced. The ore — galena or sulphide of lead and car bonate — is said to have occurred in smafl veins paraUel to the bedding of the rock, which on Tdragarh dips at a considerable angle to the south-east. Another locality for lead is near Gudha, in Jaipur, where galena containing some sflver was found a few years ago in lime stone, but the quantity of ore obtained was small. It is also said that some lead ore occurs in the neighbourhood of Jodhpm\ Zinc, — At Jawar, south of Oodipur, zinc is said formerly to have been obtained in considerable quantities. The ore is cala mine or carbonate of zinc, and appears, judging from the speci mens examined, to have been poor in the metal ; but the mines must have been extensive, for they are said in Tod's Bajasthdn to have yielded Rs. 2,22,000 a year.* This is probably greatly exaggerated. The mines in this locaUty were abandoned in conse quence of a famine in 1812-13, and they have not been re opened. There are also remains of old zinc furnaces at Sojat, in Jodhpur. Cobalt,— The only known Indian ore of this metal is a grey metallic substance known as " sehta," occurring in smaU cubes mixed with pyrrhotite (magnetic iron pyrites) in the copper mines of Khetri (Shekhawati). The composition of the mineral, which has received the name of Jyepoorite (wrongly written Syepoorite in most books), is stifl imperfectly known ; it was at first supposed to be a simple sulphide of cobalt, but subsequent examination has rendered it probable that antimony and arsenic are also con tained in the mineral. The ore was formerly extensively used for colouring enamels, bangles, &c., of a blue colour, and, it is said, for giving a rose colour to gold — an art unknown in Europe, and deserving of further enquiry. Jro».— Large deposits of specular and magnetic iron ore (hsematite) occur in several places in the ArvaU rocks. Amongst the locaUties are Bhdngarh and Rdjgarh, south-west and south of Ulwar ; the neighbourhood of Ajmer, where some old workings exist near the jail ; the Bidna hiUs, in Bhartpur ; the Biindi hflls, and various locaUties in Jodhpur, Kota, &c. These ores are worked to some extent on a smaU scale to supply native furnaces. Some nickel has been found in iron made from the Bhdngarh ore. • Vol. I, p. 504, note. — According to Tod, the metal was tin, not zinc, bnt this is probably a mistake. He states that mines at Dariba also produced Bs. 80,000 annually. ( 16 ) Other mineral products. — Alum and blue vitriol (sulphate of copper) are manfactured from decomposed schists at Khetri, in Shekhawati. Building amd ornamental stones.-^Good buflding materials are obtained from many of the Rajputana rocks. The ordinary quartzite of the ArvaUs is well adapted for many purposes, and the more schistose beds are employed as flag-stones or for roofing. One or the other is found almost throughout the ArvaU ranges. Slates are found in the Ajabgarh group of the Ulwar hflls, and have been quarried at Magri, near the northern border of the Ajmer territory, for use in covering the railway bufldings ; extensive beds of slate are also found in the Bundi hiUs. Limestone is abundant in some parts of the country, as in Ulwar, Biindi and Jesulmer, and is employed both for building and for burn ing into lime ; but there is not unf requently a deficiency of this rock over large areas. Two Rajputana forms of limestone, how ever, stand pre-eminent amongst the ornamental stones of India for their beauty, and they are, perhaps, the only kinds which are well known beyond the region itself. The first of these is the Raialo Umestone of the Ulwar group of rocks, quarried at Raialo and Jheri, in Ulwar, and at Makrdna, in Marwar, or Jodhpur, twelve miles west of the Sdmbhar Salt Lake. It is a fine-grained crystalline marble, the finest quaUties being pure white in colour, whflst other forms are red or variegated. The Makrana quarries suppUed the chief portion of the stone employed in buflding the Tdj at Agra, and the marble employed in decorating many buildings in Northern and North-Western India was procured in the same neighbourhood. About 1,000 workmen are stfll engaged in quarrying and working the stone at Makrdna, besides those engaged in the Ulwar quarries. These men are skiUed in cutting the peculiar perforated screens {jdli) used in Mahomedan tombs and in other bufldings. The second remarkable stone is the Umestone of Jesulmer, a rock of far later geological age than the ancient ArvaU series-, for it contains fossfls of Jurassic age. This limestone is very fine, even-grained and compact, of a buff or Ught-brown colour, and is admirably adapted for fine carving. Slabs have been transported to Upper Sind and used for Musalman tombstones, and these, although of considerable antiqidty, are generally remarkable for the sharpness of the engravmg. The Jesuhner limestone has also been employed as a lithographic stone, and was at one time brought to Calcutta for this purpose. Sandstone derived from the Vindhyan formation is much used for building in Bhartpur to the eastward, and in Jodhpur to the west of the ArvaU range, and a fine sandstone obtained from ( 17 ) Jurassic beds is quarried to some extent at Balmer in Maldni (Jodh pur). In the Arvali range and the neighbourhood all the rocks are much altered, and no sandstone is known to occur. Salt. The salt sources for which Rajputana is celebrated are prac tically confined to that portion of it which Ues north of the ArvaUs. No source of any importance exists south of these, and what little salt is manufactured at petty sources in Meywar and Tonk is of a very inferior quality. North of the Arvalis the sofl throughout wide tracts is more or less saliferous, and salt of a more or less inferior charac ter has been manufactured at many hundreds of locaUties, either by washing the saline efflorescences so commonly developed throughout these tracts, or from feeble brine obtained from wells sunk where the soil is saUne, or by a combination of both processes. But the more important salt sources at which the greatest quanti ties of higher class salts are produced are, as a rule, shallow, natural depressions, which, though lakes in the rainy season, dry up more or less completely during the hot weather. These depressions, usually oval in shape, vary from two to over twenty miles in length, and they all agree in having no outlets, and in being lined with a more or less deep coating of blackish, sticky clay or mud. This mud is essential to the production of salt, portions of the beds of the lakes uncovered by it yielding none. The salt exists in this mud either in the form of concentrated brine (when the mud is wet), or of small, mostly minute, crystals when it is dry ; and manufactm'c proceeds by the evaporation of brine either obtained by the seasonal rain-flooding of the surface, or by the sinking of shallow wells in the mud. Great differences of opinion have existed as to the manner in w^hich these sources have been formed. There is good authority for the theory that these natural depressions have become gradually coated with a fine silt, the result of the inundations of innumerable successive years. These inundations, the drainage of large tracts of country the soil of which is sUghtly impregnated with salt, neces- sarfly brought with them a portion of this, and, as the sflt thickened and the downward percolation of the water became more and more perfectly arrested, the amount of water carried off by evaporation increased, and the whole of the salt, in solution of that part of the water evaporated, remained behind in the silt. Tear after year the autumn rains fifled these depressions to a depth of from one to three feet with water, and year after year the summer suns carried this off in vapour. It is easy to understand that under these circumstances a very slight admixture of salt in the B ( 18 ) water thus poured into the lakes would, in the course of long ages, result in a saline accumulation, such as we now find in their bed. The more important of these lake som-ces are Sdmbhar on the borders of Jaipur and Jodhpur, where the best salt of afl is produced. Kachor-Bewassa in Shekhawati, a dependency of Jaipur ; Didwdna and Phalodi in Jodhpur ; and Lonkdra Sur in Bflfanir. Similar, but less important, are Chdpur in Bikanir, Pohharan in Jodhpur, and Kanod in Jesulmer. None of these sources are at present worked to anything approaching their full capacities, but the present outturn of the more important may be approximately stated as follows : — Sambhar ... 30 lakhs of maunds. Kachoi-Rewassa Didwana Phalodi 4 The outturn of the remaining lake sources is inferior in quaUty and comparatively small in quantity. But although these lake-Uke depressions constitute the most important single sources and yield, some of them, the high est quaUties of salt ; the aggregate outturn of the innumerable earth-'wovks referred to above has been very great in past times. In Bhartpur, almost throughout the State, works of tlus descrip tion formerly existed, producing in favourable seasons something Uke 16 lakhs of maunds of fair, small-grained salt. AU these were closed in 1876, as it was considered that, owing to the great reduction in the price of Sdmbhar salt consequent on our ad ministration of the lake, the Bhartpur manufacture could no longer be profitably carried on. A few such -vYorks existed in Ulwar ; between 700 and 800 yielding about 3 lakhs of maunds in Jaipur, and some 400 turning out about 2\ lakhs of maunds in Marwar. All these which, though producing some fairly good salt, produced much that was very inferior, have been, or will be, closed in pursuance of agreements entered into Avith the several Chiefs for the more effectual protection of the Impe^-ial salt revenue in view to the abolition of the Inland Customs line. A third class of sources remain to be noticed. The beds of rivers, draining tracts similar to those whose drainage annuaUy fills the lakes, are found, especially towards their estuaries, more or less saliferous ; and on their banks in the hot seasons, when the rivers cease to flow, natural salt deposits of greater or less extent occur, and where the soil is of such a nature that the brine can be retained and concentrated, manufacture by digging pits and wells in which the brine is retained and graduaUy evaporated, can be largely carried on. ( 19 ) Of such rivers, the Loni, as its name suggests, is the most conspicuous example ; but the Utangan in Dholpur, and others iUustrate, though less prominently, the same peculiarity. The great works at Pachbadra, turning out at present some 11 lakhs of maunds of a high quality of salt (as well as Tilwara and Kher), are merely a series of large pits dug, in what, although at present a little apart from this, was at one time apparently part of the bed of the Loni. Lower down in the delta of the Loni, at Boyatra and other places near the Runn of Kutch, extensive natural deposits occur during the hot season, which have hitherto remained practically unutiUsed. At present, owing to the arrangements in progress in regard to the salt sources of Rajputana, it is impossible to predict with any certainty the tracts of country which will hereafter draw their supplies from these several sources ; but hitherto the distri bution has been somewhat as follows. Sdmbhar salt has partially supplied the States of Jaipur, Ulwar and Kishengarh, and has been largely imported vid Bhew^dni, Delhi, Agra, and Jhansie into British territory, besides mainly supplying the populations of the northern and eastern por- tions of Meywar, the Haraoti Agency, and GwaUor. Didwdna has partially supplied the northern portions of Jodhpur and Bikanir, and has been imported vid Bhewani in considerable quantities into British territory. Pachbadra has been consumed largely in the southern portion of Jodhpur, and has mainly supplied Sirohi, the western and southern portions of Meywar, and those portions of the Central India Agency lying between the soutJiern part of Meywar and Hoshangabad, being there imported in former years (until beaten back by the cheaper rail-carried Bombay salt) into British territory. No appreciable quantity of the produce of any of the other salt sources above referred to (except, indeed, those of Bhartpur now closed), ever found its w^ay into British territory. SECTION III.— CLIMATE AND HYGIENE. The rainfaU is very unequaUy distributed through Rajputana. The western side of the country comes very near the limits of that part of Asia which belongs to the "rainless district" of the world.; though even on this side the south-west winds bring annually a Uttie rain from the Indian Ocean. But in Western .Rajputana — that is, in Jesulmer, Bikanir, and the greater part ( 20 ) of Marwar — the fall scarcely averages more than 5 inches, as the rain-clouds have to pass extensive heated sandy tracts before reaching these plains, and are emptied of much of their moisture upon the, high ranges in Kattywar and on the nearest slopes of the Arvalis. In the south-west, which is more dflectly reached, and with less intermediate evaporation, by the periodical rains, the faU is much more copious ; and at Aboo it sometimes passes 100 inches. But except in these south-west highlands^ of the Arvalis, the rain is most abundant in the south-east of Rajputana. Along the southern States, from Bdnswdra to Jhdlawar and Kota, the land gets not only the rains from the Indian Ocean, which sweep up the vaUeys of the Narbada and Mdhi Rivers across Malwa to the countries about the Chambal, but also the fag end of the rains which come up from the Bay of Bengal in the south-east ; and this supply occasionally reaches all Meywar. In this part of the country, if the south-west rains fail early, the south-east rains usually come to the rescue later in the season ; so that the country is never subjected to the extreme droughts of the north-west. On the other hand, the northern part of Rajputana gets a scanty share of the winter rains of North India, while the southern part usuaUy gets none at all, beyond a few soft showers about Christmas. In the central dis tricts, about Ajmer and towards Jaipur, the periodical supply of rain is very variable. If the eastern winds are strong, they bring good rains from the Bay of Bengal ; whereas i£ the south-west mon soon prevails, the rain is comparatively late and light. Sometimes a good supply comes in from both seas, and then the fall is larger than in the eastern districts ; but it is usuaUy much less. In the far north of Rajputana the wind must be very strong and the clouds very full to bring any appreciable supply from either direction. It may be said shortly, that from Bikanir and Jesulmer in the north-west to Pertdbgarh and Kota in the south-east, there is a very gradually increasing rainfall, from 5 to about 45 inches, the quantity increasing very rapidly after the Arvalis have been crossed. Statistics are not very plentiful; but the subjoined table gives the average rainfall in late years at certain places, which, being wide apart, may afford an indication of the state of th3 mountainous districts, and then generaUy of the whole tract. ( 21 ) Table illustrative of the rainfall of Rajputana divided hy the Arvali hiils into three sections. >. % Rainfall. • Section of country. Sub- division. Station. O '.5 o 1 Aver age. Maxi mum. Mini mum. Inches. I Eastern or i fertile. (. North South Bhartpur Jhalrapatun 5 3 1876 1876 3240 4450 13 25 II Central or f hilly. \ Cen tral South Ajmer Meywar 11 11 1876 1876 24 23 35 43 9 12 III Western or , barren. ' NorthSouth Bikanir 4 1872 -) 1874/ 1875 ( 1876 ) 1872-) 1875^ 1876 J 8 20 10 25 7 14 /^These averages V are Dotreliable. J The perioda are 1 too short, and / some of the years t^ were exception al. IV Exceptional elevation4,000 feet. South Aboo 17 1876 68 123 31 In the summer, the sn.n's heat is much the same all over the province, and, except in the high hills, is great everywhere ; in the north-west very great. Hot winds and dust-storms are known more or less throughout, but in the sandy half-desert tracts of the north they are as violent as in any part of India, while in the southerly parts they are tempered by hflls, verdure, and water. In the winter the cUmate of the north is much colder than in the lower districts, with hard frost and ice up on the Bikanir borders ; and from the great dryness of the atmosphere in these inland countries, the change of temperature between day and night is sudden, excessive, and very trying. The heat, thrown off rapidly by the sandy sofl, passes freely through the dry air, so that at night water may freeze in a tent where the thermometer marked 90° ait one time of the day. The influence of these climatic conditions upon the general health may be shortly noticed. We find an irregular, and in some parts a very scanty, rainfall ; excessive dry heat during one season of the year, and great variation of temperature during another ; we have vast sandy tracts in the north-west, an immense extent of salt deposit, and a water-supply in parts very defi cient, brackish, not good for drinking, and sometimes failing altogether. The epidemic diseases which might be expected, and which actually do prevail, are principally of the paroxysmal or ( 22 ) malarious type. Cholera visitations occur, though most viru lently in the eastern States, for the sparsely-populated and semi- desert nature of the western tracts, over which the winds travel freely, prevents the spread of cholera in those directions. The condition of the water-supply, and the comparative poorness of the grain, bdjri {Holcus spicatus), which forms the staple food of the people in the north-west, give rise to dyspeptic maladies, and secondarily, to skin diseases and affections of the cellular tissue. But positive death and famine are the epidemics which have periodicaUy desolated Northern Rajputana, caused by failure of the always uncertain rainfall. Within the last thirty years, in 1848-49, and in 1868-69, two very serious famines have deeply affected the whole condition of the people, the second famine having been violently intensified by the ravages of locusts, which breed in the deserts by myriads. Of vital statistics there are yet none for Rajputana as a whole, though some records have been made in Ajmer which indicate a very low death-rate. It is certain that, notwithstanding all its drawbacks, and excepting some towns urgently needing sanitary reforms, Rajputana may be reckoned one of the healthiest coun tries in India, at least for its natives. The moderate rainfaU, the free play of the winds over the surface, the sparse population, the absence of great cities, and the plentiful supj)ly of salt, may be suggested as some reasons why the inhabitants live long and thrive well. SECTION IV.— FORESTS. PART I. — FOREST TOPOGRAPHY. In Rajputana there are no large timber forests, though the woodlands are extensive upon the south-western ArvaUs and throughout the hflly tracts adjoining, where the rainfall is good. Mount Aboo especially is weU-wooded from summit to skirts, and possesses several valuable kinds of timber ; and from Aboo north westward the western slopes of the range are still weU clothed with trees and bushes up to the neighbourhood of MerV^arra. Below the hills on this western side runs a belt of jungle, some times spreading out along the river beds for some distance into the plain. All vegetation, however, rapidly decreases in the direction of the Loni River, and beyond that river, Marwar, Bikanir, and Jesuhner have scarcely any trees at aU, except a few plantations close to towns or villages. In this desert re gion, tbe babul {Acacia arahica), and the nim {Melia azadi rachta) manage best to live. The dhao {Anogeissus pendula) ( 23 ) is here and there fairly plentiful in the north-eastern States ; the tree, though only fit for fuel in the plains, reaches a goodly size on the heights of Aboo. In Serohi, and all over the south-western part of Meywar, the woodlands stretch for mfles and miles, covering the endless hills with scrub jungle and the vaUeys with thickets. In many places teak and other valuable timber trees would thrive very well if the .forests were not periodicaUy ruined by the Bhfls and other half- savage dweUers in these tracts. Here, as elsewhere in the Indian backwoods, the practice of cutting down the woods and burning them on the ground in order to clear room for a field which is manured by the ashes, goes on most destructively. After two or three years' crop the soil is exhausted, and then another felUng takes place. Moreover, the woods are set on fire annually to im prove and open out the grass for pasture, or to facilitate deer- hunting, and all these wasteful ways of subsistence are being foUowed on a much larger scale as the forest tribes find it more and more difiicult to live by robbery, and, being pent up within their own wilds, are compelled to draw their food from the soil. In the eastern states the woodlands are considerable. South of the Bands and along parts of the Chambal there are immense wolds, covered for the most part with smaU trees, and near the capitals of the States and around the forts of the principal Chiefs the woods have occasionaUy been carefully preserved for game or for defence, while deep thickets may often be seen which are .sacred to some deity. The southernmost States of Bdnswdra, Dungarpur and Pertdbgarh are perhaps the most wooded in pro portion to their area. In the State of Bhartpur there are some valuable reserved woodlands, one of which occupies an area of some 40 square miles, and is properly worked for fuel. Nowhere, however, have the woods been more closely shaved off the hill-sides than in the British district of Ajmer. Around Ajmer itself this is probably due to the fact that for generations the country has been cultivated and comparatively civiUsed ; but in the south-western portion of the district called Merwarra, there are tracts now very bare, which were described in 1819 as an impenetrable jungle. Here, again, the pacification of a predatory tribe and its conversion to living by industry, the growth of the neighbouring towns, and the general spread of agriculture under British rule, have naturally combined to give a strong impulse to the reckless clearance of the woods. Large wastes have now been set apart in the hope of gradually repairing these losses by careful conservation. ( 24 ) PART II. — FOREST FLORA.* As might be expected from its geographical position and limited rainfaU, the flora of Rajputana is not a rich one. The number of indigenous species is but small, and few of these are attractive in appearance. Tbe province is divided by the Arvali range of hflls into two unequal parts — the part to the eastward of the range lying in the basin of the Chambal, and that to the westward in the basin of the Indus. This division is, to a great extent, coincident with certain features in the physical configura tion, meteorology and vegetation of the province ; and these two portions may therefore be conveniently treated of separately. The vegetation of the dividing range itself, and of the outlying mountain mass of Aboo, so much more resembles that of the eastern than of the western tract, that it may be treated along with the former. Eastern Bajputana. — The country to the east of the Arvali is (with the exception of the Jaipur State) more or less hilly, and has a cUmate and a flora resembling those of Central India and the North-Western Provinces. Where not actuaUy hilly, the surface is, to a considerable extent, undulating. Cultivation is, on the whole, scanty, and is chiefly confined to the lower and flatter lands, while the higher parts remain to a large extent covered with their original vegetation, and on them may be found in abundance plants which, in the more completely cultivated pro vinces of North-Western India, are confined to the comparatively small tracts of waste and unreclaimed land. As is the case in other parts of India with a similar vegeta tion, the majority of the trees and shrubs come into flower during the hot season, while the herbaceous plants blossom chiefly during the rains. Many of the latter are, moreover, annuals which wither and die as the cold season approaches. The cold season corresponds to the winter of temperate countries, and during the whole of it the aspect of the uncultivated parts of the country is brown and barren. The flowering of the shrubs and trees during the hot weather does little towards increasing the beauty of the scenery. On the contrary, it, if anything, intensi fies the feeling of barrenness and aridity. With the first fall of rain, myriads of seeds that had lain dormant in the parched soil spring into life, and in the course of an incredibly short time the whole of the country, even to the tops of the barest hiUs, is clad in a carpet of deUcate green, while the pleasant sound of running water can actually be heard in the valleys. The largest » The Editor is imlebtod for i\us put entirely to Ur. Q. King, Superintcudeut of the Botanic Garden, Calcutta, ( 25 ) tree of this part of Rajputana is the semul {Bombax malabari- cum), which on the Arvalis and Aboo attains a considerable size. The finely buttressed grey trunk, spreading arms and gaudy red flowers of this species make it a striking object in the landscape wherever it occurs. Ranking after the semul in size are Prosopis spicigera, Sterculia urens, Semecarpus anacardium, the two acacias {Leucophlcea and Catechu), Anogeissus latifolia andpendula, Dichrostachys cinerea, Cordia rothii, C. myxa, and Phyllanthus emblica. These yield both fuel and building timber in parts of the region where neither is over-abundant. Erythrina suberosa, with its ungainly trunk and branches, but handsome scarlet flowers, and the pretty geranium tree of the Anglo-Indian {Bauhinia pur purea), are not uncommon. Gmelina arbor ea, a tree which yields an exceUent timber and which occurs over almost the whole of India and Burma, is found sparingly in the Arvalis. The gum- yielding salai tree {Bosioellia thurifera), so abundant in the ter ritory to the eastward of the tract, is not uncommon in Meywar and the Arvalis. The dak or pallds {Butea frondosa), which in various parts of Central India covers immense areas to the exclu sion of pretty nearly every other tree, is far from abundant in any part of the region. Two terminaUas {Tomentosa and Arju- na), both valuable as timber trees, occur sparingly on the eastern frontier of the tract, but are rare elsewhere. Schrebera swiet- enioides, a little-known and rather rare tree, has been found by Dr. Brandis in Meywar. CUmbing plants are not numerous, the most notable being two species of cocculus {Villosus and Leaeba), Cissampelos pareira, Celastrus paniculatus, two vines {Vitis carnosa and Vitis lati folia), and Mimosa rubicaulis. The shrubby vegetation, which in every part of the region is so much more prominent than the arboreal, consists largely of capers, jujubes, tamarisks, and grewias. Of the capers by far the com monest is Capparis aphylla, a prickly leafless shrub with a hand some plum-like fruit, which flourishes over aU the driest parts of North-Western India, and extends to Arabia, Nubia, and Egpyt ; Capparis spinosa (which yields the eatable caper) is much less frequent; Capparis horrida, a scrambUng plant which often climbs on trees, is not uncommon ; while a fourth species, Cap- paris sepiaria (indigenous in the south of India), is here and there cultivated as a hedge plant. The small jujube, {Zizyphus num- mularia), is very abundant, and, covering as it often does, large tracts of country, has great value as a fodder plant : it is also much used for hedges. Zizyphus xylopyra is a less abundant species which sometimes, in protected spots, attains to the dignity of a small tree and yields a useful wood, whfle its bark is used in ( 26 ) tanning. In every water-course tamarisks of several species abound. One of these {Tamarix gall'ica) is a cosmopoUtan plant, which is found in suitable localities all over India and Ceylon, in China, Japan, and Siberia ; specimens of it have been gathered in Yarkand, in Thibet, at 11,000 feet above the sea, and it is common in many parts of Northern Africa and Southern Europe. Tama rix dioica, an exclusively Indian species, is also abundant. Of the grewias, Grewia popuUfoUa, Grewia pilosa, Grewia villosa, and Grewia salvifolia are the common species. These aU yield tough wood, which, however, is rarely large enough to be of much use ; and the fruits of all four are more or less eatable. In addition to these, the most notable shrubs are Helicteres isora, the curious spirally curled seed-vessels of which have a fanciful value as a remedy in dysentery : Celastrus spinosus and Celastrus sene- galensis, Buchanania latifolia, Cassia auriculata, TFoodfordia floribunda (the scarlet flowers of which are used as a dye), Casea- rea tomentosa, D'lospyros montana, Holarrhena antidysenterica (named from its reputed value as a cure for dysentery), Calotropis procera. Tit ex negundo (esteemed as a remedy for rheumatism), and Clerodendron phlomoides. Two cactus-like fleshy Euphorbias {Euphorbia royleana and Euphorbia neriifolia) ocgu.v vn the hills, but are much less abundant than in the tract to the west of the Arvalis. Bamboos are represented by a single species {Dendro- calamus strictus), which attains large dimensions only on Aboo and the higher parts of the Arvalis. The herbaceous vegetation consists of Leguminosce of the genera Alysicarpus,Desmodium, Crotalaria, Cassia, &c., of various widely distributed species of Compositce and Bubiacece ; Boragin- acecE being also rather numerous, and ScrophulariacecB less so. During the rains a few Convolvidacece appear, and grasses and sedges are abundant. Owing to its heavy rainfall, Aboo is, as regards vegetation, by far the richest spot in Rajputana. On the higher parts of the mountain, humid types appear which are unknown on the plains below. Most noteworthy of these is an epiphytal orchid (a species of Aerides) which cUngs to the mango trees, and in the rains produces fine racemes of delicate pink flowers. The occurrence of a charming white wild rose and of a stinging nettle {Girar- dinia heterophylla) also at once reminds the visitor to Aboo that he has left the arid region below% and recalls to his mind the semi-temperate vegetation of the Himalayas and Nilgiris. Mag nificent trees of M'lchelia champaca are found, especially beside the temples, and weeping willows adorn the margin of the lake near the station ; but the latter two species have both doubtless been planted. A yellow jasmine {Jasminum revolutum) abounds ( 27 ) on Goroo-Sikhur, the highest peak of the mountain ; but tbis is also doubtfully indigenous. Crataeva religiosa, with its creamy yeUow flowers and delicate- tinted stamens, is common on the middle and lower slopes of the hill ; while Carissa carandas is so abundant, that during part of the hot season its pretty white flowers scent the air for miles round the station with their deli cious fragrance. The prevailing tree on the slopes of Aboo is the mango. It is doubtfully indigenous, and was probably originaUy introduced by the numerous pilgrims who have for ages frequent ed the sacred shrines for which the mountain is famous. Now, however, it is thoroughly naturalised, and is the commonest of the larger trees. Pongamia glabra is found in several of the lower valleys of Aboo (wherever it occurs on the plains below it has usually been planted), and Sterculia colorata is not uncom mon. Shrubby and herbaceous Acanthacece of several species abound. Very common also is Mallotus philippinensis, the powder covering the capsules of which forms at once a valuable dye-stuff and an efficient vermifuge. On the lower slopes of the moun tain, and in the dense belt of jungle which surrounds its base, are found most of the species which are characteristic of the plains. Many of the latter (for example, Salcadora persica) ascend to the very highest peaks of the mountain, and thus intermix with the more temperate forms which are confined to the latter. Of introduced Indian plants which are found usuaUy in gardens or near vfllages over the whole of the eastern tract, the most prominent are the peepul {Ficus religiosa), the banyan {Ficus bengalensis), the gular {Fictts glomerata), the ungeer {Ficus virgata), the mulberry {Morns alba), the tamarind {Tama rindus indica), the mango {Mangifera indica), the nim {Melia azadirachta), the babul {Acacia arabica), the ber {Zyzyphus jujuba), the siris {Acacia lebbek), the jamun {Eu genia j ambola,na) , themehndi {Lawsoniaalba), the pomegranate {P unica granatum) , and the peach {Amy gdalus persica) . Mimusops indica and Elengi, Ailanthus excelsa, and Flacourtia ramontchi, are also occasionally met with. The babul is quite naturalised in spots where the winter cold is not too intense and where the sub-soil retains a little moisture : its timber and bark are both highly prized. Among fruit trees cultivated in gardens, two American species are very common ; these are the custard apple {Anona squamosa), and the guava {Psidium guava) , Argemone mexicana. Parkin- sonia aculeata, Opuntia dillenil, and Acacia farnesiana (also introductions from America) , are frequently met with. Nerium odormn, a shrub closely alUed to, if not identical with, the oleander of Southern Europe, is also common in gardens. ( 28 ) Western Bajputana. — To the westw^ard of the Arvalis the country is much flatter and drier, and as the Sinde and Punjab frontiers are approached, it passes into actual desert. It is, however, by no means destitute of hflls, for numerous low ridges of a red sandstone rise here and there, and in other parts there are undulating areas of hardened sand. The rest pf the country is for the most part a plain of loose sand, which, everywhere ihore or less saline, becomes increasingly so towards the south west, where the Loni loses itself in the Runn of Kutch. Exce^Dt that they support a few of the fleshy Euphorbias already mention ed, many of the hiUy ridges are utterly barren. The little rain that falls on these bare rocks is at once carried off in rapid torrents which are often lost in the sand at a short distance from their bases. The few torrents which do succeed in carrying their water to any distance unite to form the Loni, the one river of this part of the country. But although water can be had by digging at certain parts of its bed at almost any season of the year, and stagnant pools may here and there be found at all times, it is only during the brief and scanty rainy season that anything like a continued current can be seen in any part of the Loni. The rainfall, which over the whole area is scanty and uncertain, graduaUy diminishes as the Sinde and Punjab frontiers are approached. Erinpura, a station" near the base of the ArvaUs, has a rainfall of about 12 inches in the year ; whereas Western Marwar, Jesulmer, and Bikanir have probably less than a third of that amount. It must not be supposed that the Arvali range forms a rigid boundary separating two distinct floras ; on the contrary, the majority of the plants already mentioned as characteristic of the eastern tracts are found on the west of the range. Near the base of the Arvalis the sofl is good and supports a belt of what would for Western Pi^ajputana be a comparatively luxuriant vegetation, were it not ruthlessly preyed on by the inhabitants for fuel and timber for themselves and fodder for their cattle and camels. In passing westward from the Arvalis, such of the species already mentioned as are unable to withstand the increasing dryness of, the cUmate and the saltness of the soil, are represented in graduaUy diminishing numbers by stunted, half-starved specimens, and the majority of them finaUy disappear altogether. On the other hand, a few species of a thoroughly desert type gradually appear, and these latter increase in proportion to the former, untfl on the western frontier of the region they form almost the entire vegetation. These desert plants are outliers of the Arabian and North African flora, and are common to all low-level Asiatic deserts, whfle some of them penetrate even to the comparatively ( 29 ) high arid tracts of Central Asia. Next to the floral poverty of this tract, the most notable fact that strikes the observer is the tendency of plants, which in moister regions are herbaceous, here to become tough and shrubby, and of the whole vegetation to develop epidermal armature in the shape of hairs and thorns. The common weed {Solanum jacquinii) which in the Gangetic plain is moderately covered with stiff bristles, here presents the appearance of a vegetable hedgehog. The spines of the bdbul are about twice as long and as thick as they are in Malwa, while the small ber bushes, everywhere formidable, are here Uttie more than mere bundles of spines. The largest trees in Marwar are those that have been planted in gardens and near tanks or wells. Hardly one of any indigen ous species is ever found exceeding ten or twelve feet in height. ¦ The commonest of these latter are Prosopis spicigera, Salvadora persica, Cordia rothii, Acacia leucophlcea, with Acacia arabica in the kind of spots already indicated, and Sterculia urens on the less barren hiUs. Anogeissus pendula and Dichrostachys cinerea occur but sparingly and hardly ever exceed the dimensions of under-shrubs. I'owards the Sinde desert, the only tree to be found wild is said to be Acacia rupestris, a form almost totally absent from the eastern tract. By far the handsomest shrub indigenous to this part of Rajputana is Tecoma undulata, which has the double merit of bearing large orange-coloured bell-shaped blossoms, and of bear ing them simultaneously with its handsome shining leaves. This plant is so indifferent to climatic conditions that, although natur ally found on some of the drier ridges of Marwar, it thrives excel lently in gardens in the steamy climate of Calcutta — a pecuUarity which it shares with Dichrostachys cinerea and Acacia leucophlcea. Next to Tecoma undulata, the finest indigenous shrub is Acacia jacquemonti, the polished stems and thorns and sweet-scented yellow flowers of which make it an object of much beauty and inter est. In addition to these, the shrubby vegetation is composed of the following species already mentioned as occurring more abundantly in the eastern tract : — Capparis aphylla and spinosa; Helicteres isora; Greivia populifolia, pilosa, villosa, and salvifolia; the two Zizyphi {nummularia and xylosyra), Cassia auriculata, Clero dendron phlomoides, and Vitex negundo. The tamarisks already mentioned are found abundantly in the salt-impregnated bed of the Loni, and two other species of the same family {Tamarix artic.iilata and Myricaria german'ica) also begin to be found. Both these are common in Afghanistan and in Western Asia generally ; while the second of the two extends also to high altitudes both in the Himalayas and in some of the mountain ( 30 ) ranges of Northern Europe. Balanites Boxburghii (a prickly scraggy shrub common in Southern India, Central Provinces and other dry parts of India) is here pretty common. Balsamoden- dron mukul, a shrub which yields a gum called mukul or gugal, and which extends to the dry countries far to the westward of India, begins here to be as abundant, as east of the ArvaUs it is rare. Ephedra alte, a bush common in the west of Asia and north of Africa, is said to have been found in Jesulmer. The pretty Uttie camel-thorn {Alhagi maurorum) which, occurring in the eastern tract and far beyond it in India., is also distributed in Southern Europe and Western Asia, here forms a prominent feature in the vegetation of the sandy tracts. A.ssociated wdth it are a few other bushes, such as Calotropis procera and Ortanthera viminea (both of which yield an exceUent fibre), and here and there Periploca aphylla. Of the herbaceous vegetation, the prominent species may be indicated as follows : Peganum harmala (a rutaceous plant, which is found in the Deccan and Punjab, and w'aich is distributed to the westward along the Mediterranean coasts as far as the Atlantic) occurs in plenty in many spots, as, for example, near Palli. Poly- gala abyssinica is not unfrequent in plac(js. The most abundant leguminous plants are Crotalaria burhia (much valued for fodder) and Tephrosia purpurea. Compositai are represented by one or two Blumeas, Vernonia c'mierea, Microrhynchus nudicaulis, and Berthelotia lanceolata ; here and there Tricholepis radicans and Echinops echinats are to be seen ; and near irrigated spots may be met with MacliUs hemispherica, Sphceranthus hirtus, and Cya- thocline lyrata. Not uncommon in gardens as weeds of cultivation are Saponaria baccaria, Trianthema crystulUna, Asphodelus Jistulosus, and Fumaria parviflora. Of acanthaceous plants, the most frequent are Lepidagathis trinervis and Barleria noctiflora, Avith here and there two plants of wide distribution in India; — namely, Justicia procumbens and Peristrophe bicalyculata. Boraginece are numerous in individuals belonging to the genera, Eritrichium and Arnebia ; Trichodesmus indica and Tournefortiai subulata are common near Jodhpur. Several Cleomes, one or two Farsetias, two or three species of Abutilon and Sida are also common. Tribulus terrestris, Corchorus depressus. Verbena officinalis, Lippia nodiflora, Bergia oestivosa, Cressa cretica, Convolvulus arvensis, Evolvulus pilosus, Withania somnifera, Solanum xanthocarpum var. Jacquinii, Salvia brachiuta. Polygonum Boxburghii, and Aristolochia bracteata are found in spots where there is a little admixture of vegetable mould, and by the margins of tanks and irrigated spots. Amarantacece are repre sented by Achyranthes aspera, Alternanthera sessilis, Ama. ( 31 ) ranthus lividus, Aerua lanata, and Pupalia velutina. Such Chenopods as Anabasis, Atriplex and Salsola abound where, as towards the mouth of the Loni, the sand is higbly saline. Parasitic on the roots of Calotropis is a pretty species of Orobanche. The tanks are not destitute of vegetation, for in their water may be found, though sparingly, Vallisneria spiralis, TJtricularia stellaris, Potamageton pectinatus and Natans, while by their margins several species of sedges, and notably Hyme- nochate grossa, are often abundant. Several species of Andro- pogon, Anthisteria, Cenchrus, and other wiry grasses are distri buted over the whole area; and towards the Sinde frontier one of these, known locally as mart, constitutes a large proportion of the scanty vegetation. Besides this grass, the vegetation on that frontier consists almost exclusively of the small acacia tree already mentioned {Acacia rupestris), of a plant of the rhubarb family with curious hairy seed-vessels known locaUy as phog and botanically as CalUgonum polygonoides, the woolly-looking plant Aerua lanata (locally called bhin), Anabasis multiflora, and a troublesome bur grass, Cenchrus biflorus. In the sandier parts of this western tract the staff of life is derived from a rain crop of millet, which is sown as soon as a shower in July or August makes it worth while to give a hurried ploughing to the patches of sofl which the inhabitants are pleased to call fields. Wheat is a garden crop confined to the smafl patches which it is possible to irrigate from wells. In the sands of Bikanir, water-melons occur spontaneously in such numbers as to form for some months in the year no small part of the food of the scanty population. The seeds of these and of other cucurbitaceous plants cultivated in gardens are ground, during times of scarcity, into a kind of flour. Erom the preceding sketch it may readily be inferred that the country is barren and infertile, and it is difficult for one who has. not visited it to reaUse that in spite of its many natural drawbacks, it affords sustenance to a human population of excep- ftionaUy fine physique, and is the breeding ground of some of the finest races of cattle and horses and of the best camels in India. The bullocks of Nagore are celebrated for their size and paces ; the endurance of the horses of MaUani is proverbial ; while the swiftest riding-camels in India are born and bred in Bikanir. It is perfectly wonderful to see the apparently bare barren plains from which these animals contrive to pick up their dafly food. Nothing has hitherto been said of the cryptogamic vegetation of Rajputana. As might be expected, the richest spot in this respect is Aboo ; but even there only about a dozen species of ferns occur, and of this smaU number only Adiantum caudatum. ( 32 ) Adiantum lunulatum, Che'ilanlhes farlnosa, Nephrodium molle, Nephrodium cicutarium, and Actiniopteris rad'tata can be said to be abundant. Ad/antitm capillus- Veneris is found in a few spots, and Botrychium virginianum is very rare. Of mosses there are a few which, during the rains, form pretty tufts and festoons on the branches of the trees on the south- western slopes of the moun tain, but at other times they are shriveUed and brown. There are a good many lichens on the trees and a few on the rocks. Algae are not numerous. During the rains a good many fungi spring up on decaying wood, and an edible Agaricus is found on grassy banks ; leaf fungi are few in number. In the eastern tract, the only ferns ever seen are Adiantum lunulatum and caudatum, Nephrodium molle, and Actiniopteris radiata. The latter is found only on walls, where it is associated with Funaria hygrometrica, the only moss at all common in the region. These species occur very sparingly indeed in the western tract, and only in shady crevices of rocks or on old moist waUs. In wells, the maiden hair, Adiantum capillus- Veneris, is occa sionally met with on both sides of the Arvalis. As has already been remarked, the province of Rajputana does not possess a flora pecuUar to itself, but rather presents a field on which the adjacent floras of dry India and of the deserts of Western Asia and Northern Africa interosculate. In other words, there are, so far as the writer is aware, no species peculiar to this area, every plant in it being found also either in the adjacent provinces of Central India, Guzerat, the Punjab, North- Western Provinces, or in the dry regions of the Deccan and Southern India ; whfle several of them occur also in countries far beyond the Umits of the Indian Empire. SECTION V. PART I. — RIVERS AND WATER STORAGE. In. the north-west division of Rajputana the only river of any consequence is the Loni, which rises in the Pokar Valley close to Ajmer, and runs south-west for about 200 mfles into the Runn of Kutch. It receives and cuts off from the western plams aU the drainage brought by the mountain torrents down the western slopes of the highest part of the ArvaUs between Ajmer and Aboo ; it runs for the most part through a sandy channel between low banks ; its waters are brackish, and the' bed occasionally yields salt ; hence its name, meaning the salt river. When very heavy rains fall, the Loni overflows its banks to a breadth of ( 33 ) some five miles, leaving as it recedes a rich alluvium which gives exceUent crops. North-west of the Loni, Rajputana is entkely destitute of perennial streams. A small stream rises in the north of Jaipur, but, after flowing northward for some distance, is lost in the sands of the Shekhawati country. And throughout all the north-east of Rajputana there are no perennial rivers worth mention ; nor does any water penetrate from this region eastward into the Jumna water system, until we turn as far south as the Bangunga River which runs out through Bhartpur. The high watershed of the midland country about Ajmer and Jaipur sends afl its appreciable contributions of water southward into the Bands. In the south-eastern division of Rajputana the river system is important. The Chambal is by far the largest river in Rajputana, flowing through the province for about one-third of its course, and forming its boundary for another third. It rises upwards of 2,000 feet above the sea near the summits of the Vindhyas, and runs in a northern direction over a basaltic bed in Malwa tiU it enters Rajputana at Chaurdsgarh on the south-east border of Meywar. At this point the old fort of Chaurdsgarh stands 300 feet above the stream, and the stream level is 1,166 feet above the sea, the width of the bed being 1,000 yards. Here it breaks through a scarp of the Patdr plateau, and runs between precipices in a straight line for three miles, the water faUing over a succession of rapids. The country above slopes downward and closes up steadily upon the river's channel, the bed getting narrower and narrower until the rocky banks at the water's edge entirely disappear, leaving nothing but the scarps on either side, the water lying in a long deep pool filUng up the whole valley. Erom ridge to ridge the valley here is only 350 yards in width. Eor ten mfles from Chaurdsgarh the. river flows in tliis sort of canon, until it emerges in the Gunjali VaUey and avoids an inter posing scarp by flowing round the flank of it ; whence, continu ing in a northerly direction below this range, with a smaU strip of soil under the cUffs, it meets the Bdmni River at Bhainsrorgarh. The water level here is 1,009 feet above the sea, giving a fafl of 157 feet in 30 miles from Chaurdsgarh, or nearly 5 feet per mile. A little more than three mfles before it reaches this place, the whole river faUs down a succession of smaU cataracts into a cleft in the rocks, the total fall being about 80 feet ; in one place there is a clear drop of 20 to 30 feet. This place is weU known locally by the name of " ChuUs." Erom Bhainsrorgarh it flows north-east tifl after about five miles it meets a third and northernmost barrier of hill, -which it cuts right through, and pushes on in a north-east course to Kota ( 34 ) city. In its course through Kota it collects the water of several large streams flowing northward from the skirts of. the Vindhyas, and so much of the drainage of the Meywar plateau as is not intercepted by the Bands. Near the town of Kota the Chambal is a broad sluggish stream, very blue in colour, flowing between magnificent overhanging cliffs and rocks rising sheer out of the water, covered with trees and thick brushwood famous as tiger preserves. Beyond Kota the hills nb longer press on and harass the river's march, and its course to the north-east is comparatively unopposed. Eurther northward it receives its two principal tributaries, the Pdrbati from tlie right and the Bands from the left, and flows under an irregular lofty wall of rock on its left bank along the whole length of the KarauU State, until it emerges into the open country near Dholpur, and finally dis charges itself into the Jumna. The total length of the Chambal is about 560 miles. Next in importance to the Chambal ranks the Bands, which rises in the south-west near KankraoU, in Meywar, about three miles from the old fortress of Kumalgarh, and flows southward until it meets the Gogunda plateau, when it suddenly turns east ward, cutting through the outlying ridges of the ArvaUs. Eurther on it settles decidedly down into a north-easterly line, and flows right across Northern Meywar, collecting all the drainage of the Meywar plateau, with the watershed from the south-eastern slopes and hill tracts of the Arvalis. Its chief affluents are, in Meywar, the Berach and the Kotesari from the ArvaUs, and the Dhund from the Jaipur country. In its northerly section the river is for some distance foiled in its attempt to effect a junction with the Chambal by the steppes of the Patar plateau, and it has to make a curious detour along this high ground, searching vainly for a passage, until it has quite rounded the obstacle. There is some fine scenery where it strikes through the smafl picturesque group of hills at Rdjmahal, and here the waters of the Bands are remarkably clear and pure; but though the bed of its upper course is hard and rocky, it abounds in dangerous qmcksands lower down. It joins the Chambal a Uttie beyond the north east extremity of the Biindi State, after a course of about 300 miles. Among the south-western hflls of Meywar, the Western Bands and the Sabarmati take then- rise, but reach no size or importance untfl after passing the Rajputana frontier toward the south west. The Mdhi, a considerable river in Guzerat, runs for some distance among the territories of Pertdbgarh and Bdnswdra, but it neither begins nor ends within Rajputana. One of its princi pal tributaries in this part of it is the Som, which flows first east ( 35 ) and then southward thfough Meywar. These rivers carry oft' the drainage of the south-west corner of Rajputana into the Gulfs of Kutch and Cambay. PART II. — LAKES. There are no natural fresh-water lakes in Rajputana, the only considerable basin being the well-known salt lake at Sambhar. About 40 mfles north-west of Ajmer occurs a depression within the Unes of the hflls which mark the general north-west ward run of the Arvali range as it begins to lose continuity and to subside. The land all round slopes towards the hollow of this depression, which thus forms a great basis with no outlet, con taining a shallow sheet of water which spreads or contracts according to the season. This is the Sdmbhar Lake, so caUed from the town on its banks ; it lies in latitude 26° 58', and longitude 76° 5' ; its eastern shore is distant 36 miles from Jey- pur ; its western shore 130 miles from Jodhpur. In the height of the rains the water extends to a length of 18 or 20 mfles, with breadth varying from 10 to 3 miles; in very hot and dry summers the wet bed is Uttie more than a mfle in length and less than half a mile across. The lake's longest stretch is nearly east and west, and the deeper portion, which never dries up, and which is locally caUed " the treasury," is situated near the centre of the lake, almost opposite a bold rocky promontary (Mata-ki-devi) which juts out from the southern shore. In the dry season the view of the lake is very striking. Standing on the low sandy ridges which confine the basin on the south, one may see what looks to be a great sheet of snow, with pools of water here and there, and a network of narrow paths marking the near side of it. What appears to be frozen snow is a white crisp efflorescence of salt, whfle beyond the white flats toward the middle of the lake the salt crust is gathered from beds out of which the water is evaporated. The salt is both held in solution in the water of the lake, and also pervades in minute crystals the whole substance of black mud that forms so large a part of the lake's bed. This most valuable possession has often been fiercely contested. The lake was worked by the Imperial administration of Akbar and his successors up to Ahmed Shah, when it feU back into the hands of the Rajput Chiefs of Jaipm- and Jodhpur. The eastern shore, and part of the southern shore, is now the joint possession of Jodhpur and Jaipur ; the rest belongs to Jaipur. The finest artificial lakes are within the territory of the Oodipur State, among the low hiUs of the Meywar plateau. The lakes near ( 36 ) Debar and KankraoU are the largest of all; the former is a noble sheet of water lying about 20 miles south-east of Oodipur town. It i,<5 formed by a dam across a perennial stream where it runs through- a gap in the hills, which was built A. D. 1681 by the Rdna Jai Singh, from whom it is named Jai Samand. The length of this lake is about 8 to 10 mfles east and west, and averages about a mile in breadth, and cannot be under 25 or 30 miles in circumfer ence. The eleva?tion of the lake is about 960 feet above the sea. On the south the hiUs rise 1,000 feet above the level of the Avater, while the northern shore is studded with pretty Uttie ham lets, mostly peopled by fishermen. Small forest-covered islands (>rop up in the midst of this vast sheet of water, adding greatly to the beauty of, perhaps, one of the largest artificial lakes in the world. The dyke is entirely made of massive stones forming steps to the water's edge. The KankraoU Lake is distant about 52 miles north of Oodipur upon an outlying southern skirt of the Arvalis, and the catchment is formed by a long sweeping embank ment resting one wing upon some lulls and thrown in crescent shape across the slope of the country for nearly 3 mfles ; the area under water after a good rainy season is about 12 miles round. One part of the embankment between the hiUs is faced with white marble surmounted with handsome paviUons of the same stone, and upon another stands a very famous shrine belonging to the worship of Krishna, with extensive buildings, and the town of KankraoU beneath it. The embankment was constructed in A. D. 1661 by the Rana Raj Singh to employ his starving subjects during a famine, and the Rdna's fortified palace on a hill just over the lake is very picturesque. There is also a fine lake a few miles from Oodipur caUed the^ Oodisdgar, containing a sheet of water very deep in parts, and about 12 mfles round at its best ; the water is held up by a lofty dam of massive stone blocks thrown across a naiTOw outlet between two hills ; the circumference must be from 10 to 12 miles. At Oodipur itself there is a very beautiful and extensive piece of water called the Pechola Lake, formed by stone dykes raised on either side of a low rocky ridge, so that the water runs right along one side of the town, which has been built upon or behind the dam. On the highest point of the natural containing-.; ridge stands the Rdna's palace, one of the most striking edifices in the country. The view across the expanse of water to the dark background of woody hflls, which close in round the western sides and supply the waters which fill the lakes, is as fine as anything in India. Other smaller lakes or tanks are to be found in the Meywar country. There is a fine basin among the hills T^'llich surround ( 37 ) Ajmer, lying close over against the city, having a stone embank ment supporting the marble palaces of the Moglial Emperors. But, owing to the uncertain rainfall of Central Rajputana, the breadth under water varies considerably from year to year. In the eastern States, about Bundi and Kota, there are some broad and shallow sheets of water pent up among low hills, which do not, except in very bad seasons, whoUy dry up within the year. All these artificial lakes have been buflt with the object of storing water, without looking to its subsequent distribution. The area which they can irrigate for cultivation is therefore very insignificant, and lies mainly within the lake's bed, which yields excellent crops as the water subsides, if it subsides in time. In the British district of Ajmer some large reservoirs have recentlv been constructed for the purpose of irrigation, but their success is altogether dependent upon the precarious local rainfaU. SECTION VI.— HISTOEY. Bajputana. — The faint outlines which can be ti-aced of the con dition of the country now called Rajputana, for one or two cen turies before the Mahomedans invaded Upper India, indicate that it was subject, for the most part, to two or three very powerful tribal dynasties. Of these, the dynasty of the Rathor family, which ruled at Kanoj, appears to have had the widest dominion ; for the early Arabian geographers make the frontier of Kanoj conterminous with Sinde, and Almarudi styles the Kanoj monarch one of the kings of Sinde. However this may be, it seems certain that the Kanoj territory extended far westward beyond the Jumna into Rajputana ; while much of the south western part was included within the limits of another great kingdom which had its capital in Guzerat.* Other tribal dynasties succeeded ; and in the eleventh century, about the period of the first Mahomedan inroad into the interior of Northern India, the leading tribes were the Solankhies of Anhulwarra in Guzerat, the Chohans at Ajmer, and the Rathors at Kanoj. The Gehlot clan had established itseU in the Meywar country, which is stiU held by the Sesodias, a sept of the Gehlots. The Rahtors and Sodas held the north-western deserts where they are stiU dweUing ; and the Kachwdha clan had occupied the eastern tracts about Jaipur, now their Chief's capital. * It would appear from some inscriptions which Professor Biihler has recently obtained from Kan, near tbe Gulf of Cambay, that somewhere about the ninth century, A. V)., thc Rathors held some districts as far south-west as tlie northern bank of the Taptee. ( 38 ) The desert which Ues between Sinde and Rajputana appears to have sheltered the tribes from any serious inroads of the Arabs who reigned in Sinde, but from the north-west their terri^ tory was more exposed. Thus the first Musalman invasions found Rajput dynasties seated in aU the chief cities of the north, and , ruUng large territories throughout the rich Gangetic plains — -at Lahore, Delhi, Kanoj , and Ajodhya. Mahomed of Ghazni marched to Kanoj in 1017 A. D., and reached Muttra; a few years later he subdued Lahore, and in 1024 he made his celebrated expedition to Somnath in Guzerat, marching from Muttra across the Rajput countries to Ajmer. The Solankhies of Anhulwarra were over come ; but the Rajputs barred Mahomed's return by Ajmer, and he was forced to find his way back through the Sinde deserts. In 1170, a furious war broke out between the Solankhies of Anhulwarra and the Chohans of Ajmer, in which the former were defeated; and about the same time began the famous feud between the Chohans and the Rathors of Kanoj, the cause of which is ascribed by Tod in his romantic style to the abduction of a princess. These dissensions weakened the dynasties ; never theless, when Shahdb-ud-din began his invasions, the Chohans fought hard before they were driven out of Dellfl and Ajmer in 1193 A. D. Next year Kanoj was taken, and the Rathor princes, utterly broken in the Gangetic Doab, emigrated to the country which they have since ruled in North-Western Rajputana. But Ajmer was stiU sharply disputed, though Kutb-ud-din, Shahdb- ud-dln's Governor in India, managed at last to drive back the tribes united to contest his occupation of the middle countries, and to force his way through them again into Guzerat. Ajmer and Anhulwarra, the former Rajput capitals, were garrisoned by his troops ; and the Musalmans appear graduaUy to have over awed, if they did not entirely reduce, the open country between and about these two places, having garrisoned the fortresses and secured the natural outlets of Rajputana toward Guzerat on the south-west, and the Jumna on the north-east. The effect was probably to press back the clans more into the outlying districts, where a more difficult and less inviting country afforded a second line of defence against the foreigner — a line which they have held successfully up to the present day. The existing capitals of the modern States indicate the positions to which the earUer Chiefs retreated. One clan (the Bhdttis) had before this founded Jesulmer in the extreme north-west, having been driven across the Sutlej by the Ghaznavi conquerors. The Rathors_ settled down among the sands of Marwar ; the Sesodias pushed inward from north-east and south-west, concentrating on ihe Meywar plateau behind the scarps of the Arvalis ; while ( 39 ) the Jddons were protected by the bifls and ravines that Ue along the Chambal. Erom these and other migrations and settlements grew up graduaUy, with varying features and constantly shifting territory, the States now governed by Rajput Chiefs ; the non- Rajput States being of a very different and much more recent formation. The larger States represent the acquisitions of the more powerful and predominant clans ; the smaUer States are either the separate conquests of a sept that parted company from the main clan, or the appanage of some Chief who set up inde pendently. They have all, in fact, a very simflar origin. When the dominant famiUes of a clan lost their dominion in the fertile regions of the north-west, one part of the clan seems to have remained in the conquered country ; while another part, probably the defeated Chief's kinsmen and followers, went off westward and carved out another, though much poorer, dominion. They were gradually hemmed up into parts of the country productive enough to yield food or rents, and defensible against the great armies of the foreigner. Having then made a settlement and built a city of refuge, each clan started on an interminable course of feuds and forays, striving to enlarge its borders at the cost of its neighbour. When the land grew too strait for the support of the Chief's famfly, or of the increased clan, a band would assemble under some new leader and go forth to plant itself eleswhere. In this way the whole of Rajputana appears to have been parted off among the clans which we find there now, and the territories that have been graduaUy rounded off and consoUdated by incessant friction are now called States, under the rule of the Chief of the clan dominant. Of course the original type of tribal dominion has been modified ; towns have grown up round the ancient forts, and the Chiefs have, in some instances, modernised their status towards the Ukeness of a territorial king. Nevertheless, on the whole, these States are stiU essentially the possessions of clans, and, as such, can be defined and distinguished territorially ; nor is the poUtical nature or tenure of these States properly intelli gible without bearing their origin in mind. Setting aside, then, for the present, the two Jdt States and the Mahomedan principality of Tonk, we may describe Rajputana as the region within which the pure-blooded Rajput clans have maintained their independence under their own chieftains, and have kept together their primitive societies ever since their principal dynasties in Northern India were cast down and swept away, by the Musalman irruptions. This, then, being the origin and present constitution of the Rajput States, we have now to give a very condensed sketch of their political history. We have seen how the principal clans, ( 40 ) Deing split up by their internal feuds and archaic wrangling about women and points of honour, were easily overwhelmed in the Gan getic plains and in Guzerat by invaders united upon the broader and more intense organisation of a reUgious crusade; how they were driven from Upper India and dispersed even in the heart of Central India into the outlying districts, the hilly tracts, and the sandy wfldernesses. During the six centuries which followed the victories of the Ghori kings in the twelfth century, the Rajput clans had various fortunes. Early in the thirteenth century the rich southern province of Malwa was attacked by the Musalmans and an nexed to the Delhi Empire ; and at the beginning of the fourteenth century, Ala-ud-din Ghilzi finally exterminated the Rajput dynas ties in Guzerat, which also became an imperial province. He also reduced Rinthanbor, a famous fortress of the Eastern Marches, and sacked Chitor, the capital of the Sesodias in Meywar ; while about the same time, the imperial power was permanently estabUshed in the important city of Ajmer, which lies in the very centre of the Rajput country, at the foot of an almost impregnable hfll fort, well watered for these arid tracts, and most commandingly situ ated, politically and strategically. But, although the early Delhi emperors constantly pierced the country of the clans by rapid rushing invasions, plundering and slaying, they made no serious impression against the independence of the Chiefs. The for tresses — great circumvallations of the broad tops of escarped hills, with several Unes of entrenchment — were desperately defended ; and when taken were hard to keep. There was no firm foothold to be got for the Musalmans in the heart of the country, though the Rajput territories were encircled by incessant war. The line of communication between Delhi and Guzerat by Ajmer seems indeed to have been usually open to the imperial armies ; and the E^ajputs lost for a time in the thirteenth century most of the great forts which commanded their eastern and most exposed frontier, and appear to have been slowly driven inward from this side ; yet no territorial annexations were very firmly held by the imperial governors from Delhi during the Middle Ages. Chitor was very soon regained by the Sesodias, and the other strongholds changed hands frequently. The Toghlak kings were engaged in their Dakhani wars, whfle their armies were con stantly in request to put down revolts in Guzerat and other out lying provinces. When, however, the Toghlak dynasty went to pieces about the close of the fourteenth century, and had been finally swept away by Tamerlane's sack of Delhi, two independent Musalman king doms w^ere set up in Guzerat and in Malwa. These powers proved more formidable to thc Rajputs than the unwieldy empire ( 11 ) had been, and there was incessant war throughout the fifteenth century between them and the clans ; betw^een the Guzerat king and the Sesodias of Meywar a constant struggle for territory went on. Aboo was occupied ; Chitor twice besieged ; Kumalmer, a strong hill fort of the Sesodias, was attacked, and seems to have been taken and re-taken ; Biindi was sacked, and Mahomed Ghilzi of Malwa is recorded by Eerishta to have marched up to Ajmer, then in the hands of the Rajputs, and to have taken the fort by storm in 1454 A. D. Thenceforward Ajmer was held for about fifty years by the rulers of Malwa, and several plundering excursions w^ere made into Marwar. Some of the most fertile tracts belonging to the Rajputs in the south and south-west were gradually lost to them and annexed to Malw^a or to Guzerat. They were expelled from the plain country north-west of Ahmedabad by the Guzerat king; while the Malwa king took from the Chohans of Eastern Rajputana a great part of their southern lands, and for some time occupied both Chanderi and Rinthanbor. On the other hand, the fifteenth century was a period of disruption for the Delhi Empire, which, after Tamerlane had crushed the Toghlak dynasty, had practically broken up into a number of semi-independent principalities, under the leaders of different Afghan tribes. This state of things enabled the Rajputs to regain some ground toward the east, until Sultan Sikander Lodi united again under one rule the Afghan confederation, and forced all the neighbouring Hindu princes to acknowledge his supremacy. Erom the end of the fifteenth century the permanent territory of the independent clans w^as confined within those natural barriers formed by the difficult country which still more or less marks off their possessions in Central India ; though in several parts, and especially about Gwalior, the Maratha usurpations have overlaid the ancient dominion of the clans. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, indeed, the last Af ghan dynasty that reigned at Delhi wf\s breaking up in the usual high tide of rebelUon ; and as Malwa and Guzei-at were at war with each other, the time was favourable for a Rajput revival. Eor one short interval of this century the talents and valour of the famous Rana Sanga of Oodipur, the Chief of the Sesodia clan in Meywar, once more enlarged the borders of the Rajputs, and attained for them something Uke predominance in Central India. This Chief, the single example of great political abiUty among the Rajputs, aided by Medini Rao, Chief of Chanderi, fought with great success against both Malwa and Guzerat. Medini Rao had acquired supreme authority in Malwa under Maho med II, who at last, fliiding that the Rajputs vrere supplanting ( 42 ) the Mahomedan power in the country, called in the king of Guzerat, and the two Musalman kings re-took Mandu from Medini Rao with great slaughter of the Rajputs. But Mahomed soon after invaded the Rajput territories, and xiear Gagron, a strong fort now in the Jhdlawar State, he ?eceived a bloody defeat from Rana Sanga and his Rajput cavaUy, and was himself captured in 1519. In 1526 the Rana allied himself with Guzerat for the total subjugation of Malwa, when he annexed to his own dominion aU the fine eastern provinces of that kingdom, and recovered the strong places of the Eastern Marches. The power of the Rajputs was now at its zenith. Rana Sanga was no longer the chief of a clan, but the king of a coun try ; he had the hegemony of all the clans, and could command their contingents. But in the year when Malwa was subdued, and one month before its capital surrendered, the Emperor Baber took Delhi and extinguished the Afghan dynasty, so that Rana Sanga had only just beat down his ancient enemy in the south, when a new and greater danger threatened him from the north. The Rana marched up towards Bidna, which he took from a garri son placed there by Baber, havingbeen joined by Hasan Khan, the powerful Chief of the Mewatti country, which now belongs princi pally to the Ulwar State ; and Baber pushed down to meet him. At Eatehpur Sikhri, in the year 1527, the Rana at the head of all the chivalry of the clans encountered Baber's army, and was defeated after a furious conflict, in which fell Hasan Khan Mewatti and many Rajput Chiefs of note. The conjuncture of affairs which this battle solved resembles in some ways the crisis decided nearly 250 years later (in 1761) on the plains of Paniput. At both epochs the Hindus of Central and Southern India were advancing under able and ambitious leaders to dispute with the Musalmans the pos session of the northern provinces ; and each time they were met by an army and a commander fresh from the wars of Central Asia. In both cases the event was the same, though Rana Sanga and his Rajputs put Baber into much greater peril than the Marathas caused to Ahmed Abdalli. Nevertheless, the great Hindu con federacy was hopelessly shattered by the defeat at Eatehpur Sikhri. Next year Medini Pi^ao, with the flower of his clan, fell in the defence of Chanderi, which was taken by Baber. Rana Sanga died shortly after, covered with wounds and glory ; and the short-lived splendour of united Rajasthdn waned rapidly. In 1586, Bahadur Shah of Guzerat took Chitor, and recovered from the Rajputs almost all the provinces which Rana Sanga had won from Malwa. The power of the Sesodia clan was much reduced, and its predo minance was transferred to the Rathors of the north-west, where ( 43 ) Maideo Rao of Jodhpur had become the strongest of all the Raj put Chiefs. The struggle which began soon after Baber's death, between the Emperor Humayun and the Afghan Sher Shah, had relaxed the pressure of the Delhi power upon the clans from this side, and Maideo had greatly increased in wealth and territory. When Humayun was flying before Sher Shah, Maideo offered him an asylum, intending to play him off against the growing strength of the Afghan, but changed his mind on discovering Humayun's desperate condition. In 1544 Maideo was invaded by Sher Shah in great force, but gave him such a bloody reception near Ajmer, that Sher Shah abandoned further advance into the Rathor coun try, and turned southward through Meywar into Bandelkhand, where he was kflled before the fort of KaUnjar. It is clear that the victory of Eatehpur Sikhri extinguished the last chance which the Rajputs ever had of regaining their ancient dominions in the rich plains of India. It was fatal to them not only because it broke the war- power of their one able leader, but because it enabled the victor to lay out the foundations of the Moghal Empire. A firmly consolidated empire surrounding Rajasthdn necessarfly put an end to the expansion, and gradu ally to the independence, of the clans ; and thus the death of Humayun in 1556 marks a decisive era in their lustory. The Emperor Akbar represented the power of MusaUnan predomi nance at its full, wielded by one man of singular administrative and miUtary ability. Immediately after his accession he attacked Maideo, the Rathor Chief, recovered from him Ajmer and several other important places, and forced him to acknowledge his sover eignty. The Emperor then undertook to settle all Rajputana systematically. Chitor, the Sesodia citadel in Meywar, was again besieged and taken with the usual grand finale of a sortie and mas sacre of the defenders. Oodipur was occupied ; and though the clan never formally submitted, they were reduced to gueriUa w^arfare in- the ArvaUs. In the east, the Chief of the Kachwdha clan at Amber (the Jaipur Raja's ancestor) had entered the imperial ser vice, while the Chohdns of Biindi and Kota were overawed or conciliated. They surrendered the fort of Rinthanbor, the key to their country, and were brought with the rest within the pale of the empire. Akbar took to wife the daughters of two great Rajput houses ; he gave the Chiefs or their brethren high rank in his armies, sent them with their contingents to com- mand-upon distant frontiers, and succeeded in enUsting the Raj puts generally, except only the distant Sesodia clan, not only as tributaries but as adherents. After him Jehangir made Ajmer his head- quarters, whence he intended to march in person against the Sesodias, who had defeated his generals in Meywar ; and here at ( ii ) last he received, in 1616, the submission of the Rana Umra of Oodipur, who, however, did not present himself in person. But though the Rdnas of Oodipur never attended the Moghal Court, they sent henceforw^ard their regular contingent to the imperial army, and the ties of poUtical association were henceforward drawn closer in several ways. The Chiefs constantly entered the imperial service as governors and generals (there were at one time forty-seven Raj put mounted contingents), and the headlong charges of their cavalry became famous in the wars of the empire. The Emperors Shah Jehdn and Jehdngir were both sons of Rajput mothers ; and Shah Jehdn in exile had been protected at Oodipur up to the day of his accession. Their kinship with the clans helped these two emperors greatly in their contests for the throne ; while the stream of Hindu blood softened their fanaticism and miti gated their foreign contempt for the natives of India. When Shah Jehdn grew old and feeble, the Rajput Chiefs took their fuU share in the war among his sons' for the throne, siding mostly with Ddra, their kinsman by the mother's side. At Ujen, Raja Jeswant Singh of Marwar was defeated with great slaughter in attempting to stop Aurungzeb's march upon Agra ; and again at the crown ing victory over Dara at Agra the Rajputs distinguished them selves on the losing side, though they w^ere at last induced to abandon the unfortunate Ddra, whose ruin was completed by Jes want Singh's desertion of him at the battle near Ajmer. Au- rungzeb employed the Rajputs in distant wars, and their contin gents did duty at his capital. But he was a bigoted Islamite ; and although one Rajput Chief governed Kabul for him, while another commanded his army in the Dakhan, he is said to have had them both poisoned. Towards the latter end of his reign, he made bitter, though unsuccessful, war upon the Sesodias, and devastated parts of Rajputana, but he was very roughly handled by the united Rathors and Sesodias, and he had thoroughly alienated the clans before he died. Thus, whereas up to the reign of Akbar the Rajput clans had maintained their political freedom, though within territorial Umits that were always changing — from the end of the sixteenth century w^e may regard their Chiefs as having become feudatories or tributaries of the empire, which was their natural and honourable relation to the paramount pow^er in India. The Ain-i-Akbari, which professes to contain a survey or record of all the possessions and dependencies of the Moghal Empire in 1600, parcelled out into twelve grand divisions called Subahs, includes in Subah Ajmer the whole of Central Rajputana, except a few outlying tracts which fall into other divisions, whfle Southern Pvajputana is brought within the Mahva and Guzerat Subahs. This record sets ( 45 ) down the revenue paid or payable by the Sirkdrs or intsrior circles, and these take in all the lands of the present Rajput States ; it also detafls the number of horse and foot furnished by each circle, and describes the general condition of the country. Of course the authority of the Moghals over these tracts was far less extensive and less effectual than such a state paper pretends to imply, and the revenue payments must have been more or less nominal, being, indeed, rather a financial valuation of the amount assessable than an account of receipts ; while the lands are acknowledged to be mainly in the possession of the different tribes under their own Chiefs, who are sometimes styled independent. Yet it cannot be denied that the imperial suzerainty was fairly acknowledged at this period by all the clans, except, perhaps, by the Sesodia bands which still held out in the fastnesses of the Arvalis. Probably guerilla fighting between the imperial lieutenants and the high- spirited refractory Chiefs never entkely ceased in the interior. But if we except Aurungzeb's impotent invasion, we may affirm that from Akbar's settlement of Rajputana up to the mid dle of the eighteenth century, the Rajput clans did all their serious warfare under the imperial banners in foreign wars, or in the battles among competitors for the throne. When Aurungzeb died, the clans took sides as usual, and Shah Alam, son of a Rajput mother, was largely indebted for his success to the swords of his kinsmen. And the obligations of aUegiance, tribute and military service to the emperor were undoubtedly recognised as defining the poUtical status of the Chief so long as an emperor existed who could exact them.* It is true that after the death of Aurungzeb the Rajputs attempted the formation of an independ ent league for thek own defence, and that this compact was renewed w^hen Nadir Shah threw all Northern India into confusion. This was a triple alUance among the three leading Chiefs, but it unlucki ly contained a stipulation that in succession to the chiefship of the Rathor and Kachwdha clans, the sons born to those families of a wife from the S?sodias should have preference over all others. A treaty which thus set aside primogeniture was sure to create more quarrels than it closed, so the federation soon parted : but the Rathors and Kachwdhas held their own at Jodhpur and Jaipur in the rising storm which was to wreck the empire, and indeed greatly increased their territories in the general tumult, untfl the wasting spread of the Maratha freebooters brought in a flood of anarchy that threatened every poUtical structure in India. The whole period of 151 years — from Akbar's accession to Aurimg- * When Nadir Shah's invasion was impending, Bajn Jai Singh (of .Jaipur) said to the Emperor, " You must keep an eye on the Moghal Amras, who will probably le treacherous ; as for us Rajputs, we are ready to join the Imperial ensigns." ( 46 ) zeb's death — was occupied by four long and strong reigns, and for a century and a half the Moghal was fairly India's master. Then came the ruinous crash of an overgrown centralised empire, whose spoils were fought over by Afghans, Sikhs, Jdts, revolted viceroys, and rebeUious mflitary adventurers at large. The two Syuds govern ed the empire under the name of Eeroksir ; Jodhpur was invaded and the Rathor Chief was forced to give a daughter to the Emperor. He leagued with the Syuds until they were murdered, w^hen in the tumult that followed he seized Ajmer (1720). In the quarrels for chieftainship which foUowed, one of the Rathor claim ants called in the Marathas, who got possession of Ajmer about 1756 A. D., and thenceforward Rajputana became involved in the general disorganisation of India. Even the Rajput chieftainships, the only ancient poUtical groups left in India, were threatened with imminent obliteration. Their primitive constitution rendered them quite unfit to resist the professional armies of Marathas and Pathans, and their tribal system was giving way, or at best transforming itseU into a disjointed miUtary feudalism. About this period a successful leader of the Jdt tribe, which cultivates some of the best lands on the right bank of the Jumna, took advantage of the dissolution of the imperial government to seize territories and to set up a dominion. He was acute enough to foresee the defeat of the Marathas in 1761, and to abandon them on the eve of the great battle of Paniput. He buflt fortresses and an nexed districts, partly from the empire and partly from his Rajput neighbours ; and his acquisitions were consolidated under his successors until they developed into the present Bhartpur State. The Rajput States very nearly went down with the sinking empire. One faction in Meywar committed, about 1768, the fatal folly of calUng in Marathas to aid them ; another faction in Marwar did the same thing, and thenceforward Rajputana was graduaUy overrun and dilapidated. The utter weakness of some of the Chiefs, and the general disorder following the dis appearance of a paramount au.thority in India, dislocated the. tribal sovereignties and encouraged the building of strongholds against predatory bands, the rallying of parties round petty leaders, and aU the general symptoms of civil confusion. Erom dismemberment among rival adventurers the States were rescued by the appearance of the EngUsh on the poUtical stage of North ern India. In 1803 all Rajputana, except the farther States of the north-west, had been vui;ually brought under by the Marathas, who exacted tribute, ransomed cities, annexed terri tory, and extorted subsidies. Sindia and Holkar were deliberate ly exhausting the country, lacerating it by ravages, or bleeding it scientifically by relentless tax-gatherers ; while the lands had ( 47 ) ^^ been desolated by thirty years' incessant war. Under this treat ment the whole group of ancient chieftainships was verging to wards collapse, when Lord WeUesley struck in for the English in terest. The victories of Generals WeUesley and Lake permanently crippled Sindia's power in Northern India, and forced him to loosen his hold on the Rajput States in the north-east, with whom the English made a treaty of aUiance against the Marathas. In 1804 Holkar tried conclusions with those who had beaten Sindia and the Bhonsla ; he marched up through the heart of Rajputana, attempted the fort of Ajmer, and threatened our ally, the Raja of Jaipur. Colonel Monson went against him, and was enticed to follow Holkar' s sudden retreat southward beyond Kota, when the Marathas suddenly turned on the EngUsh commander and hunted him right back to Agra. Then Holkar was, in his turn, driven off by Lord Lake, who smote him blow on blow, but Lake himself failed signally in the dash which he made against the fortress of Bhartpur, where Holkar had taken refuge under protection of the Jdt Chief, who broke his treaty with the English and openly succoured their enemy. The fort was afterwards surrendered ; Holkar was pursued across the Sutlej, and in 1805 signed a treaty which stripped him of some of his annexations in Raj putana. Upon Lord WeUesley's departure from India our policy changed ; we drew back from what seemed to Lord CornwaUis and Sir George Barlow a dangerous net-work of new ties and responsibilities, and we attempted to contract the sphere of British connections ; that is, we left all the Central India and Rajput Chiefs to take care of themselves. The alUance with Jaipur being formally dissolved, that State was abandoned to Holkar, who pillaged it mercilessly, and the strong fortress of Gwalior, which, with its surrounding districts, had been wrested by Lord WeUesley from Sindia (who had taken it from the family which now rules at Dholpur), was again restored to the Maratha. The consequence was that the great predatory leaders in Central India plundered at their ease the petty States we had abandoned to them, and became seriously arrogant and aggressive towards ourselves. This attitude on our part of masterly inactivity lasted ten years, and Rajputana was being desolated during the interval; the roving bands increased and multiplied all over the middle coimtries into Pindaree hordes, until in 1814 Ameer Khan was Uving at free quarters in the heart of the Rajput States, with a compact army estimated at 30,000 horse and foot and a strong artillery. He had seized some of the finest districts in the east ern States, and he governed with no better civfl institutions than a marauding and mutinous force. The two principal Rajput chieftainships of Jodhpur and Jaipur had brought themselves to ( 48 ) the verge of extinction by the famous feud betw^een the two rulers for the hand of the princess Kishen Konwr of Oodipur ; whfle the plundering Marathas and Pathans encouraged and strenuously aided the two Chiefs to ruin each other, until the vlispute was compromised upon the basis of poisoning the girl. Sir Charles Metcalfe, Resident at Delhi, reported in 1811 that the minor Chiefs urgently pressed for British interposition, on the ground that they had a right to the protection of the paramount power, whose obvious business it w^as to maintain order. He found it difficult to obtain from them an admission that the poUcy of total abstention by a government occupying the para mount plaoe, was ever just, and he strenuously recommended a confederation of the Rajput States under British protec tion. No forward steps were, however, taken until, in 1816, Ameer Khan with his Pathans invested the capital of Jai- jjur, when the Chief applied for and obtained EngUsh inter vention, and the siege was raised; but the Jaipur State hesi tated to conclude a permanent alUance. In 1817 the Marquis of Hastings was at last enabled to carry into action his plan for breaking up the Pindaree camps, extinguishing the pre datory system, and making poUtical arrangements that "should effectuaUy prevent its revival. Lawless banditti were to be put down; the general scramble for territory was to be ended by recognising lawful governments once for aU and fixing their possessions, and by according to each recognised State British protection and territorial guarantee, upon conditions of acknow ledging our right of arbitration and general supremacy in external disputes and political relations. Upon this basis overtures for negotiation were made to all the Rajput States ; and in 1817 the British armies took the field against the Pindarees. Ameer Khan disbanded lus troops and signed a treaty, which confirmed him in possession of certain districts held in grant, and by which he gave up other lands forcibly seized from the Rajputs. His territories, thus marked off and made over, constitute the existing State of Tonk. Of the Rajput States, the first to conclude a treaty was Kota, in December 1817 ; and by the end of 1818 similar treaties had been executed by the other Rajput States, with clauses settling the payment of Maratha tributes and other financial charges. _ There was a great restoration of plundered districts and rectification of boundaries. Sindia gave up the district of Ajmer to the British, and the pressure of the great Maratha powers upon Rajputana was permanently withdrawn. Eiom the year 1818 the poUtical history of Rajputana has been comparatively uneventful. The State of Bhartpur lies within the circle of political administration, but is otherwise of ( 49 ) a different ori^n and nature from the Rajput States proper. It had not entered into the treaties of 1818. In 1825 a serious dis pute over the succession to the chiefship caused great poUtical excitement, not only within Bhartpur, but among the surround ing States, some of which were secretly taking sides in the quarrel which threatened to spread into war. Accordingly, with the object of preserving the public peace, the British Government deter- nained to displace an usurper and to maintain the rightful Chief; and Bhartpur was stormed by the British troops on the 18th January 1826. In 1835 the prolonged misgovemment of Jaipur culmi nated in serious disturbances, which the British Government had to compose ; and in 1839 a force marched to Jodhpur to put down and conciliate the disputes between the Chief and his nobles which disordered the country. The State of Kota had been saved from ruin and raised to prosperity by ZdUm Singh, who, though nominaUy nunister, reaUy ruled the country for more than forty years ; and the treaty of 1817 had vested the administration of the State in Zdlim Singh and his descendants. But this arrangement naturaUy led to quarrels between ZdUm Singh's heirs and the heirs of the titular Chief, wherefore in 1838 a part of the Kota territory was marked off as a separate State, under the name of Jhdlawar, for the descend ants of Zdlim Singh, who was a Rajput of the Jhdla clan. Ajmer-Merwarra, — The district of Ajmer-Merwarra must be noticed separately. It Ues, as has been already mentioned, in the centre of the Rajput country, surrounded on aU sides by the terri tories of the Chiefs. The plateau on which stands the town of Ajmer is, perhaps, the highest elevation of the plains of Hindustan, and the fort of Tdragarh, which overlooks the town, is 2,855 feet above sea-level, and more than 1,300 feet above the plateau. Erom its situation and from the natural strength of its fortress, Ajmer has always been a remarkable and important place. There are very early traditions of contests among the clans for its possession, and it belonged for some time to the Rajput princes of Delhi. Mahomed of Ghazni reached the city on his way to Somndth in 1024 A. D., and in 1193, Shahdb-ud-din took the fortress with great slaughter. The great importance, as a povnt d'appui in the midst of the country of the clans, of the fort and dis trict of Ajmer, was very early recognised by the Musalmans. It commanded the main routes ; it was a centre of trade lying at the foot of an almost impregnable fort ; weU watered for these arid tracts, in a situation at once strong, central, and most pic turesque. The fort was lost and won several times in the Middle Ages; the Rajputs recovered it in 1210, lost it again for nearly two centuries ; recovered it in the confusion that followed D ( 60 ) Tamerlane's invasion ; again lost it to the kings of Malwa about 1469, and re-took it only to yield it up to Akbar, when the Musalmans held possession for about two centuries more. Akbar made Ajmer the head-quarters of a Siibah, which nominally included all the surrounding territories of the clans. His succes sors in the seventeenth century resided there frequently, and it was at Ajmer that Jehdngir received Sir Thomas Roe, the ambassador sent by James I in 1615. Aurungzeb defeated Ddra close to the town ; and his wars with the Rajputs kept his head-quarters con stantly at the place. In the confusion of the eighteenth century, the Rathors of Marwar got hold of the district and fort again for a whfle, but soon had to yield to Sindia, then in the fuU tide of his early fortunes. By Sindia the place was ceded, with the lands adjoining, to the British Government in 1818, and thus for six centuries or more, with a few intervals, Ajmer has been the symbol of poUtical predominance in Rajputana, and has con tained the garrison by which the masters of Northern India have enforced their jurisdiction over the unruly clans. The province of Ajmer-Merwarra, as it now stands, consists geographically of two distinct tracts which were, up to recently, separate districts. The Ajmer country is bounded on the north by Kishengarh and Marwar, on the south by Merwarra and Meywar, on the east by Kishengarh and Jaipur, and on the west by Marwar. It lies between north latitude 26° 41' 0" and 25° 41' 0", and east longitude 75° 27' 0" and 74° 17' 0", and contains, according to the revenue survey of 1847, an area of 2058-28 square miles. The tract caUed Merwarra is bounded on the north by Mar war and Ajmer, on the south by Meywar, on the east by Ajmer and Meywar, and on the west by Marwar. It lies between north latitude 26° 11' 0" and 26° 23' 30", and east longitude 73° 47' 30' and 74° 30' 0", and contains a population of 69,234, with an area, according to the revenue survey, of 602"23 square mfles. The Sanskrit word meru (hifl) enters into the composition of the names of both tracts ; and the predominant feature of the country is the ArvaU range, which, running in from the north east, appears about the town of Ajmer in a paraUel succession of hiUs, the highest being that on which the fort stands. The Nagpahdr hiU, three miles from Ajmer, is nearly as high. About ten mfles from Ajmer, south-westward, the hifls subside for a short distance, but near Beawar they again form up into a com pact double range by which the open lands round that place- are inclosed. Eourteen mfles south of Beawar the two ranges approach, and near Todgurh they finally meet at a point whence there is a succession of hiUs and valleys running south-west to the extremity of Merwarra. Merwarra is the hilly tract thus formed ( 5i ) to the south-west of the open district of Ajmer. It is a narrow strip about seventy miles long, inhabited mainly by primitive or mixed tribes, who probably descend from outlaws and fugitives who have from time to time taken to the hflls for refuge. They are all styled Mers, but are divided into several clans. When the mutiny of the Bengal army began in May 1857, there was not a single European soldier in Rajputana. Nasirabdd and Nimach were garrisoned by Native troops of the British army, and four local regiments, or contingent forces raised and com manded by British officers, but mainly paid from the revenues of the States, were stationed at Deolee, Bedwar, Erinpura, and Kherwarra. The high tide of mutiny and insurrection swept with its greatest force along the eastern and northern frontier of Rajputana, throughout the Upper Doab between Agra and Delhi, and in parts of the Punjab. The Chiefs of Rajputana were called upon by the Agent to the Governor General (Brigadier- General George Lawrence) to preserve peace within their borders, and to collect their musters ; and requisitions were sent to the States bor dering on the North-West Provinces for armed aid and support to the British Government. In June the troops of Bhartpur, Jai pur, Jodhpur, and Ulwar were co-operating in the field with the endeavours of the British Government to maintain order in British districts, and to disperse the mutineers. Some 5,000 Jaipur troops marched into the Muttra and Giirgaun districts. A strong detach ment from Jodhpur aided to garrison Ajmer, while the State of Ulwar sent a force to strengthen the Bhartpur corps, which were placed in charge of the country near Agra and Muttra, bordering on their own State. The Karauli and Dholpur Chiefs also exerted themselves to put down local disorders and to keep open the com munications. But these levies, however useful as auxiUaries, were not strong enough to take the offensive against the regular regiments of the mutineers. The trained soldiers in the State armies were mostly of the same class and caste with the British sepoy, and sympathised with his revolt ; the untrained feudal re tainers and clansmen of the Chiefs could not make head alone, and were often, as in the case of the Ulwar Rajputs, treacherously betrayed by the regulars. Moreover, the interior condition of several of the States was critical ; their territory, where it bordered upon the country which was the focus of the mutiny, was overrun with disbanded soldiers ; the fidelity of their own mercenary armies was very questionable, and their predatory and criminal tribes soon began to harass the country side. When, therefore, the revolt against the British Government reached its height in the Dodb, the frontier chiefs in Rajputana could, for the time, do little more than hold their own, and protect their States against .the disorder ( 52 ) and infectious demoralisation produced by the constant passage of mutinied regiments from the interior towards Agra and Delhi. In June 1857 the artfllery and infantry had mutinied at Nasir abdd, and at Nimach the whole brigade (with very sUght exception) had broken out and marched against Agra. The Kota contingent had been called in from Deolee to Agra, where it joined the Nimach mutineers in July. The Jodhpur legion at Erinpura and Aboo broke away in August. The Merwarra battaUon and the Meywar Bhil Corps, recruited for the most part from the indige nous tribes of Mers and Bhils respectively, were the only native troops in all Rajputana who stood by their British officers. In the very important centre of Ajmer, the head- quarters of British administration and influence in Rajputana, General Lawrence maintained authority by the aid of a detachment of European troops from Deesa, of the Merwarra battalion, and of the Jodh pur alUed forces. But throughout the country at large, from the confines of Agra to the confines of Sindh and Guzerat, the States were left to their own resources, and their conduct and attitude were generally very good. In the Jaipur territory tranquilUty was preserved. The Bikanir Chief continued to render valuable as sistance to British officers in the neighbouring district of the Punjab. The central States kept orderly rule, and their administra tion was not disorganised. In the western part of Jodhpur some trouble was caused by the rebelUon or contumacy of Thakurs, especiaUy by the rebellion of the Thdkur of Ahwa, who had taken a body of the mutinied Jodhpur legion into his service ; but the ruling chief continued most loyal. Towards the south the exten sive territory of Meywar was considerably disturbed by the con fusion which foUowed the mutinies at Nimach, by the continual incursions of rebel parties, and by some political mismanagement ; while the attitude of some of the most powerful feudatories, and the stir among the wfld tribes and semi-independent Bhil chiefs, caused by the general agitation, weakened and hampered the Meywar Chief's power to act. On the whole, however, this large tract of country remained comparatively quiet ; nor was there any serious disorder among the outlying States of Dungarpur, Bdnswdra, and Pertdbgarh ; indeed the Chief of the State last mentioned distin guished himself by a vigorous stroke against the rebels. The Hardoti Chiefs of Kota, Bundi, and Jhdlawar kept their States in hand and sent forces which took charge of Nimach from July to September, the period when the odds ran heaviest against the British in North India. AfW the faU of Delhi this period of suspense ended, and the States ^ifld afford to look less to the question of their own ex istence m the event of general anarchy, and more to the duty of ( B3 ) assisting the British detachments. Moreover, the British were now in a position to assist the States in pacifying the country. The strong and leading State of Jaipur at once joined heartfly in the exertions of the British Government to pacify the country. In Jodhpur the Chief had his hands full of work with his own unruly feudatories, and the British assisted him in reducing them. In Kota, unfortunately, the Political Agent had returned to his post too early for his safety. The Kota troops were pro foundly disaffected ; they were beyond the control of the Chief ; they murdered Major Burton in the Residency, and broke into open revolt. The adjoining Chiefs of Biindi and Jhdlawar gave no aid, partly through clannish and political jealousies of Kota ; but the Maharaja of KarauU, who greatly distinguished himself by his active adherence to the British side throughout 1857, sent troops to the aid of his relative the Kota Chief when he w^as besieged in his own fort by his mutineers, who held the town untfl it was taken by assault of a British force in March 1858 — ^^ an event that marks the extinction of armed rebeUion in Raj putana. In Meywar matters remained in a critical state until the autumn of 1859, when the threatening symptoms of imminent outbreak among the Bhil tribes, and insurrection among some of the leading feudatories, gradually subsided. Thus, within forty years of the settlement of 1817-18, the Raj putana States encountered another poUtical storm, which was short, but very dangerous while it lasted. It brought out both their weakness and their strength ; it showed that their mflitary organisation would be not more effective against the trained mer cenary bands of Eastern and Northern India than it had been against the Marathas fifty years earlier, whfle, on the other hand, it proved the solidity of their interior political constitution. All seri ous disorders in these States were caused by mutinous mercenaries either in the service of the British Government, or of the Chiefs. There was no question of internal treason, or of plots for the subver sion of rules or dynasties ; and although in Meywar and Marwar the more turbulent of the great landholders sought the opportu nity of strengthening themselves against the central rule, yet on the whole the clans and the people held loyaUy to their heredi tary Chiefs. The country at large probably suffered Uttie. There was no great commerce or trade interest to be ruined by the sus pension of all industries. None of the large towns w-ere plundered, except Kota, and most of them were very weU protected ; while to the clans and the country-folk generaUy a rough time, chronic insecurity, and the necessity of self-defence, were nothing unusual, and even the sharper disorders could not have been felt as they were in more highly organised societies. ( 54 ) SECTION VII. PART I. — POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS AND STATE OP SOCIETY. We have now sketched very briefly the course of events which has brought the existing States of Rajputana to their present poUtical condition, with definite territories and assured rela tions to the Empire of- India. Of the States, eighteen belong to the first rank in the Empire, being under treaty with the Im perial Government, and of these eighteen, fifteen are stiU ruled by the Chiefs of Rajput clans or famiUes ; the other three belonging to Jdt famflies, and one to a Mahomedan dynasty. A six teenth Rajput State is Shahpura, which has no treaty with the Empire, and which differs from the others both as to its origin and as to the nature of its poUtical connections. The ancestor of the Chief of Shahpura was a third son of one of the Ranas of Meywar, who received as an appanage a grant or assignment of lands then belonging to Meywar. Those lands one of the succeeding Shahpura Chiefs united with a grant of eighty-four viUages made to him by the Emperor Shah Jehdn in the seventeenth century out of the imperial district of Ajmer ; and the whole tract, as shaped and altered by subsequent events and changes, now constitutes the Shahpura State. The Chief thus holds by distinct grants from two different superiors, the Rana of Meywar and the Empire ; to the former he still does the formal service paid by a great noble of Meywar, whfle for the latter a Political Agent exercises a general superintendence over his administration. These sixteen Rajput States may be arranged according to the different clans which founded them — and to which the ruling famfly of necessity belongs — in the foUowing manner : — Clan. Sub-division or Sept. State. Rathor .... r Jodhpur (Marwar). ] Bikanir. (Kishengarh. Sesodia .... ['Meywar (Oodipur). \ Bdnswdra. i Dungarpur. J Pertdbgarh. (^Shahpura. X 55 ) Clan. Sub- Division or Sept. state. Chohdn . . . ,} Jadon .... Kachwdha . . . Jhdla .... Hdra Deoria Bhatti ( I^Naruka (Biindi. IKota. Sirohi. (Karauli. (Jesulmer. Jaipur. Ulwar. Jhdlawar. The smaU chiefship of Khetri in the Shekhawati district of Jaipur is held on a double tenure of the same kind as that of Shahpura, as the Chief holds one part of his territory, the parganah of Kot PiitU, by a grant made on the part of the British Government by Lord Lake in 1803 to Raja Abhi Singh of Khetri, and subsequently confirmed as a free gift in perpetuity. On the eastern border of Rajputana, beyond the States of Biindi and Kota, are seven estates called the Seven Kotris, held by seven Rajput famflies of the Hdra clan, which belong to a peculiar political arrangement. These were originaUy assignments of land made in the seventeenth century by a Biindi Chief to his grand- chfldren, from whom the famiUes now in possession claim descent. All that country was under the oversight of the imperial governor of the fortress of Rinthambor (which commanded the Eastern Marches) to whom these petty Chiefs paid tribute. In the eighteenth century Rinthambor had to be abandoned by the sink ing empire and was made over in charge to the Jaipur Chief, who levied tribute from the Seven Kotris and harassed them ; where upon they appealed to their powerful brethren, the Hdra Chiefs of Kota and Bundi, and in the nineteenth century it was settled that the tribute should be paid through Kota to Jaipur. Thus, by status, they are tributaries to the head of their clan, the Hdra, whose authority they own generaUy, and who is generaUy responsible for them to the Imperial Government. There are other minor Chiefs of a simflar class in different parts of Rajputana, who claim some kind of privfleged status and separate jurisdiction under the ( 56 ) ruUng power of the State -within which their lands are included. This claim is usuafly by virtue of having descended from a distant stock, or of having originally con quered and maintained their lands without aid or commission from the State's ruler, but on their own score and venture ; they nevertheless pay tribute to the State's Chief, and are subject to his general authority. Such are the Chiefs of Sikar in Jaipur, of Nimrana in Ulwar, of Eatehgarh in Kishengarh (though he pays no tribute), and of Kusalgarh' in Bdnswdra, though the last-mentioned Chief (who also holds land of Rutlam) has of late been withdrawal from direct subordination to Bdnswdra. The Bhfl Chiefs of the Meywar hfll tracts belong to a slightly different category, though they assert internal independence of Oodipur ; and the Thdkur of Lawa, a smaU feudatory, has for pecuUar reasons been recently declared separate from Tonk, to which he was subordinate up to 1870. Besides these minor or mediatised chiefships, there are other grada tions of status and privilege ; but their classification becomes indistinct as it descends, shading off into the great estate-holder and head of a branch family of the Chief's blood, with high rank and formal hereditary privileges rather than separate political jurisdiction. Of these, perhaps the best example is the Rao of Salumbar in Meywar, who is also very powerfifl in his own dominion among the wilds of the Chappan, The remaining three States of the first class, not being under Rajput Chiefs, are of a different origin and growth. The State of Tonk has been already mentioned; it was formed out of the convention which allowed the famous Ameer Khan to hold certain lands which he possessed in 1817 ; it consists of six separate districts, of which three only are within the administrative province of Rajputana. The Jdt States of Bhartpur and Dholpur are the other two : the first is governed by the descendant of the bold and adroit landholders who raised themselves to the rank and power of territorial Chiefs during the confusion of the eighteenth century ; the second (Dhol pur) is the territory remaining with a famfly that had gained dis tinction e&rUer, though it first acquired poUtical independence in the same century find under similar circumstances. But whereas the Bhartpur Chief kept his tenitory intact, and even increased it, during the contest between the Marathas and the EngUsh at the beginning of this century, the Dholpur Chief in the same period lost a great part of his acquisitions, And these two States, lying as they do outside Central India, did not faU within the range of the treaties of 1817-18. These States, therefore, are governed each by a family of the Jdt tribe, which gives to that particular tribe a sort of precedence and privflege in the State ; but their constitution is by no means tribal in the meaning with which ( 57 ) that word appUes to the territory of a Rajput clan. In Tonk the descendant of Ameer Khan is an autocratic Nawab of the ordinary Indian type. In the chapter on History it has been explained that the existing Rajput States trace their historic descent from the an cient tribal settlements in this part of India; and as they differ in origin from the great majority of States in other parts of the empire, so they stiU differ in poUtical constitution. A Rajput State, where its pecuUar structure has been least modified, means the territory over which a particular clan, or division of a clan, claims dominion for its Chief and poU tical predominance for itselE, by right of occupation or con quest. A Rajput Chief is the head of a clan which have for many centuries been lords of the sofl, or of the greater part of it, lying within the State's Umits ; and as a ruler, instead of being an absolute despot, he exercises a jurisdiction more or less limited over an aristocracy consisting principaUy of his kinsmen and connections, while in the cities and throughout the districts not -within the estates of great fief -holders, his authority is absolute. In the western States, where the original type is best preserved, the dominant clans are still much in the position which they took up on first entry upon the lands ; and there we find aU the territory (with exceptions in favour of particular grantees) still parceUed out among the Rajputs ; mainly among the branch families of the dominant clan and their offshoots. AU the lands either pay rent immediately to the ruling Chief, who must of necessity be a Rajput, or to some minor Chief within whose lordship they fall, or else they are held by septs or cultivating groups of Rajputs, who pay a fixed quit-rent to some overlord, who may be the head of the clan, or of one of its great branches. And as in all these lands theJordship cannot, in the present phase of society, pass permanently out of Rajput hands by which they are held on a sort of noble tenure, it may be said that in these States the territorial dominion of the clan stiU sur- ¦vives unbroken. Of course, there are grants of land made by the ruling Chief to favourites and others, and these are temporary alienations ; whfle in the eastern States there are some consider able non- Rajput beneficiaries. But all over the west it would be difficult to find a single important estate not held by a Rajput. The supreme governing authority in a Rajput State is, of course, in the hands of the hereditary Chief of the dominant clan, who is supposed to be the nearest legitimate descendant in direct male line from the founder of the State, according to the genealogy of the tribe. He is thus understood to represent the oldest and purest blood of the political group which traces back its common ( 58 ) lineage to the vanishing point of a far distant ancestor ; and the principle of succession is that the ruler must belong to the founder's kin, that succession cannot pass through females, and that it ought to go among sons by primogeniture. But even primogeni ture has been required to quaUfy up to a low standard of com petency ; and when direct heirs fafl, the Chief may be chosen from any branch of the stock group, the choice sometimes going from one branch to another, according to critical needs and cir cumstances. The right of adoption by a Rajput Chief of his successor acccjrding to law and customs, on failure of natural heirs, has been formaUy recognised by the British Government, but the Chiefs have very rarely used this right in their Ufe-time. When a Chief dies without an heir either by blood or adoption, the recognised form is that the widows may adopt; but the per son to be adopted is usually selected by concert among the widows and the heads of the principal branch famiUes of the clan, whose choice, moreover, requires the formal sanction of the Government of India. When the succession is disputed, the Im perial Government is often forced to step in to arbitrate and decide, by the necessity of preventing the serious civfl dissensions that these disputed vacancies used often to cause, and would often cause at present if there were no paramount arbitrator. The interior economy of a complete Rajput famfly has often suggested the analogy of feudaUsm, though in fact there are essential differences. There is, however, a chain of mutual authority and subordination which runs from the Chief by gradations downwards to the possessor of one or more vfllages. The lands are for the most part divided off and inherited among the branch families of the dominant clan ; some considerable estates being held by families of a different clan, who have come in by marriage or by anterior settlement in the country. The ruling Chief possesses the largest portion of all, though the lands held directly by the head of the State are not always more than the aggregate holdings of the great branch famiUes. The proportion of territory under the direct fiscal and administrative control of the Chief varies widely in different States ; where the clan organisation is strongest and most coherent, the Chief's personal dominion is smaUest, and largest where he is, or has been lately, an active and acquisi tive ruler. Very large estates are held by the hereditary heads of the branch septs which have spread out from the main stock, and by kindred famflies, which are as boughs to the great branches. Sometimes these branches have ramified into a numerous sept ; sometimes they are represented by a few famflies; their hereditary heads take greater or lesser ranks according to birth, possessions, and number of kinsmen attached to the family. These estates ( 59 ) are owned and inherited by Chiefs who much resemble the State Chief in miniature, where they are strong and independent. The relations of these minor Chiefs to the State Chief differ very much in different States ; in the best-preserved States of the west and south-west they exercise almost complete jurisdiction each within his own domain proper ; and their obedience to any unusual com mand of the State Chief depends on his power to enforce it. They pay him certain dues or assessed contributions rated upon their incomes and regulated by immemorial custom ; they are bound to render military service against the foreigner or against rebels, and to make additional emergent contributions in war time ; and their lands are usually rated at so many horsemen or footmen to be furnished yearly for the ordinary pubUc service. The num ber of followers to be maintained may depend on the value of the land, and upon the rank and consequence of the estate-holder. At every succession to an estate the heir is bound to do homage to the Chief, and to pay a fine of some value — these acts being essential to entry into legal possession of his inheritance. He also pays some customary dues of a feudal nature, and is bound to personal attendance at certain periods and occasions. In the States of the west, belonging to the Rathor and Sesodia clans, the domains of all the subordinate Chiefs are rated at a certain valuation of annual rent-roll; and for every thousand rupees a certain number of armed men must be provided for the State's service. In some States this service has been ¦ commuted - for cash payment, but the great landholders have usually resisted this change, which obviously tends to increase the Chief's power and to lessen their own. Disobedience to a lawful summons ov order involves sequestration of lands, if the Chief can enforce it ; but it is rare that an estate is confiscated outright and annexed to the crown lands, as the whole federation of minor Chiefs would be against such an absorption if there were any practical alternative. So long as the minor Chiefs fulfil their customary obUgations, they hold their estates on conditions as weU founded and defined as those on which the ruUng Chief governs his territory, and their tenure is often just as ancient, and their authority within their own Umits often as absolute. In fact, the system upon which the land is distributed among the branch famflies and other great hereditary landholders, is the basis of the political constitution of a Rajput State and forms its characteristic distinction. And this system is not, speaking accurately, feudal, though it has grown in certain States into something very like feudaUsm. The tenure of the great clansmen involves mflitary service and payment of financial aids, but its source is to be found in the original clan-occupation ( 60 ) of the lands, and in the privfleges of kinship and of purity of descent from the original occupants or conquerors. The subor dinate Chiefs really claim to be co-parceners with the rulers in their right to dominion over the sofl and to the fruits of it. Of course, this constitutional principle has been much changed in practice in many of the States, especiaUy since the Marathas disorganised Rajputana at the end of the last century. In the Eastern Rajput States, which were most exposed to the attacks of Moghal, Maratha, and Pathan, the clan system has been much effaced politicaUy, and some Chiefs have centralised their power so as to obtain almost absolute jurisdiction over the whole of their territories ; moreover, the Rajputs are very few among the populations of some of these States. In Kota the clan system was almost extinguished by Zalim Singh, who brought the land mainly under the direct fiscal management and sub stituted his own armed police for the feudal contingents. In Biindi some relations of the Chief stiU hold large grants, but without any independent jurisdiction. Bhartpur and Dholpur are Jdt States in which the Chief's power is supreme, and in the Mahomedan State of Tonk the Rajput landholders have been inevitably depressed, whfle the government is of the ordinary autocratic Mahomedan type. So that whereas in the north and west a ruling Chief would stfll hardly break through the compact front which his clansmen could at once oppose to any serious poUtical encroachment, and has a dubious jurisdiction within the domains of his leading kinsmen, in the east and south a Chief has his State more or less directly under his own executive power, and a people of whom his clansmen form a small part. In the small eastern State of KarauU, however, the clan system is stfll vigorous. Around and below the great minor Chiefs and families are the kinsfolk who belong to the same sept of the clan ; and who hold land of more or less extent, either independently of their head, or on a sort of grant from him. In Western Rajputana there are large tracts of lands held by groups of Rajput pro prietors, who represent a settlement anterior to, or at least coeval with, that of the dominant clan; which settlement may have been either of an alien clan that has kept its lands undisturbed, or of a distinct sept belonging to the ruling clan. Some of the aUen clans have been brought in later by marriage alUances, or by having come as a contingent to aid the Chief of the country in some hard-fought war or distant expedition, services for which they received an aUotment of land. The heads of these aUen famiUes or clans often hold high rank in the State. As the ruling Chief can require military services and ( 61 ) money payment from the great landholders or Thdkurs, so the Thdkur demands service and dues from his kinsmen and other Rajput holders of lands in his estate ; and the Thdkur is en titled to the customary rents from all cultivators. Where a ruling Chief has become despotic, he has sometimes reduced the great Thakurs to mere assignees of land revenue, bound to do court service, but without any real political influence or civfl authority. On the western border of Rajputana is a peculiar tract called MaUani, within the territory of the Jodhpur Chief. It is possessed by a sept of the Rathor clan, which claims descent from the original stock of the whole clan by a line earUer and more direct that that of the Jodhpur Chief himseU; con sequently they have always claimed a sort of independence, and as the rule of equal division of inheritance is more or less in force within this particular sept, the whole country is parcelled out among family groups ; and there are no very great landhold ers. The Shekhawati sept of the Kachwdha clan, which in habits the northern districts of the Jaipur State, has been long in a simflar condition of debateable submission to the Jaipur Chief ; and here also the rule of equal division prevails, though a few great estates have been consolidated. The tenure of land is so intimately connected with the political constitution of a State, that the condition of these tracts may be thus far properly men tioned here. The political condition of the hilly tracts belonging to Meywar is rather complicated. These tracts are inhabited by Bhil tribes who are connected with the Oodipur State by differ ent relations. Some of them are directly under the State's government ; others are under the immediate jurisdiction of great Rajput nobles, whose lands they inhabit, while a third section is under its own Chiefs, whether pure Bhfl or of the half-blood, who pay tribute to Oodipur, but are very independ ent within their own domains. The actual administrative organisation of a Rajput State is usually of the simplest kind. Whatever central authority exists is in the hands of the Chief himself, who reserves final control over aU departments and judicial courts, and whose personal superintendence when he has a turn for government is felt every- ¦ where. He is usually assisted and advised by two or three prin cipal officials ; and in some States by a Prime Minister, real or nominal. Written laws are not made except where a code or a set of rules is adopted from the EngUsh system at the instance of EngUsh officers, but the customary rules are of some force, and general standing orders are issued, which are more or less ( 62 ) obeyed. The territory of a State is sub-divided into districts, to each of which an officer is appointed whose powers are generaUy plenary, though the revenue business is sometimes separate from the judicial in the best administrations, and sometimes the poUce are regularly organised, though more usually they are merely armed retainers. At each capital there is a jail, managed very well in some of the eastern States, elsewhere in a rudimentary condition, while in the more primitive States it is usual to release all convicts when the Chief is in extremis. In some of the States regular civil and criminal courts have been set up, which are mainly instruments of the executive, when it is efficient, and where the executive is inefficient the courts are no better. The indigenous judiciary of the coimtry, for the settlement of aU civil and a good many criminal cases, is the Panchdyat, or jury of arbitration — a system which has been maintained under British superintendence for adjusting criminal cases which cannot be decided by any one State. AU severe criminal sen tences must be confirmed by the Chief ; nor has any one else, even in the great estates, the power of Ufe or death ; indeed it is very rarely that any Hindu State formally executes a capital sentence upon a convicted criminal. Brigands and murderers are more often taken dead than alive. All matters in dispute be tween two States— claims for extradition of criminals, and the like — are decided by courts of arbitration, or referred to the British Government. The administrative business of a State usually falls into several different departments, which are under hereditary officials — '¦ a very important class, of which the members almost always belong to particular castes and families, rarely to a Rajput clan. In some States the highest office belongs by heritage -to a great kinsman of the Chief; though these offices are apt to become honorary, as they have become in Europe, and the real power gets into- the hands of very acute instruments of the Chief's good pleasure. It is often imprudent to place much authority in the hands of a leading noble ; nor are the Thakurs usually quaUfied for the transaction of affairs, while they would rather look down upon official duties unless accompanied by veiy substantial rank and influence. In fact, the condition of internal government in Rajputana much resembles what has passed in Europe : the ruler seeks to strengthen himself at the cost of the nobles; the' nobles are on the watch against the encroachments of the ruler ; and the officials are the astute men of business, the gens de la robe of Europe, expert in law and finance, whose aid in such times has always been so essential to the ruler. In the matter of probity the lower officials leave much to be desired ; their term of office depends ( 63 ) oh the Chief's caprice, and they are engaged in one incessant struggle for place with a number of other hereditary place-men. As the tendency of all office in Rajputana is to become heredi tary, and as the right of the children and relations of an official to be provided for in the pubUc service is universally recognised, the Chief is always surrounded by a crowd of qualified claimants. It is not uncommon to put them aU on a roster, giving each a turn ; and the late Chief of Marwar compared this system to the Persian wheel, which revolves with a ring of earthen pots, each of which is in its turn dipped into the well, and soon after emptied into the trough above. The latter part of the simile refers to the time-honoured practice of squeezing an official before his retire ment. Some of the official families are descended from persons of the writing or commercial caste, who accompanied the earUest emigration of the ruUng Chiefs into the country. The great estate-holders, called the Thdkurs, Uve most of the year in their forts within their own lands, and in the west they manage their own domains with little State interference, distri buting justice and collecting their taxes and rents. When some complainant has interest enough to get an appeal seriously taken up at head- quarters, or when some disorder or deed of notorious violence has created scandal, the ruling Chief interposes vigorous ly, though the matter is usuaUy settled by a fine or a present. Where the Thakurs are most independent they go Uttie to court, though there is usuaUy a fixed period when each man of rank is bound to attend on his Chief, and on great occasions they aU assemble. Where their separate status and power have been much reduced, they gravitate towards the level of privileged courtiers, whose places in the Chief's presence and at ceremonies are regulated by very minute etiquette. But a turbulent noble of the old school does not much enjoy a visit to court, where there are usually long outstanding accounts to settle -with astute officials ; he goes there well attended by kinsfolk, and fences himself in his town house, where he occasionally stood a siege in the last generation, and was sometimes murdered. It may be said that aU the internal disorders of Rajputana since 1818, which were serious and wide-spread up to recent years, have been caused entirely by disputes between the ruUng Chiefs and their nobles ; the Chiefs striving to always depress and break down the ¦power of their great kinsmen, the nobles being determined to restrict the strength of their ruler. The Maratha invasions and usurpations had much diminished the strength of the State's ruler ; on the other hand, the English supremacy is favourable to him, and the incUnation of an EngUsh government is naturaUy towards support of the central administration. Nor has the time ( 64 ) of armed resistance by nobles to their Chief yet passed away in the west and south-west, where a Thakur wfll stifl, if aggrieved, hold out as long as he can in the ancestral fort, and if the fort is made too hot for bim, take to the wilds with his kinsmen and become an outlaw and leader of banditti. UsuaUy these proceed ings end in compromise and reconciUation. The reUgious directors of a Chief are important personages, and have often played their part in politics, as in the case of the Ndths of Jodhpur in the first quarter of this century ; they are sometimes very rich and influential, particularly when they are also the head centres of a sect, or the guardians of a shrine, and they always receive the respect due to mysterious folk with whom no sensible person desires to quarrel. In the principal towns the commercial classes are strong, and have much influence in a country where every one is more or less in debt. The number of rich bankers and traduig firms having . their head-quarters m the northern cities of Jodhpur, Jaipur, Bikanir, and Jesulmer, is remarkably beyond proportion to the actual commerce or wealth of those States. But these towns were asylums and cities of refuge in, the deserts when the great commercial centres on the high roads of India were incessantly exposed to pfllage, and when even the imperial capitals, Agra and Delhi, were constantly swept by revolts and dynastic contests. The eighteenth century was the golden age of the Rajputana banker ; and it will be found that many of the best houses date from that period, having been founded by men who kept the military chests of a great predatory leader, or who advanced heavy loans at critical times. There has also always been a good deal of legi timate trade through these midland countries. As times change, the pecuUar conditions under which the monied classes prospered in Rajputana are fast disappearing, since political order has drawn back capital to its natural employment in the richer regions of India. The rural districts are peopled by the Rajput clansmen, who either cultivate on various tenures, or serve as retainers to the great landholders, and by miscellaneous peasantry who cultivate the soil. Some of these non- Raj put cultivators are substantial and prosperous, most of them are poor and in debt ; they have no distinct proprietary rights, but are virtually immovable where cultivators are in demand and land is plentiful. The petty money-lenders deal with the cultivators by a mfld prescriptive system of exploitation which, though it never exhausts the debtor entirely, keeps him in perpetual predial serfdom. There is a great want of capital ; and the State officials are sometimes very hard on the cultivator, who is better off in the feudatory estates ( 65 ) than upon the crown lands. Rajputana generally is in that economic stage when the capitalist does not acquire property in land, however much the proprietor may be in debt to him, but merely extracts what profits he can out of the actual possessor. AU the landed proprietors, high and low, borrow money up to the Umit of their credit ; yet the bankers are said not to own a single entire -village in the north-western tribal States— a remarkable contrast with the condition of British India. When a -Rajput landholder of rank is hopelessly in debt, the credi tors apply to his Chief, who sequestrates the estate and arranges with creditors for gradual Uquidation ; when a cultivator breaks down, the vfllage banker settles with the revenue coUector the terms upon which his produce shall be shared between all three. In the Rajput States proper the organised vfllage community of cultivators, so well known in other parts of India, can hardly be said to exist as an institution, though in Bhartpur andthe eastern States generally many tracts are occupied by strong cultivating tribes such as the Jdts or the Gujars, whose position is much better than in the west or the south. In the British district of Ajmer the administrative system has, of course, pro duced an exceptional state of society, to which this description does not apply; and one or two of the eastern States are adopting the British system of land revenue settlement. PART II. — POPULATION, PRINCIPAL TRIBES, CASTES, AND OTHER SUB-DIVISIONS. It is very difficult, of course, to give any concise account that shaU be faudy accurate of the divisions of the popula tions over a wide extent of country, and statistics are almost entirely wanting ; but the outline is something in the following way. In the Rajput States, the pure Rajput clans occupy the first rank, though by rigid precedence it would be taken by the Brahmins, who are numerous and influential. The Rajputs nowhere form a majority of the whole population in a State; they are strongest, numerically, in the northern States and in Meywar. With the Brahmins may be classed the peculiar and important caste of Chdrans or Bhdts, the keepers of secular tra dition and of the genealogies. Next in order would come the great mercantile castes, mostly belonging to the Jaina sect of Hinduism, some of them undoubtedly of Rajput extraction, though separated by difference of profession and worship from the clans. Then come the principal cultivating tribes, such as the Jdts and Gujars. After these may be mentioned the tribes of uncertain origin peculiar to Central India, who occupy the out- (' 60 y lying tracts and the skirts of the open country, of whom the Minas and Mers are the best specimens. Most of these clann irregular descent by the half-blood from Rajputs, while some of these mixed races are closely connected with the Bhfls, and they shade off, according as they are more or less settled down to cultivation and a quiet Ufe, from industrious agriculturists into predatory tribal communities. The Meos (now converts to Islam) the Mers, and the Minas, are evidently alUed species, whether by simflarity of origin and way of Ufe, or by remote descent from the same stock, is uncertam. Some reasons have been given for tracing the earUest habitations of the Minas and Mers to the Indus Valley and the Upper Punjab, and the Mers have been suspected to be a reUc of the Meds, an Indo-Scythian tribe that crossed into India from Central Asia.* Lastly, there are non- Aryan groups of pure Bhfls, inhabiting long stretches of wfld and hifly tracts, where they Uve almost independent, holding together under their own petty Chiefs and headmen, paying irregular tribute or rents to the Chief of the State, or to the Rajput landowner upon whose estate they may be settled. There are also, of course, a good number of Bhfls, as of aU other half -tamed tribes, who have mixed with the general population and are to be found scattered among the villages on the outskirts of the wild country. This outUne of the general composition of the population can only be filled up by specific descriptions very closely condensed ; for detailed accounts the separate Gazetteers must be consulted. Of the Rajput clans the most numerous and important are those represented by Chiefs actually ruling States, and there are many other fragments of clans scattered about, of which some contain only a few famiUes settled in Rajputana. Without entering into the genealogies of the clans, or attempting to make a fuU hst of them (Tod's Bajasthdn being an inexhaustible reference upon all these subjects), we may define a Rajput elan to be that group of Rajputs having a common clan name, which affirms common descent from one stock or one very distant ancestor, though the clan may have spUt off into various septs and branches, differ ently named. But so long as every sept and branch has preserved its pedigree, however remote, leading back to some Une of descent, however dim or insignificant, which sprang out of the original stem or root of the clan, the numbers of the group thus connect ed aU fall within one circle of affinity, and marriage between two of them is unlawful, because it would be incest. This is the social structure of the Rajput clans. In regard to their geographical • See Appendix to Elliot's Materials for the Mistort/ of India, Vol. I. ( 67 ) distribution; in the north-west, in the country of Marwar, Bikanir and Jesulmer, in the State of Kishengarh, and all about the cehtral district of Ajmer, the Rathors greatly predominate ; they are probably the most numerous of aU the clans: in Jesulmer the Bhattis rule.^ Then, in the north-east States is the Kachwdha clan, Very strong in Ulwar and in Jaipur ; some districts in the north Of Jaipur being altogether in the hands of the Shekhawat sept of the Kachtvdhas. The Chohans, once famous in the history of the north-west of India, are now most influential in the eastern States, where the Hdra sept has been long dominant ; and the DeoraS, another sept of the Chohans, stfll hold Sirohi, while the Khichis also belong to them. In the north-west the last trace of the ancient predominance of the Chohans at Delhi is to be found in the petty chiefship of Nimrdna, held by Chohans who claim descent from Prithi Rdj, and in the extreme north-west the Rao of Kusalgarh in Bdnswdra is the head of a Cbohan colony. All over Meywar and the north-west States of Raj putana below the Arvalis, the Sesodia predominates, the clan's head being the Mahardna of Oodipur, the eldest family of the purest blood of the whole Rajput tribe. AmOng other clans of high descent and historic celebrity which were once powerful, but hav6 now d-windled in numbers and have lost their dominion, may be named the Parihar, the Pramara, and the Solankhi. So much has necessarily been said of Rajput institutions in describing the poUtical constitution of the States, that the account of their social condition may be short. The clans are, of course, the aristocracy of the country; and as such they hold the land, to a very large extent, either as receivers of rent or as cultivators. By reason of their position as integral clans of pure descent, as a landed nobility, and as the kinsman of ruling Chiefs, they are also the aristocracy of India; and their social prestige may be mea sured by observing that there is hardly a tribe or clan (as distin guished from a caste) in all India which does not claim descent from, or irregular connection vdth, one of these Rajput stocks, and that every inferior tribe and famfly as it rises in the Indian world models its society more or less on the Rajput type and probably" assumes a Rajput clan name. The Rajput proper is very proud of his warUke reputation, and most punctiUous on points of etiquette, kno-v^ng the value of forms in keeping up substantial' rights in the matters of equaUty and frateridty.* The tradition of common ancestry has preserved among them the feeUng which' permits a pOoi' Rajput yeoman to hold himseU as good a gentle man as a powelrftil landholder of his own clan, and immeasurably * " Le gout des formes; fehoses eimemies de la servitude/' (tocijueville Ancierl ilegime.) ( 68 ) superior to a high official of the professional castes. In fact, to a Rajput, his genealogy is the essential characteristic of his position in life, and his kinship the supreme consideration: it determines his tenure of land, his rule of inheritance, and his marriage con nections. As a class, Rajputs live either by the rents of land, by cultivation, or by service; they rarely engage in commerce, except as guards of convoys, and they stifl in the west organise occasional plundering expeditions. In the disturbed times that preceded the EngUsh pacification of the country, they Uved very largely upon plunder, and upon the le-vy of black-mafl, and the disappearance of these resources -wifl have turned the present generation of Raj puts to cultivate more largely than their fathers did. The clans men very rarely took service in the native army of the EngUsh, though large contingents under their own Chiefs served the Moghal. They are very superstitious, but caste rules sit Ughtly on them, and they can use a Brahmin very unceremoniously; they are eaters of flesh, preferring goats to sheep, and wild, pig to everything ; they drink very strong spirits, and are great consumers of opium. The poorer Rajput is, of course, flUterate, . but the upper classes are not without education, and some of the Chiefs have always been patrons of Uterature and art. Over the greater part of Rajputana the succession to a landed estate of any importance goes by primogeniture, the younger brother ha-ving only a right to provision upon the lands. To this rule there are, however, two remarkable exceptions already men tioned — the custom of the Rathors of the Malldni country, and the custom of the Shekhawat sept of the Kachwdhas. And when there are several vfllages, with several brothers to be pro-vided for, the younger brothers often take arms to enforce something Uke equal division. Marriage plays so important a part, both in the poUtical and social systems of the Rajputs, that some brief description of it is essential. The invariable custom is, to use the term introduced by Mr. J. E. McLennan, that of exogamy, or the custom which prohibits intermarriage within the clan, so that every clan depends for wives upon the other clans ; for, of course, no Rajput can take a wife elsewhere than from Rajputs. Thus, a Rathor clansman^ for instance, could never wed a woman from the most distant sept that bears the Rathor name ; if he does, the chfldren are cer tainly not pure Rathor, whatever else they may become. The custom is very wide-spread and wefl known aU over Asia, but the Mahomedan law (of which the pecuUar effect is to break up the old tables of prohibited degrees) has so very largely obUterated it, that we now rarely find it so well exemplified as in Rajputana, where we can trace it directly and palpably back to its source in * ( 69 ) the assumption that the whole of a great clan scattered over half a dozen parts of a large country are kinsfolk, and that marriage between such kinsfolk is incest. Thus, whfle afl inheritance, po Utical or proprietary, goes through males exclusively, and while the mere bearing of the same clan-name is a complete bar to matrimony, on the other hand relationship through females gives no kind of claim whatever to inherit, and is no sort of bar to a marriage, except only that a man does not marry into his mother's famfly. His maternal aunt, for instance, he could not marry; his maternal cousin he could. Here, as wherever exogamy prevails, marriage by abduction of the bride flourishes uni versally in form, wherever it has decayed in fact ; and the ceremony may be witnessed in great perfection at any marriage in high Ufe, when the bridegroom arrives with his wedding band of armed kinsmen, who clash their arms and rush in with a shout upon the bride's party. It can be easily understood that exogamy has always operated to stimulate jealousies and heart burnings between clans, and to make the taking of a wife a stifl more troublesome and perilous business than in civflised life ; for it leaves the supply of wives in the hands of a neighbouring • clan, alw^ays jealous and often at open feud, who may suddenly refuse to give their daughters, as in the famous story of the -war between Israel and Benjamin. Disputes over brides and betroth als have been important in Rajput history. SociaUy, the custom makes marriage difficult by narrowing the field of selection, for a man cannot go very far among strange tribes to seek his -wife, nor a father to seek a husband, so that a poor man often does not marry at all, while a rich man of high birth is besieged with applications for his hand, in order that the stigma of an unmarried daughter may at least be formaUy removed. To tbis state of things may be traced in some degree the rarity of heirs in Rajputana, and it has a direct tendency to encourage poly gamy and female infanticide. There are in Rajputana many dis tinct castes who are of pure Rajput origin, but were detached by foUoAving a peculiar religious movement. When a Rajput turns aside after the new light sho-wn by one of the spiritural teachers who are incessantly arising in Hinduism, and completely adopts a new way of Ufe, he exchanges a tribe for a caste ; and it appears (though the subject is very obscure) that, whereas his tribal bond of consanguinity extended round his whole clan, in the caste his kinship is at once narrowed down to that section of the great caste group which was originaUy Rajput. The most famous sect in Rajputana holds within its pale no less than 1,444 distinct groups, aU apparently formed by this process of partial accretion inter marrying one with another, but never within themselves. In this ( 7a ) instance, so far as can be learnt, all this spreading reticulation of spiritual relationship has grown out of the teaching of a single revivaUst, who appeared only four centuries ago. There is also. in Rajputana a very curious fraternity of warUke devotees claim ing to be founded by a Rajput who seenas to have been a kind of fighting ascetic, disdaining any other garments save shield and sword-belt; and these men being vowed to strict celibacy, recruit their ranks by adoption, purchase, or abduction of chfldren. The orphanage of India for males is a religious order. The mercantile classes are strongest in the cities of the north, where are the homes of almost aU the petty bankers and traders who have spread over Central and Western India under the name of Marwarees. In the south the trade is more in the hands of the great firms which have their head- quarters in the Maratha capitals. Perhaps the Oswal section of the Jainas, which had its beginning in Rajputana, is the largest among the merchants, and many of the hereditary officials belong to the commercial castes. Of the cultivating tribes not belonging to pure Rajput clans, the principal are the Jdts and Gujars, north of the ArvaUs and along the borders towai;ds the Punjab and the Jumna from Bikanir round to Bhartpur and in Jaipur. In the north-west these people keep very large herds of cattle ; a rich viUage sometimes possesses thousands, and they also breed horses. The Jdts were very widely estabUshed aU over North-Western Rajputana when the now dominant clans began to set up their dominions in those parts in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and without doubt this country is one of their most ancient habitations. They are held to be an Indo-Scythian tribe from the Oxus which emigrated into the Upper Punjab and into Sinde very early. The conquest of those tracts by the Mahomedans probably forced some of the Jdts further eastward into less fertile regions. The Ahirs, Lodas, Kdchis, Mdlees, and Chumdrs also cultivate widely in the eastern districts ; and though the Rajputs could not be cafled an agricultural class, yet in some parts whole viUages of them till a great breadth of land; whereas in other parts the Rajput seldom holds the plough, though he takes the rent. South of the Arvalis we find the Kunbis and Sondias, immigrants from Central and Southern India ; the latter a tribe of mixed descent, once famous for depredations, now settled down to cultivation. And in the south-west corner we meet with the Kolis, so common in Guzerat. Although the agricultural classes are, for the most part, steeped m debt, nevertheless, their possession of the land gives them a status which ranks them further above the day labourer or me- cbanic than is now the case in British India. They regjard them- ( n ) selves as servants of the soil, and from the pi-oduee of the sofl only ¦will they deign to live. They share the actual produce of the land with the proprietor or with the State; they are consequently treated with consideration, and the general sense of joint-stock ownership in the land gives them a feeling of independence, and even of pride, that is not attached to tenure by money rents -with liability to e"viction on non-payment. The day labourers, on the other hand, are badly treated and regarded as drudges, often subjected to forced labour and under no protection. They have none of the independence or comfort which the class is rapidly gaining in British territory under an economical system, which affords plentiful employment to the working man, and constantly tends to produce an interchange of position between the culti vating and labouring classes. It may be worth mentioning that to a clan or caste is some times attached an impure species which goes by the name of Dussa, meaning ten, the words being numericaUy symbolic of a half-breed, the fuU blood being represented by the number twenty.* BTahmins, Rajputs, Bunyas, have aU Dussa branches. / The Musalmans are numerous in the north-eastern and the eastern States, and in Ajmer, where is one of the most famous Musalman saints in India. They are generally the descend ants of immigrants from other . parts of India who have sought service with the Chiefs or have engaged in commerce with these parts ; and the Mahomedans stfll hold important places among the chief officers of many Rajput States. In the pure Hindu States of the west and south-west they are rare,- perhaps rarest in Meywar ; but in Marwar they have been from time to time influential. But the special feature of Islamism in Rajputana is to be found in the clans or indigenous tribes who have been converted to the faith. These are most remark able, as may be guessed, in the districts near the weU-estab- lished centres of Musalman power and influence, in the State of Ulwar which Ues in the extreme north-east close to Delhi,- in all the country bordering the basin of the Jumna, and about Ajmer. In Ulwar and Norths Jaipur the Khdnzddahs are descendants of a group of famiUes, bearing that common denomi nation of uncertain origin, who were dominant in those districts^ during the sixteenth century ; their principal Chief fought on the Rajput side against Baber in 1528. The Kdimkhdnis are a clan of similar origin in the same neighbourhood ; the Meos are an indigenous tnbe, numerically very strong in Ulwar and Bhartpur; « Ten fingfers and ten; toes, all pure bred ? ( ^2 ) while the Merdts are the Musalman section of the singular tribe of Mers in Merwarra, near Ajmer. In the far west, toward the borders of Upper Sinde, are one or two tribes of Rajput descent which are strongly tinged with Mahomedanism, as the Sodhas. The peculiarity of these indigenous Musalman bodies is that, while the ritual of Islam has been more or less successfully imposed upon them, they have maintained in structure the social institutions of a Hindu clan or family, and that the tribes especiafly have continued to regulate their marriages, not by the law of Islam, but by theu' ancient rules of genealogy and con- sanguinity. Up to very recently, their worship was very polytheistic, and their primitive gods sur-vived under various disguises. One special element in the Rajputana population is that of the haU-blood tribes. They are so called in this brief account of the different classes of the people, because they themselves invariably claim descent from the pure Rajput clans by irregular marriages, and because their own society is framed on the model of the Rajput clan, whfle there is every probabflity that they really derive largely from a crossing between the Rajputs and the more primitive tribes whom the Rajputs overcame and superseded. As a body, however, these tribes seem to be mixed aggregations of all sorts of persons who have taken to an independent and predatory Ufe in the wilder part of the country. Of these tribes the most import ant is that of the Minas, who inhabit several distinct tracts in different parts of Rajputana, and are also found sparsely scattered among the population in the neighbourhood of these tracts. The earliest annals of the Rajput conquests are full of traditions of the cruel and unscrupulous extermination of the people whose country they seized by force or fraud ; and in the eastern States the places are stifl sho-wn where some Mina Chief made his last stand, or was decoyed into massacre by the Rajput hero who founded his clan's dominion. The tracts now occupied by the Minas in the interior of Rajputana are evidently the holds and fastnesses where they have found refuge; though in the north-east they hold open country, and are very strong in the northern part of Jaipur and Ulwar, where they are famous for organised robberies all over Northern India. They are found, indeed, in all the north-eastern States along the Jumna ; about 20,000 dweU in Bhartpur and Dholpur, and hereabout the mass of them are at least agriculturists, whfle throughout afl this country-side a certain section of the Minas have hereditary employ as guards or watchmen ; an occupation which indicates not so much trustworthiness, as a near acquaintance with robbers. The Minas of Jaipur and Ulwar reckon themselves superior to the ( 73 ) other groups of their tribe, neither intermarrying nor eating with them. This section of the tribe is, of course, sub-divided into gots or different stock famflies, of whom some claim descent from a cross between Minas and Brahmins ; the others mostly from a cross with Rajputs. In the Ulwar State alone there are 146 different gots of Minas. In Jaipur the M Inas are the hereditary guards of the State's Chief, and on every succession a Mina performs the ceremony of tika or investiture for the new Chief, which is a sort of conveyance of a title from the acknowledged predecessor. The same custom prevails in several other parts of India, and fllustrates the strong aversion of primitive races to anything like prescription, or the arbitrary cutting of a chain of transmission of rights. According to early ideas, every such claim must run back untfl it is lost in obscurity ; usually it goes back to some miraculous event or divine personage. The wilder Minas have then' special habitation in three par ticular tracts. Of these one is called the Kherdr, a rugged bit of country lying in the north-east corner of Meywar, about the town of Jehdzpur, and within the Biindi territory adjoining. They call themselves the Parihar Minas, claiming half-blood with the well-known Rajput Parihars, and it seems certain that they held this part of the country before the Rajputs. They are famous as savage and daring marauders. Zalim Singh of Kota carried fire and sword into their lands early in this century ; and in 1857-58 they committed great excesses, and were put down with much severity in 1860 by the Rajput Chiefs. They are, as might be guessed, lower in social standing than the Minas of the north and much less Hinduised. Eurther southward again, in the south east corner of the Meywar State, there is another stretch of hill country and jungle called the Chappan, running up to a little west of Nimach. It has been roughly described as a square, of which the corners are marked by the towns Oodipur, Dungarpur, Pertdb garh, and Nimach; and its high lands are studded with Mina villages, lying within the great estates of Meywar nobles, whose orders the Minas obey. The villages consist of scattered houses on the sides, or at the foot, of hflls ; the Minas have, for genera tions, wholly been given to robbery and general lawlessness ; the district which needed an armed force to bring it to order 50 years ago is stfll one of the most difficult and troublesome in Central India. Lastly, we have the Minas in the far south-west of Rajputana, who occupy the wild country in the north of the Sirohi State, and are intrenched among the inaccessible spurs of the Arvalis, who cultivate least and plunder most, maintaining incessant guerilla warfare with the State authorities, and who are at the lowest range of the social scale, caring little for caste rules ( 74 y and being ineligible for intermarriage with the other groups of Minas. They say that they originaUy followed some Rajput Chief into the south-west, where indeed they seem to be isolated among the real aborigines of that country. The Meos are here classed by conjecture among the half- bloods. They inhabit certain tracts in the north-east, and are thickest in the States of Ulwar and Bhartpur ; they are now Musalman, and appear to have been converted very early to Islam by reason of their contiguity to Delhi and the Maho medan borders. But they stfll retain a great deal of the primitive social institutions of their Hindu worship; they do not marry within their own got, or circle of affinity ; and they keep up their stock groups by descent. The tribe has an internal structure simflar to that of the Minas, to whom they seem to be aUied, and with whom they intermarried up to very recently ; some of the names of the Meo gots are fOund also among the Minas, though this may only indicate the mixed and irregular origin of both tribes from fortuitous collections of famiUes in the jungle. The Meos are now settled down to cultivation, the tracts which they inhabit having been long ago reduced to order. The Mers are another tribe of mixed origin, and therefor^ classed with the half-blood. They claim descent, as usual, from Rajputs, tracing back a lineage to Rajput Chiefs who took Mina girls to wife, and with the Minas they are evidently connected. Indeed, Colonel Tod classes some of their clans with the Minas. The country they inhabit, generally called Merwarra, is a narrow tract of hill country, about 100 miles in length and 15 or 20 miles broad, running from near Bedwar in Ajmer district south west between Meywar and Marwar as far as the neighbourhood of Kumalmer in Meywar. They appear to have held their own in this tract from time immemorial, though many attempts to sub due them are on record. They gave great trouble to the Maho medan governors of Ajmer, to the neighbouring Rajput Chiefs,. and to the Marathas who took the district towards the end of the last century, until they were subdued and settled down, not -vvithout some sharp skirmishes, by British officers about forty years ago. One section of the tribe, called Merdts, is nominally Musalman, its ancestors having been forcibly converted by the Delhi Em perors ; but this section keeps up many Hindu rites and customs, and tifl, within a few years back, the Mers and Merats intermar ried. The situation of Merwarra must have rendered it for generations a convenient refuge for all the outlaws and broken! men of the country round ; so that there is even more than usual^ probability of some solid foundation for the accounts given by several ckns of the: Mers of their descent from Rajput leaders,. ( 75 ) who had been defeated or otherwise forced to take to the hills^ and who there intermarried with the tribe. There is a widely spread tribe of professional thieves which is by origin evidently nothing but an association for the purpose of robbery, and as yet lays little claim to any common descent or original stock, though it is, in a loose way, a distinct tribe. These people are called Baorias north of the Arvalis, and Moghyas south of the range, but they are understood to be one tribe under two names. To the north they are found mostly in Marwar, and to the south they are most numerous in the country round Nimbahera and Nimach, where the territories of Tonk, Meywar, and GwaUor meet and are mixed up. Eormerly they were weU known as mercenary soldiers, bold, hardy and most licentious, and they took their share in the disorders at the beginning of this century. They eat aU kinds of flesh and drink liquor ; they appear to be merely an association of banditti that has got itself a common name ; but even these people pretend to a remote descent from Rajputs, and shape their internal society upon the model of a Rajput clan, having a multitude of sub divisions kept separate by the rule prohibiting marriage between two members of the same group, which is assumed to be a group of kinsfolk. Perhaps we may conjecture that aU these tribes which are classed as half-blood have for their main stock the descendants of some tribe that the Rajputs overcame, and -ndth which some of the Rajputs intermixed in the backwoods. But it also seems certain that the tribe's number has been constantly augmented by the admission of other stocks and famflies, which have from time to time been driven into the jungles by various causes, or have taken to a plundering Ufe. These different contingents have become amalgamated under the tribal name, which probably represent little more than an association of people brought together from various causes and chances, and kept together by the same needs and circumstances, by a common way of lifci and by inha^, biting the same tracts. The only tribe in Rajputana that may be termed aboriginal is that of the Bhils. There is not room here for a fuU description qf them, they extend down through Central India to the Narbada ; the northernmost limit of the country which they in.habit being marked roughly by the Arvalis. They are strong est and most independent in the hilly tracts into which the Ar- ¦vaU range spreads out over the south-west parts of Meywar and of Serohi. These tracts, called the BhU tracts, stretch from Serohi to Dungarpur, and are almost exclusively occupied by BhUsj though that particular" wilderness, eaUed the Bhdkar, consisting ( 76 ) of a succession of ranges of steep and rugged hflls which rise immediately south of Mount Aboo, is mainly possessed by the Grassias, who are hardly distinguishable from Bhils. The Bhils also hold, in considerable strength, all the woodlands and outlying hill country belonging to the States of Dungarpur, Pertdbgarh and Bdnswdra, and they are numerous further eastward in the Chappan, the wild tract (aheady mentioned) in the south-east corner of Meywar, close to Nimach. A line drawn from Aboo eastward to Oodipur town would run right through the Meywar hfll-tracts, which are said to contain 200,000 Bhils, divided into sixteen clans. This country is by nature exceedingly difficult and rugged, being a mere jungle of hifl ranges and narrow valleys, with hardly a road or a prac ticable pass through it ; and its inhabitants have always heen law less and independent. The Bhils in these tracts have some kind of political grouping under the Chiefs of Ogna, Panurwa, Jowra, Jowas, and other smaller heads, who claim to be of mixed descent from Rajputs and Bhils. These are the Bhumia Chiefs, who pay tribute to the Meywar State, and are the recognised heads of the pdls, or villages, within their territories; their relations to the Chief of the Meywar State have always been indistinct, and the EngUsh political officers exercise a kind of mediation between them and the Chief at Oodipur. One or two of these Bhumia Chiefs can turn out at need a formidable number of bowmen. But there are also sections of the Bhils who are called " Khalsa" tribes, holding their lands directly of the State, and being subject to no Bhumia Chief of their own brotherhood : and there are also, but more toward the south-east, a number of Bhfl viUages settled upon the estates of great Rajput nobles, whose jurisdic tion they own, and whose orders they usually obey. Again, in the wildest parts there are many powerful villages who own no immediate Chief or master whatever, though they may be nomin aUy subject to the State within whose territory they dwell. They live together in pdls, which appear to be large settlements or collections of hamlets, for a Bhil viUage is not compact, but a scattered series of isolated huts ; they usuaUy foUow the lead of some local headman or principal clansman ; and these pdls are, in the small States of Dungarpur, Bdnswdra or Pertabgarh, quite strong enough to defy the levies of the ruling Chief. In these States, and in the Meywar hflly tracts, and to some degree in the Chappan, the Bhils have for many years given much trouble by their claim to levy black-mafl throughout then- country and their inveterate habits of plundering ; while it was difficult either to pursue the Bhfl himself into his fastnesses, or to fix the iresponsibility upon the State to which he belonged territorially. ( 77 ) The expeditions sent under British officers against the Bhils rarely effected anything permanent, whfle the native governments were only strong enough to oppress and exasperate them, with out subduing them. In the course of time, however, matters have improved ; the Bhfls are now fairly pacified, and wiU be gradually reclaimed by careful management. So far as can be ascertained, the Bhfls are all sub-divided into a variety of clans, some based on a reputed common descent, others apparently huddled together as a group by simple con tiguity of habitation, or by the banding together of neighbours for plunder or self-defence. They worship a number of local deities, and they have a slight infusion of Hinduism in their ideas upon religion ; their dead are, in Meywar, usually burned ; their terror of witchcraft leads them into great cruelties. Their language is largely intermixed with the dialects prevaiUng in the nearest open countries. Whether they have anywhere preserved a separate tongue is not clear. The Bhils are not all in the wilds ; a great many have settled down to agriculture in the open country of Dungarpur and Bdns wdra, where they are industrious and orderly cultivators, and in Serohi, where they have mixed with the general viflage population. They are to be found in all the vfllages bordering on the hill tracts and jungles. It is very rare, however, that a -village community of Bhfls can be induced to dwell in the plain ; their immemorial habits stiU impel them to keep close to the edge of the jungle, and their villages are almost always backed by a hifl or piece of wold into which they can retreat. The Grassias who inhabit the Meywar hflly tracts and Serohi are now a distinct class or tribe under this denomination, separate from the BhUs, and ranking just above them in social order. They have their internal gots or circles of affinity upon the model of a regular clan ; and they seem to be half-breeds of some kind. They are most numerous in a tract called the Bhdkar, a very rugged bit of hill-country, lying over against Aboo to the east in the Serohi State. The word Grassia appears originally to have meant what it still means in Guzerat and Malwa, Chiefs or head men holding, by grant or prescription, the right to collect dues, usuaUy of the nature of black-mail, from certain viUages or upon certain lands or roads ; and the Grassia of South- West Rajputana is probably of mixed Rajput blood ; possibly in some cases he may indeed be a pure Rajput living in the backwoods. We may conjecture the title to have been extended to the original Grassia's folk and followers, that is, to his kinsfolk and retainers, perhaps also to the people who live on his land and are attached to him in various ways ; so that after this manner the word Grassia is (' 78 ) - "1 becoming applied to a separate set or group of persons associated, though it may be ordinarily taken to denote a half-blood between Bhfl and Rajput. Most of the intermediate tribal groups, be tween the pure Bhfl at the bottom of the social scale and the pure Rajput at the top, appear to have been formed largely upon the crosses of blood, upon degradations from the upper clan, and pro- motions from the lower tribe ; whfle of each group the name and specific habits must have been much determined by the accidents of its origin and the predominant needs of cfl-cumstance of its way of life and general environment. The disorder, distrust, and poverty which have been per petuated in the wilder parts of Rajputana by chronic misrule have detained these tribes in their primitive half -savage condition. Order is now being graduaUy extended to these outlying districts, wherever the native rulers become strong enough to be just and merciful, above the necessity of rack-renting and able to employ a better administrative agency. Ajmer-Merwarra, — A short notice of the population of Ajmer-Merwarra may be given here separately, as this is the only part of Rajputana regarding which we have accurate infor mation.* In the open country of Ajmer proper the people are mainly agricultural, the prevaUing classes being Jdts, Rajputs, and Gujars. The Rajputs wiU not hold the plough unless forced by hard necessity to do so, and where they cannot take land on privileged tenure, they are not usually anxious to cultivate. They are returned by a census taken in 1876 as numbering 14,558. It is a curious fact, illustrative of the great -vicissitudes of early times, that, though Ajmer was held "^^^ '¦ for over a thousand years by Chohans, there are no Chohans to be met with in the province. The Rahtors have occupied their place as the rifling tribe, and in numbers, wealth and power, greatly preponderate over the other Rajput clans who hold land in the district. These are three in number — Gor, Sesodia, and Kachwdha. The Gor Rajputs hold land in fourteen ¦vdllages. AU the talukdars of Ajmer, with the exception of the Thdkur of Manoharpur, the Thdkur of Sdwar and his relations, and the Chitas of Merwarra descent, who hold four viUages on istimrdr tenure, are Rahtors, and aU trace their descent from Seoji, the founder of the * Most of the foUowing aceouut of the tribes in Ajuaec is taken verbatim fiom a Gazetteer of Ajmer by Mr. J. D. LaTouche, C. S, (' 79 ) monarchy. Of the 109 bhiim holdings in the district, 83 are held by Rahtors, nearly all the younger sons and brothers of the istimrdrdars. The Rahtors of Ajmer have the same customs and characteristics as their brethren inMarwar. They are still warUke and indolent, and great consumers of opium. Each man carries at least a dagger, and, except imder extreme pressure, none wiU touch a plough. The pargana of Sdwar, at the south-eastern extremity of the Sesodias Ajmcr district, is held on istimrar tenure by Sesodia Rajputs, and the estate is a portion of a grant made by Jehangir to Gokal Das, who is said to have received 84 wounds in the service of the emperor. The Kachwdhas Rajputs, like the Sesodias, are to be found in the -villages adjoining their respective States of Jaipur and Oodipur, and hold bhAm in five vfllages. The Jdts were numbered at the census at 30,486. They, -with the Gujars, are the original culti vators of the soil, and considerably out number any other caste. Nearly the whole of the Ramsur par gana belongs to them. They are settled in Kekri, and in the best vfllages of the Ajmer and Rajgarh parganas. In the Bedwar tahsil they hold seven villages, chiefly in and about the old town of Bedwar adjoining the Ajmer district, for they never penetrated far into Merwarra, and are not to be found in the Todgarh tahsil. They are divided into three main famiUes — Puniyo, Seeshmo, and Harchitrdl ; but their gots are more than a hundred. As elsewhere, they are strong men and hard-working cultivators. They hold no revenue-free land nor any bhiiim ; they have in Ajmer double as much land as the Gujars, and pay three times as much revenue, partly, no doubt, owing to their having monopoUsed the best villages, but chiefly to their greater energy in making weUs and impro-ving their land. The Jdts w^orship a variety of gods, including Mdtd and Ma- hddeo, but the chief object of veneration egen o ejaji. ^^^ ^^ ^j^^ j^^ ^^ Marwar, Ajmer, and Kishengarh is Tejaji, a sort of legendary hero half deified, who died from snake-bite. The Jdts beUeve that if they are bitten by a snake and tie a thread round the right foot while repeating the name of Tejaji, the poison -wfll prove innocuous. There is a temple to Tejaji at Sarsara in Kishengarh, and a fair is held in July. Tejaji is always represented as a man oh horse back with a drawn sword, while a snake is biting his tongue. Nearly all Jats wear an amulet of silver with this device round their necks. ( 80 ) Among the Jdts, as among the Gujars, Mdlees, and aU the tribes of Merw^arra, widow-marriage is the Custom of «4iA^.^ ,• -i , were worked m former times, but were given up as they were found not to pay for the working. Iron is also found near Jhdj in Bidna, but the mines are not worked. No precious stones are found. Brick-clay, kankar, '&c,, abound, but the quarries only require to be noticed. The stone from the south of Bhartpur, kno-wn geologically "^ ™ ° ' as Upper Bhanver sandstone, has furnished materials for the most celebrated monuments of the Moghal dynasty at Agra, Delhi, and Eathepur Sikri ; it has also supplied Muttra, Dig, Bhartpur, &c. The quarries of Bdnsi Pahdrpur, in Eupbds, are the most celebrated. In Sambat 1922 (A.D. 1865-66), the only statistics available, the amount of stone taken from the quames was 136,920 maunds, and the duty Es. 6,846-15-9. The stone is of two varieties — one dark-red, generally speckled with yellowish-white spots ; sometimes the white is in streaks or large irregular patches. The other is yellowish-white, homoge neous both in colour and texture, and very fine-grained. These varieties are usually found in separate quarries. The red variety is inferior for architectural purposes to the white, o-wing to the irregularity of its colouring (this defect is evident in the Taj, where the effect is marred in consequence), also to the UabiUty of some specimens to disintegration from the effects of time, though others retain after three hundred years their carving almost as sharp as when fresh from the chisel : examples of both may be seen in Akbdr's palace at Eathepur Sfkri. The palace of Beerbul's daughter is the best specimen of this stone. The red. variety is remarkable for perfect paraUel lamination, on account of which, by the introduction of a series of wedges, it readily spUts into suitable flags, which are much used for roofs and floors ; but this quaUty diminishes its value in other respects. Experiments were made by Lieutenant Bofleau, b,.e., with singular results. He found that the strength of the red stone to the white, both being dry, was as 11 to 17 ; whereas the strength of the former to the latter in the wet state was as 11 to 9 — that is, the white lost nearly half its strength by saturation, whereas the red remained nearly the same, which would prove it pecuUarly adapted ( 136 ) for roofing. The mean breaking weight of slabs 4^' x 12" x 11", supports 4 feet apart, was — /Red . . . . 392 lbs. l*^'y • ¦ • Iwhite . . . . 575 „ w 4. (Red ... . 386 „ ^"^ ¦ ¦ i White . . . . 300 „ I am not aware that these experiments have been repeated. The yello-vidsh-white variety is remarkable for its fineness and uniformity of texture, allowing deUcate and elaborate -work, whfle, owing to the thickness of many of the beds in which it is found, it can be procured of great size : it is also uniform in its colour. The palaces at Dig, which are considered some of the most beautiful in India, testify to the excellence of this stone. The palace, the temple, and other structures in Bhartpur are also built of it, and the cenotaphs of the Bhartpur Mdhdrdjds at Gobardhan. There are two monoliths near Eupbds, which show the immense blocks these quarries yield ; they are of the red variety. One is a column 34' 6" long, -with an average diameter of 2' 11", the other parallelepiped 42' 6" x 5' 6" x 4' on an average. About two miles east of Eupbds, in the temple of Balda, there are three prostrate idols, respectively 28', 22', and 21' long ; one has a breadth of nearly 8', and all are monoliths. They are said to have been dug up near at hand, about seventy years ago, by a former chief of Bhartpur. Climate and Bainfall. — The only observations taken are the temperature of the air, and rainfaU, neither of which are rigorously accurate, as the in struments are imperfect, and the system of registration lax. ' The annexed table (page 138), sho-wingthe temperature and rainfaU, may be considered as giving only a fairly approximate idea. The mean temperature of the month is calculated from the mean of the shade maximum and minimum of the same day, which only gives it approximately. In temperate climates in the summer, the mean monthly error worfld be + 1*9° Eahr., and in the tropics the mean of the maximum and minimum is still farther from the truth ; but in this instance, this error is more than counterbalanced by others in the instruments, so that the actual average height of the temperature is probably not exaggerated. The coldest month is January, its average temperature being 63 "46° ; Eebruary is only 4° hotter ; the temperature then rises at the rate of 10° a month in March and Aprfl, and at the rate of 4° or 5° a month in May and June, when it attains its maximum, the average being 95*31°. There is then a fafl of 8° with the rains in July, and a stiU further faU of 3° or 4° in August. A sUght rise ( 137 ) of 1° takes place in September, and a f aU of 4° in October. During November and December the temperature faUs at the rate of 9° or 10° a month, till it attains its minimum in January. The ampUtude of the diurnal fluctuations is greatest in April, the mean of four years is 10*38° ; and least in July, 4*04°. The yearly average is 8*07° ; the mean amplitude of annual fluctuation in the same period is 31*85°; 63*46° in January, and 95*31° in June. Enormous undulations are occasionally caused by the hot winds from Edjptitandj but their extent has not been hitherto observed. As will be observed from, the table, the mean temperature of Bhartpur is high, 80*56°, especiaUy in the hot months, the mean of June for four years being 95*31°. Sometimes, for example in 1876, the mean of the month rises to 98°. This temperature can be accounted for by several reasons, — the geographical position of Bhartpur, the trifling amount of water, its low elevation above sea-level and the surrounding country, the bareness of the soil owing to the comparative absence of herbage, the exposure to the hot winds from the desert, and the nature of the soil, being usuaUy hard, dry clay mixed -with sand. The amount of vapour in the air varies considerably both with season and locality — in the hot weather the amount is very small, whereas after the rains, especially in the districts which are subject to an annual inundation, the humidity approaches a saturation. The depth of the sub-surface water varies from 13^ to 48 feet. The average of the wells in each of the parganas is as follows : — Bhartpur 33^ feet. Akhaigarh ....... 27 Pahari 16^ Kaman ....... 48 Dig m Wair . 48 Rudawul and Uchairi 13^ Average 31 feet. The water in most of the wells is brackish. statement showing the Mean Temperature, Mean Daily Range, and Rainfall of each month at Bhartpur, with totals and averages for four years ending 31 «^ May 1876. 1872. 1873. 1874. 1875. 1876. Average op 4 7EAB3. MOHIHS. §1 ¦t 1^ i ^1 il -£3 » ll ¦a §1 jj §1 si M b1 1 il i . . If . . II . . // o o // o o II o 0 // January ... 65-99 12-45 •0 69-45 9-10 -06 63-11 9-88 •36 65-29 8-78 63-4 9-92 -22 Febniaty 69-64 12-81 ... 64-66 9-96 •03 66-64 7-49 1-54 69-87 9-69 67-68 9-98 •39 March 78-32 11-16 ... 74-83 7-29 •46 83-66 9-49 78-93 8-45 •18 78-90 9-09 ¦IS April ... •*• ... 90-11 10-70 ... 86-28 10-16 88-69 9-73 ... 86-56 10-94 •10 87-66 W38 •02 May 91-69 9-71 174 92-98 7-78 •61 92-63 8-74 -36 94-09 8-32 -70 92-81 8-63 •85 June 93-66 6-80 •40 97-40 7-60 1-14 92-80 6-60 3-70 97-38 6-70 -22 ... ... 96-31 6-92 1'36 July 87-87 4-04 4-56 88-25 8-93 ' 18-93 87-06 4-13 7-35 90-09 4-07 4-37 ... ... 88-81 4-04 8-80 An^Bt 85-16 4-94 9-66 86-82 6-26 . 16-23 84-97 4-61 16-88 86-07 4-49 6-84 ... ... 85-76 4-82 U-89 September 87-31 717 2-46 87-09 8-83 7-69 85-98 4-90 3-27 86-04 4-43 10'52 ... 86-35 6-13 6-98 October 83-63 9-84 83-05 6'15 84-06 13-62 •10 79-08 8-36 ... ... 82-46 9-24 -oa November ... 73 -M 6-66 ... 71-22 10-10 ... 72-76 10-40 ... 74-09 9-67 ... ... 72-82 9-11 December 66-07 8-36 63-62 8'36 ¦10 62-44 9-78 ... 67-82 7-84 •77 ... ... 64-76 8-58 -21 Ybabiy Atbbase 82-27 6-82 ie'98 81-09 8-83 44-88 79-18 8-19 32-44 81-16 7-63 23-96 78-72 9-23 80-56 8'07 29-89 ( 139 ) No information with regard to the barometric pressure can be given, as previous to the present year there are no observations. The monsoon rains generaUy begin at the end of June or com mencement of July, and cease in September : the number of days on which rain falls sufficient to be registered is comparatively few.* The maximum number of inches in one day during four years is 5*4 inches. There is usually some rain^ — called mahdwat, from the month it usually comes in — less than 5 inches, in the end of December or the beginning of January, which is of great bene fit to the rabi ; and in May nearly 1 inch, called jeth-ka-dongra. According to the table, the average rainfall is 29*89 inches, but this average is said to be vitiated by the abnormally heavy fall in 1873. The average rainfall has been estimated at 22 inches, but without observations to support the assertion, though it has been ascer tained that the fall differs in different parts of the territory. The prevalent winds in the cold seasons are the east and north ; in the hot, the west and south ; and in the rains, the east and north. Most of the rain is said to come from the north-east ; and as this observation has been made in the other neighbouring parts of Edjputdnd, it is not probably due to any local cause, but to the fact that the rain which falls in Bhartpur comes up the Ganges Yalley from the Bay of Bengal, and that nothing of the monsoon from the Arabian Sea comes so far. Occasionally, as in the present year, the rain comes from the west, when there is great difference of temperature between the part of India adjacent to the Arabian Sea and the- upper part of Edjputdnd. It is to be regretted that no observations -with the dry and wet bulb, the barometer or anemometer, have been made, or any systematic record of the weather kept, as any account of the weather -without these is of little value. The popular belief in Bhart pur is that the climate is bad, -with the exception of the parganas of Bidna, Bhusdwar, and Akhaigarh ; which beUef is confirmed by experience ; and it would also theoretically be deduced from the description given of the topography, geology, and meteorology of the district that the cUmate was unhealthy. Most of the diseases attri buted to the cUmate, especially the large class to which the name of " malarious" is appUed, are common among the inhabitants ; and people from other locaUties are affected, first, with loss of appetite, lassitude, and depression, followed often by general debiUty. The most exhausting effects are felt when the great heat is continuous both night and day, especially as the air is highly rarified and the amount of oxygen consequently lessened, and respiration also is impaired. * Average number of rainy days per annum, 40. ( 140 ) CUmate may be defined as the sum of the influences of the sun on the water and soil of a place affecting health, and certain conditions of each of those factors are such in Bhartpur as to affect it unfavourably. The chief of these conditions are the f oUo-wing : — The mean temperature is sho-wn to be very high, especially taking into consideration the considerable annual fluctuation, and its being subject to undulations. The air, with regard to humidity, has a ten dency to extremes, and is impure from malaria. The quaUty of the water is generally very inferior, containing much saline impurities, principally sodium salts, also those of calcium, magnesium, -with occasional iron and siUca, and often much organic matter : the soUds in a gallon vary from 20 to 120 grains. The conformation and elevation of the soil are unfavourable, it being fiat and low, whfle, o-wing to its mechanical structure, the absorption of heat is great and the radiation slow, especially as there is Uttie herbage ; and its chemical composition affects the water and produces malaria. A considerable area of Bhartpur exactly represents one type of a malarious country — a low-lying, alluvial soil, with strata of sandy impermeable clay, or sand -with an imperme able clay sub-soil, organic impurities, a high temperature, and an annual inundation when the water neither drains off nor is absorbed. Much improvement is possible by drainage and attend ing to hygiene, the latter being even more needed where putrescence is so favoured by the high temperature and humidity in and after the rainy season, when a great percentage of the popu lation suffers from fevers, which are followed by their usual train of effects in other seasons. Bivers. — The State is poorly supplied with rivers, none of them being navigable or even perennial. The principal are the Bdn- gangd or Utangan, the Eupdrel, the Gambhir, and the Kakand. The Bdngangd rises in Jaipur, and flows through Bhartpur jg,^ ^^ ^ from west to east. Its point of exit is near the village of Moroli in Eiipbds, where it helps to form the boundary between Bhartpur and Agra. It receives no tributary of importance, except the Gambhir, which joins it from the southern bank near Kurkd, in Eupbds pargana. It enters Bhartpur near Kumdlpur, in Bhusdwar. The banks are low, in consequence of which it does considerable damage occasionally by overflo-wing and carrying sand over the land. The bed is shallow and sandy, and of considerable width in some placed. It forms several islands in the rains, and leaves a large sandy track in the dry weather. This river formerly flowed through a gap in the range of hills which runs down through Eupbds, but now turns their left flank. ( 14^1 ) The Eupdrel rises in Alwar and enters Bhartpur territory jj^ ,^^j near the village of Sikri, in Gopalgarh ^^°''^* ' pargana. Shortly after entering, it is held up by the Sikri bund, by which the water is distributed in two directions: one goes north-east, towards Gopalgarh,Pahdri,Kandld, and Kdmdn ; and the other south-east, towards Dig, Kumbhir, and Bhartpur. The north-east division terminates in the Kdmdn Valley, from which there is no exit ; so that in years of heavy floods the country is inundated from Pahdrl to Kdmdn, and even extends occasionally into the Muttra district. The south-east division passes through the Kho Dher near Dig, and after that through a succession of other jhils into the Moti Jhil bund at Bhartpur, and finally into the Orin Nadi, which is a tributary of the Khdri, and the Khari finally runs into the Bdngangd, in the Agra district. The Gambhir rises in Jaipur and reaches Bhartpur territory on the south-west extremity of Bidna ^™ ' pargana, where for some distance it forms the boundary between Bhartpur and Jaipur ; it then turns and flows in a general north-west direction through Bidna pargana, and joins the Bdngangd in Uchain, having received the Kdkand on its right bank, about eight miles from its junction with the Banganga. The valley of the Gambhir is highly cultivated. It separates the Bidna hills, which are of different formations on each side, as described under " Geology." The Kdkand rises in Karauli and enters Bhartpur on the „ , southern border of Bidna. At first its Kakand. . 1 n j_ p i . i course is over a rocky plateau, from which it descends by a series of falls near the village of Gddha ; it then runs through a basin surrounded with hills, the drainage of which it collects, and from which it emerges near Bdraithd, and, flo-wing in a northerly direction, joins the Gambhir. Both these rivers are subject to sudden rises, but are generally fordable. History.* — The founder of the present ruling house in Bhartpur was a Jdt landholder, by name Ohiird-man, who built two petty forts in the -villages of Thun and Sinsiniwdr,t a little south of Dig, from which he organized marauding expeditions, and even ventured to harass the rear of the imperial army on the occasion of Aurangzeb's expedition into the Dekhan. According to the Siyar -ul-Mutdkhirin, during the struggle between Aurangzeb's sons, Azam and Muazzam, Churd-man beset the camp of the latter for the purpose of plunder. * Much of the historical sketch -which follows has been taken from a memoir on the Muttra District, by Mr. P. Growse, C.S. -f- From this place the Bhartpur Raja's family derives its name of Sinsinwar. ( 142 ) A little later, Jai Singh of Amber was commissioned by the two Sayyids, then in power at Delhi, to reduce the Jdt freebooters. He invested their two strongholds, but could not succeed in making any impression upon them, and accordingly retired ; only, however, to return almost immediately, this time bringing with him a larger army, and also a local informant in the person of Badan Singh, a younger brother of Ohiird-man, who, in conse quence of some family feud, had been placed in confinement, from which he had contrived to escape and make his way to Jaipur. Thiinwas then (1712 A.D.) again invested, and, after a siege of six months, taken, and its fortifications demoUshed. Chlira-man and his son, Muhkam, fled the country, and Badan Singh was formaUy proclaimed at Dig as leader of the Jdts, -with the title of Thdkur. Eor some years before his death, Thakur Badan Singh had retired altogether from public Ufe. To one of his younger sons, by name Pratdp Singh,* he had specially assigned the newly erected fort at Wair, south-west of Bhartpur, with the adjoining district ; while the remainder of the Jdt principaUty was administered by his eldest son, Siiraj Mal. On his father's death, Straj Mal assumed the title of Edjd, and fixed his capital at Bhartpur, from which place he had ejected the previous governor, a kinsman by name Khema, whom he kiUed in a night attack on the smaU mud fort which then existed. Siiraj Mal then built another much larger fort. Even at the commencement of his rule he had achieved a conspicuous position, since, in 1748, we find him accepting the invitation of the Emperor Ahmad Shdh to join -with Holkar, under the general command of the Vazir Safdar Jang, in suppressing the revolt of the Eohfllas. In the subsequent dis pute that arose between Safdar Jang and Ghdzi-ud-din, the grand son of the old Nizdm, the former broke out into open rebelUon and called in the assistance of the Jdts, while his rival had recourse to the Marathas. Safdar, seeing the coaUtion against him too strong, withdrew to his viceroyalty of Oudh, leaving Siiraj Mal to bear alone the brunt of the battle. Bhartpur was besieged, but had not been invested many days when Ghazi-ud-din, suspecting a secret understanding between his nominal allies, the Marathas, and the emperor, discontinued his operations against the Jdts, and retumed hastily to Delhi, where he deposed Ahmad Shdh, and raised Alamgir II to the throne in his stead. This was in 1754. Three years later, when the army of Ahmad Shdh Durdni, from Kandahar, appeared before Delhi, Ghdzi-ud-din, by whose indis cretion the invasion had been provoked, was admitted to pardon in consideration of the heavy tribute which he undertook to coUect from the Doab. Sardar Jahdn Khan was despatched on a *T-wo other sons were named Soblia Earn and Bi'r Narajan. ( 143 ) like errand into the Jdt territory ; but finding Utile to be gained there, as the entire populace had withdrawn into their numerous petty fortresses, and his foraging parties were cut off by their sudden sallies, he fell back upon the city of Muttra, which he not only plundered of all its wealth, but further visited with a wholesale massacre of the inhabitants. In the second invasion of the Durdni, consequent upon the assassination of the Emperor Alamgir II in 1759, the infamous Ghazi-ud-din again re-appeared at the gates of Bhartpur ; this time, not with a hostile army, but as a suppUant for protection. In the -winter of 1759-60 Ahmad Shdh came sweeping down a second time through the north western passes into the Punjab, and drove the Maratha officers out of that province without a struggle, defeated the armies of Holkar and Sindia, and cleared the Marathas out of the country round Delhi down to the neighbourhood of Agra. To repair these misfortunes, the Peshwa sent a large army up from the Dekhan, which was joined by a strong contingent from Bhartpur under Siiraj Mal ; but the Jdt chief firmly opposed the Maratha plan of fighting a pitched battle against Ahmad Shdh, advising a loose skirmishing warfare, and the cutting- off of supplies. The Maratha commander, however, gave Siiraj Mal to understand that petty chiefs of his caUbre knew nothing about war on a grand scale, so the Jdt chief, foreseeing the result of such strategy, departed one night with great speed and secresy, withdrawing his whole force of some 30,000 men. After the defeat of the Marathas he feU unexpectedly on Agra, turned out the Maratha^ governor, and made it his own residence. Meanwhile Shah Alam was recognized by the Durdni as the rightful heir to the throne, but continued to hold his poor semblance of a court at Allahabad ; and at Delhi his son Mirza Jawdn Bakht was placed in 'nominal charge of the government under the active protectorate of the Eohflla, Najib- ud-daula. With this administrator of imperial power, Suraj Mal, emboldened by past success, now essayed to try his strength. He put forth a claim to the faujddrship of Farakhnagar ; and when the envoy, sent from Delhi to confer with him on the sub ject, demurred to the transfer, he dismissed him most uncere moniously, and at once advanced with an army to Shdhdara on the Hindaun, only six miles from the capital. Here, in bravado, he was amusing himseU in the cliase, accompanied by only his personal retinue, when he was surprised by a flying squadron of the enemy and slain. His army, coming leisurely up behind under the command of his son Jawdhir Singh, was charged by the Moghals, bearing the head of Siiraj Mal on a horseman's lance as their standard — the first indication to the son of his father's death. The shock was too much for the Jdts, who were put to flight, but ( 144 ) still continued for three months hovering about Dellu in concert with Holkar. This was in 1764. In spite of this temporary discomfiture, the Jdts were now at the zenith of their power ; and Jawdhir had not been a year on the throne when he resolved to provoke a quarrel -with the Eaja of Jaipur. Accordingly, without any previous intimation, he marched his troops through Jaipur territory with the ostensible design of visiting the holy lake of Pusbkara. There his vanity was gratified by the sovereign of Marwar, Edjd Bijay Singh, who met him on terms of brotherly equality ; but he received warning from Jaipur that if he passed through Amber territory on his return, it would be considered a hostile aggression. As this was no more than he expected, he paid no regard to the caution. A desperate conflict ensued (1765) on his homeward route, which resulted in the victory of the Kachhwdhas, but a victory accompanied with the death of almost every chieftain of note. Soon after, Jawdhir Singh was murdered at Agra, at the instiga tion, as is supposed, of the Jaipur Edjd. Siiraj Mal had left four sons, viz., Jawdhir Singh, Eatn Singh, Naval Singh, and Eanjit Singh ; and also an adopted son, Hardeva Bakhsh, whom he is said to have picked up in the woods one day when hunting. On the death of Jawdhir, Eatn succeeded ; but his rule was of very short duration. A pretended alchemist from Brinddban had obtained large sums of money from the credulous prince to prepare a process for the transmutation of the meaner metals into gold. When the day for the crucial experiment arrived and detection had become inevitable, he assassinated his victim and fled. His brother Naval Singh succeeded, nominally as guardian for his infant nephew Kesa'ri, but virtually as Edjd. The Marathas had now (1768) recovered from the disastrous battle of Pdnipat, and re-asserting their old claim to tribute, invaded first Jaipur, and then Bhartpur, and mulcted both territories in a very consi derable sum. They then entered into an understanding with the Delhi Government, which resulted in the restoration of Shah Alam to his ancestral capital. But as the only line of poUcy which they consistently maintained was the fomentation of perpe tual quarrels, by which the strength of all parties in the State might be exhausted, they never remained long faithful to one side ; and in the year 1772 we find them fighting with the Jdts against the imperiaUsts. Naval Singh, or, according to some accounts, his brother and successor, Eanjit Singh, laid claim to the fort of Ballabhgarh, held by another Jdt chieftain. The latter appUed to Delhi for help, and a force was despatched for his relief ; but it was too weak to resist the combined armies of Sindia and ( 145 ) Bhartpur, and was driven back in disorder. The Marathas then pushed on to Delhi, but finding the commander-in-chief, Niydz Khdn, ready to receive them, they, -with incomparable versatiUty, at once made terms "with him, and even joined him in an expedi tion to Eohilkhand. Meanwhile, the Jdts, thus lightly deserted, espoused the cause of Najaf's unsuccessful rival, Zdbita Khdn. But this was a most ill-judged move on their part : not only were their troops repulsed before Delhi, but their garrison was also ejected from. Agra,* which they had held for the last thirteen years since its occupation by Siiraj Mal after the battle of Pdnipat in 1761. From Agra the Vazir Najaf Khdn hastily returned in the direc tion of the capital, and found Eanjit Singh and the Jdts encamped near Hodal. Dislodged from this position, they fell back upon Kotbah and Kosi, which they occupied for nearly a fortnight, and then finally withdrew towards Dig ; but at Barsdna were over taken by the Vazir and a pitched battle ensued. The Jdt infan try, 5,000 strong, were commanded by Sumroo, or, to give him his proper name, Walter Eeinhard, an adventurer who had first taken service under Eanjit's father, Siiraj Mal. The ranks of the imperialists were broken by his gallant attack, and the Jdts, feeUng assured of victory, were folio-wing in reckless disorder, when the enemy ralUed from their sudden panic, turned upon their pursuers, who were too scattered to offer any solid resistance, and effectually routed them. They contrived, however, to secure a retreat to Dig, while the town of Barsdna, which was then a very wealthy place, was given over to plunder, and several of the stately mansions recently erected almost destroyed in the search for hidden treasure. Dig was not reduced tifl March of the fol lowing year (1776), the garrison escaping to the neighbouring castle of Kumbhir. The whole of the country also was reduced to subjec tion, and it was only at the intercession of the Edni Kishori, the widow of Siiraj Mal, that the conqueror allowed Eanjit Singh to retain the fort of Bhartpur with an extent of territory^ yielding an annual income of nine lakhs. After the death of Najaf Khdn in 1782, Sindia seized all Eanjit Singh's territories, including Bhartpur ; but again the -widow interceded in her son's behaU, and Sindia restored eleven districts, yielding ten lakhs, to which three more, yielding four lakhs, were subsequently added for services rendered to General Perron. When the Marathas under Sindia failed in their attempts to lay Jaipur under heavy contribution, and had got into difficulties at Lalsot, they fell back upon the Jdts, and secured the alUance of Eanjit Singh by the restoration of Dig, which had been held by the emperor since its capture by Najaf Khdn in 1776, and the * The commander of the Jat garrison in Agra was Dan Sahay, brother-iu-law of Naval Singh. ( 146 ) cession of eleven parganas, yielding a revenue of ten lakhs of rupees. The main object of the new alUes was to raise the siege of Agra, which was then being invested by Ismafl Beg, the imperial captain, in concert with Zdbita Khan's son, the infamous Ghuldm Kddir. In a battle that took place near Eathepur Sikrl, the Jdts and Marathas met a repulse, and were driven back upon Bhartpur ; but later in the same year, 1788, being reinforced by troops from the Dekhan under Eana Khan, a brother of the officer in command of the besieged garrison, they finally raised the blockade, and the province of Agra again acknowledged Sindia as its master. On the termination of the Maratha war in 1803, the British Government concluded a treaty with Eanjit Singh, who, with 5,000 horse, had joined General Lake at Agra, and thereby contributed to Sindia's defeat. In return for this service he received a grant of the districts of Kishangarh, Kattdwa, Eewari, Gokul, and Sahdr. Nevertheless, the Edjd of Bhartpur, while in alliance by treaty with the EngUsh Government, en-tered into secret correspondence -with Jeswant Edo Holkar, who was then at war -with the EngUsh, and afforded him every kind of encouragement and support. At the battle of Dig in November 1804, the Bhartpur troops, which the Edjd declared to have been assembled for co-operation with the British, were actuaUy engaged against them, and the fort opened a damaging fire upon the British army. After the battle of Dig, Holkar took refuge in the Bhartpur fort, and all the resources of the State were openly employed on his side of the war. The Bhartpur fort was thereupon besieged. Eanjit made a memorable defence, and repeUed four assaults -with a loss to the besiegers of 3,000 men, but finally made overtures for peace, which were accepted on the 4th of May 1805. A new treaty was concluded, by which he agreed to pay an indemnity of twenty lakhs of rupees, seven of which were subsequently remitted, and was guaranteed in the territories which he held previously to the accession of the British Government. The parganas granted to him in 1803 were resumed. Eanjit died that same year, leaving four.sons — Eandhir, Bdla- deva, Harideva, and Lachhman. He was succeeded by the eldest, Eandhir, who died in 1823, leaving the throne to his brother, Bdladeva.* After a reign of about eighteen months he died, leaving a son, Balavant, then six years of age. He was recognized by the British Government, but his cousin, Durjan Sdl, who had also advanced claims to the succession on Eandhir's death, rose up against him, and had him cast into prison. Sir David Ochterlony, the Eesident at Delhi, promptly moved out a force in support of the rightful heir, but their march was stopped by a peremptory * Eandhir Singh and Bdladeva Singh are commemorated by two handsome chatrU on the margin of the Manasi Ganga at Gobardhan. ( 147 ) order from Lord Amherst, who, in accordance with the first policy of non-interference which wasthen in vogue, considered that the recognition of the heir-apparent during the Ufe of his father did not impose on the Government any obUgation to maintain him by arms. Nevertheless, when the disputed succession threatened a protracted war, the Governor- General reluctantly confirmed the representations of Sir Charles Metcalfe, and consented to the deposition of the usurper. After a siege that extended over nearly six weeks, Bhartpur was stormed by Lord Combermere on the 18th of January 1826. Durjan Sdl was taken prisoner to Allaha bad, and the young Mahdrdjd estabUshed on the throne under the regency of his mother, and the superintendence of a PoUtical Agent. He died in 1853, and was succeeded by his only son, Jeswant Singh, the present sovereign, who enjoys a revenue of about Rs. 21,00,000, derived from a territory of 1,974 square mfles in extent, -with a population of 650,000 souls. Form of Government. — The form of government is that usually found in Native States — a kind of a modified absolute monarchy limited only by public opinion, lay and religious ; by custom ; and by the power of interference held in reserve by the paramount Empire. The gadi is hereditary in the family of the present Mahardja, who has received a sanad of adoption. His State is in offensive and defensive alliance with the Imperial Government. He is entitled to a salute of 17 guns. Beshinder Sawai Jeswant Singh Bahddur, Bahddur Jang, Mahdrdjd of Bhartpur, son of Mahdrdjd Balwant Singh, is twenty- four years of age, having been born in 1852. His father died leaving him a minor at the age of two, and, untfl his assumption of full powers on becoming of age in 1869, the State was managed by a Council of Eegency and the PoUtical Agent. His Highness married the daughter of the Maharaja of Patiald, who died in 1870. There are two children fl-ving — one, the heir-apparent (or Kumar ji, from the Sanskrit kunar, " a son") named Eam Singh, is over four years old ; the other, a daughter, three months old. The pargana of Bhartpur called Deorhi is set apart for the zenana : the income is over two lakhs. The following festivals are observed by the State : — Dasera Asouj, Basant Panchami Magh, HoU Diij Chait Badi, and Tij Sanwan Sudi. The Dasera and Diij darbdrs are held in the Phulbari, that of Basant Panchami at the Jawdhir Burj, and of Tij in the Kacheri. Some of the Sirdars receive dresses of honour on the occasion of .these festivals. On Dasera the chief goes to the akhad in procession, and reviews the troops ; at Basant aU wear yellow costumes dotted with red ; and at the Tij, scarlet. There ai*e estabUshments for the kitchen, illuminating, and ( 148 ) camp ; but they require no notice. A small menagerie is kept with a few animals. The toshakhana is particularly rich in jewels, weapons, cloths and shawls, and trappings. Formerly there were three studs — at Bhartpur, Kumbhir, and Bidna ; the brood-mares were kept at Kumbhir, the colts and filUes at Bidna, the cUmate of which is suited for their growth, and, when fit to train, they were sent to Sewar. Now the brood-mares also are kept at Bidna, where new buildings have been erected. The stables at Sewar contain a large number of horses, mostly country- breds. The Mahdrdjd has got a good private library of the standard British works ; there is also a smaU one in the palace, including an old and valuable copy of the Ain-i-Akbdri ; and some important Sanskrit manuscripts are said to be in the tosha khana. Six ghannas or preserves are kept up — four at Bhart pur, one at Dig, and one at Eupbds — with a number of rangers ; the game found consists of black buck, pig, hares, and nilgai, which are numerous, but are forbidden to be shot on religious principles. No large wild animals are found, except numbers of cattle, which, from reUgious motives, have been turned loose, and are now wild. The small game found consists of ducks in great numbers and variety, black partridges, snipe, and quafl. Aristocracy and Official Classes. — No distinction can be made between the aristocracy and official classes in Bhartpur. As shown under the heading "Land Eevenue," the amount of jdgir is comparatively very smafl. An approach to a feudal system, which is common in the other States of Eajpdtdnd, does not obtain in Bhartpur. The jdgirddrs who exist have no legal jurisdic tion in their estates, and pay no tribute or ser-nce for them. The officials constitute the aristocracy, and if they lose their appoint ments or die, they, or their famiUes if the son does not succeed, sink into obUvion and mediocrity, as they generally have no estates on which to support their position. Many famiUes of former officials are in this state now. Appointments, as a rule, are not hereditary ; the son does not succeed the father, unless he is suitable, or obtains favour with the chief through interest or other-wise. In the Bhartpur State there is no aristocracy of birth and Uneage corresponding with the dominant clan famiUes of a Edjput State. The relations of the Mahdrdjd are caUed Thdkurs; but, apart from this kinship, they are not considerable either by wealth or independent rank. The most important among them is Thdkur Gangdbaksh Ndmwala, grand-uncle to the Mahdrdjd, and being next to his cousin Eao Ajit Singh, his nearest rela tion, is treated with the utmost respect. His jdgir is worth Es. 5,618-12 ; the remainder, about sixteen or seventeen in number, have 27i villages, with an aggregate income of Es. 41,223. ( 149 ) All the Sirdars entitled to utr and pdn at darbdrs, with the exception of Faujddr Daulat Singh and a few others, hold official appointments. Faujddr Daulat Singh represents one of the oldest families, and is the first Sirdar in Bhartpur. He has the jdgir of Ballabhgarh, which was conferred by Jaipur when Bhart pur formed part of the State : it is by far the largest in the State, having an area of 22*93 square miles, or 36,688 bighas, which, at the average of Ee. 1-3 per bigha, has a revenue of Es. 43,554-6 per annum. The remainder of aU the jdgirs have a total revenue of only Es. 86,299-2. Agriculture, Land Bevenue and Tenures, Proprietary and Cultivating Classes. — With the exception of some trifling culti vation on the plateau of the Ddng, spoken of under " Mountains," and in some of the other hills, all the cultivated land of Bhartpur is low, and, provided it is not covered with water, the very lowest yields the best and most valuable crops. The soil of this State varies from heavy clayey to Ught sandy : the former is the most usual, and generally of great depth. The sand is found only on the surface, or disposed in thin strata alternating -with clay. IJntil saturated by the rains, the soil is hard, dry and cohesive, the clay (siUcate of alumina) being associated with stiff marl (Ume and clay) . Soils are locally di-nded, with reference to irrigation, into chdhi and bardni (irrigated and unirrigated) ; with regard to quality, into chiknot, bhur, and debr (rich, poor, and moist) : the latter is low land, on which water Ues for a great part of the year : and -with reference to the crops it produces, into kharif and rabi. Mewat, Bhartpur, Uchain and Euddwal have the best land, while Dig has the poorest. Eor average rent see " Land Tenures." The exact amount of each kind of sofl it is impossible to determine, but the chiknot and dehr are of much less area than the others. Agriculture is in a backward state, but pro bably not worse than in the neighbouring parts. No means are taken to improve either the land or crops, except by desultory irrigation; no manure is used as a rule; the implements are very primitive and indifferent. The tfllage only scratches the surface of the ground, so that the humus is very shallow. Eotation of crops is not understood, and the seed is not improved by importation or change. The sheep and cattle are both small and badly bred ; the good bullocks met -with are imported, the district not being naturally adapted as a cattle-producing country. The implements and tools in use are — the hat or plough, of the usual national pattern ; the mej, used Uke a harrow for levelling the ground and breaking clods ; the phaora, a sort of broad hoe, ( 150 ) which is used instead of both spade and shovel. There are also rude wooden attempts at forks called jeria. Transporting the produce is done either by manual labour or by a class of Musalmdn porters called palledars or hammdls, or by carts caUed chakra or tanga, which are of a fair size, rather substantial and suitable, and drawn by bullocks. Only one crop, either the rabi or kharif, is taken off the land in the year : after the crop is raised the land Ues fallow till the next year. The only exception are small patches of rich land {gonda) in the vicinity of -villages and wells, which, owing to irrigation and manure, yield an intermediate crop of vegetables. The principal crops grown are — (1) Cereals — wheat, barley, rice, bajra, jowdr, Indian-corn. (2) Pulses — gram, arhar, mung, urid, moth, cho-wnla, masur. (3) Fibres — cotton, flax. (4) Miscellaneous — sugarcane, poppy, tobacco, tfl, kangni, sarsoo. The light and inferior soils, as a rule, yield the kharif crop, which is so-wn in June or July with the first fall of rain, and consists of the following : bajra, jowdr, til, miing, urid, moth, makai, arhar, chownla, kangni, sawan, gowar and mandiia, rice, cotton, and sugarcane : the three latter requiring good soil. Eice is not sown to any extent, and sawan springs up naturally ; jowdr, bajra, and urid are the principal kharif crops, and on these the lower classes depend for their sustenance. The ground is ploughed up with the hat, and the ploughman scatters the seed as he proceeds. No manure is used. When the plant is a foot high, it is weeded — once for jowdr, twice for the other crops. About the end of September the corn is ripe, and, when dry, is reaped, and stacked on the threshing-floor or khalian, where it is threshed out by oxen treading it, or, when the quantity is small, the kison threshes it with, a stick. Sugarcane is cultivated to a consider able extent, especially in the Eupbds pargana, and molasses manufactured. Cotton is sown principally in Bidna, Akhaigarh, and Bhusdwar. Parts which enjoy comparative security from inundation are those generally favourable to the growth of the plant. It is sown in a rich, hard, clayey soil in the months of April and June ; the first sowings are watered by wells and yield a spare crop ; the latter depend on rain. The pickings take place in October, and are over by the end of the year. The gross produce of the State may be estimated at 150,000 maunds of raw cotton, or 50,000 bales, a bale being equal to three maunds. Of this, one-third is probably the valued commercial staple. Calculating at 5 maunds per bigha, 30,000 bighas would represent the area under cotton cultivation. Of the total pro- ( 151 ) duce, a small percentage is consumed by the inhabitants, the rest being taken eastwards. The State charges a duty of 4 annas per maund on its transit and export, and in favourable years realizes a revenue of Es. 30,000 or more. The present market value of cotton is Es. 12-4 per maund: including customs 4 annas, cartage 2 annas, other expenses 2 annas, the net value of one maund at Agra would be Es. 12-12. Poppy is grown in Bidna and Bhusdwar only. Kdmdn and Eiipbds receive their supply from Mowah, Edmgarh, Dhol pur, and Gwalior. The State duty on import is Es. 4 a maund. The best soil yields the rabi crop, which is sown in October and November, and consists of wheat, barley, gram, sarson, masur, and alsi. The fields are ploughed up five or six times, and each time levelled -with the mej. The crop requires no weeding. The cost of production varies in rabi and kharif, also with the description of grain sown. Taking jowar as the type of kharif, the average cost of production and profit per bigha would be as follows : — Taking 4 maunds as produce per bigha : 4 maunds at the rate of 30 seers for the rupee would be 5 5 JSor, or fodder 7 0 Total 12 5 Deduct cost of production ... 3 5 Net profit ... 9 0 BentPloughing Seed Weeding EeapingThreshing Bs. A. 1 4 ... . 0 8 . 0 4 ... 0 12 0 5 . 0 4 Total cost ... 3 5 Four maunds is a fair yield per bigha. The Niar consists of the straw, chaff, broken grain, &c. Taking wheat as the type of rabi, the cost and profit are as under: — Rs. A. 8 maunds produce, at 30 seers per rupee 10 10 Mar ... 10 0 Total ... 20 10 Deduct cost of production ... 6 10 Net profit ... 14 0 Es. A. Rent ... 3 0 PloughingSeed 2 0 0 12 Reaping ... Threshing 00 86 Total cost .. 6 10 The holdings are generally small — four or five bighas — but frequently wealthy individuals possess farms of 300 to 400 bighas, which are tUled for them by landless day-labourers, of whom there are considerable numbers. They are paid either in money or a share in the crop. The wages are 1 to 2 annas a day for men, 1 to 1^ annas for women, and 1 pie to 1 anna for children, who are largely employed in agriculture. The animals used for domestic economy and agriculture are oxen, cows and buffaloes, sheep and goats. Horses are kept only by the wealthy ; asses, pigs, and poultry by the lower classes. Kine are only used for draught or milk ; none allowed to be slaughtered, on religious ( 152 ) principles. Sheep and goats are kept both for their flesh, milk, and wool. Large herds of cattle are especially kept by Gujars, and ghee, tire, and butter manufactured. The domestic animals are indigenous ; they are strong, healthy and hardy, but of a very inferior breed. Einderpest seems to have raged once or t-wice in the memory of the present generation. They are both hand- fed and pastured. Karab is sown for them, which is jowdr sown very thick and not weeded. No changes have taken place from time immemorial in agriculture or tillage, nor can any progress take place, as the cultivators are extremely ignorant and con servative. Agriculture is very much esteemed, and, as stated under " Occupations," is practised by the majority of the population. There are no buildings connected -with agriculture. Cattle are enclosed at night in a kind of court-yard in front of the dwelUng- house. Corn for domestic use is stored in kothis, which are long, cyUndrical, earthen cells, made with the hand by Chamdr women. Hay for the cavalry and State horses is obtained from large grass-preserves at Ikran, Helok, Mandhera, Eupbds, and Easid, from which dep6ts are formed at Dig, Bhartpur, and Eupbds. There are several large gardens belonging to the State and Horticulture ^^ privatc individuals, laid out with walks, &c. ; but gardening generally is in an inferior condition even to agriculture. The only vegetables cul tivated are some of the cucurbitacse, &c. Fruits are only found in the public gardens : the most common are orange, lemon, plantain, guava, pomegranate. Several of the roads are lined with trees, and about the large towns they are planted in considerable numbers, and generaUy the country is fairly wooded ; but fuel is scarce. There are no forests, but several woods, which are State property, and supply fuel and some timber for State use : there is no valuable timber. Of the total amount of khdlsa land under cultivation, 11,11,864 bighas are irrigated by rain, 3,09,107 bighas by weUs, and 27,192 by tanks and rivers. Land watered by weUs is caUed chdhi, and is worth Es. 2 a bigha more than land watered by rain or bardni. The total number of pucca weUs is 9,696, 1,009 of which were constructed during the minority of the present chief by advances made to the cultivators. The weUs are of two kinds, — those that can be worked with one pair, and those that can be worked with two pairs of bullocks {chdr-ldwd) at the same time. One pair irrigates 20 to 25 bighas. The system of irrigation by weUs is the ordinary one found in Upper India. As there are no perennial rivers, the irrigation from the rivers is more a kind of saturation caused by periodic inundation. The rain-flood of the rivers is held up by embankments called bunds. ( 153 ) which are found all over the district, and released at the so-wing season. The principal of these are the Sikri bund in Gopdlgarh, which holds up the water of the Eupdrel. It curves round* the river in a southerly direction, is 8 miles long, and has 21 masonry outlets. This bund is intended not for holding up, but for distri buting the water. The water goes in two directions, — one part flows north-east towards Gopdlgarh, Pahdri Kandla, and Kdmdn ; and the other south-east, towards Dig, Kumbhir, and Bhartpur. There is no exit for the north-east division, and in years of flood it inundates the whole low country from Pahari to Kdmdn, a distance of 11 miles ; and when it rises high, escapes into the Muttra district and injures the crops. The south-east part flows through the Kho Dehr, near Dig, and a succession of other jhils into the Moti Jhll at Bhartpur, and by the Orim and Khari Nadi into the Bdngangd. This bund is of faulty construction, as most of the water is directed to the north-east, where there is no outlet, and a comparatively smaU area to be saturated, both of which conditions are reversed towards the south-east. The south-east division is held up by another bund at Kakra, after which the water flows over the country and coUects in the Kho Dehr, which can only be cultivated in dry years. From Kho Dehr to Moti Jhil, there being many Utile falls, a drainage cut is excavated draining the low country. There are two large bunds between Kho Dehr and Bhartpur, — the Gobardhan Gate bund at Dig, which is also the road to Gobardhan, and the Moti Jhll bund at Bhartpur, which was formerly kept always fuU, to flood the country round Bhartpur in case of attack. In connection with the Bdngangd the principal bund is the Ajdn bund. It is 9 miles long, and runs in a north-west direc tion, its near end being about 4 miles from Bhartpur. It directs half of the water through the ghanna, a preserve near Bhartpur, to a hollow close to the south-west of the city. At the end of the rains the water is drained off by two charmels leading into the Orin Nadi, one of which passes through the city and suppUes the moat, and the other fills tanks on the Agra road. The Kdkand river, after descending from the elevated level described under " Eivers," enters a large valley, 6 miles long by 5 broad, surrounded by hills, Uttie cultivated and suf fering a great dearth of water in the hot months, the river not being perennial. It leaves the basin by a vaUey between the surrounding hills, about 1,250 yards wide. In order to fertiUze the vaUey, a bund across the river, where it emerges, was com menced during the minority of the chief, but, notwithstanding the obvious advantages, has never been completed. The estimate was Es. 1,31,000, and it was calculated that 9,000 bighas of waste-land would be brought under cultivation by it. ( 154 ) The bunds are mostly earthen works, in some cases faced with stone and masonry outlets. They are kept in repair by the State, in some cases by the zamindars to whom takdvi advances are made for the purpose. Water is supplied free to all khdlsa land, but on all other lands, jdgirddri or indmi, a duty of one rupee per bigha is levied. The total number of bunds is 126 ; a Ust of the principal, with their sources of supply, is as follows : — Pargana. Name of Bund. Kemarks. Dig . Kaman . Pahari . , Gopalgarh , Bhusawar... Wair Uchain and Budawal. Blipbas . Nigon, Dhubora, Sahari, Sheshumwalla, Kachawti, Pisopa, Morar, Ghata. Nundhera, Chuohnrwari, Bolkhora, Kalata, Rosaka. Beisera, Putraili, Allumpur, Satawarl. Slkrl. On the north-east line of the Ruparel, Ramp, Dabuk.Gangwara, and Gopalgarh. On south-east line, Eralari, Koorkaie, Biyari, Papia, and Kutwari. Rhundherpur, Gurha, Booraj, Bhusdwar, Ataripura, Diapur, and Nyagaon. Jugjiwunpur, Bondagaon, Kota Putti, Bichpuri, Buje- ra, Isitpura, Lohara, Rajgarh, Soonsa, Aj round, Lal- chund, Mohari, Mukrowli, Raipur, Sitagaon, Purya, Putti, Khori, Morada, Bhuggoia, Oomraind and Bho- pur, Lalpur and Jewund. Bhiranngger, Murki Kalan, Murki Khoond, Kunawar, Bhuggori. Kundera, Khutnaoli and Jisroura, Bagrein, Kyri and Monouli. Ajan, Kundera, Chowrari, Gujaibalai, Khera, and Dom- rea. Mertha, Bokouli ... fed by south-east line of the RlipareL Fed by north-east line of the Rliparel ; north part of Pa- harf occasionally flooded from Gur gaon. Ped by local drainage from the adjoining hills. All fed by local drainage from ad joining hills, except two last, which are fed by B4ngang& river. Fed by local drainage and the Gambhir. Three first fed by the Banganga, last by local drainage. B&ngangd and local drainage. The system of levying and coUecting the land-revenue is very Land-revenue. similar to that in British districts. A revenue survey was made in 1854-56, after which a summary settlement was effected for three years ; in 1859, another was made for four years ; and in 1863 a further one for six years, from the expiration of which in 1869 tiU 1871 the same rates were allowed owing to the general famine. The year following, these rates were enhanced 10 per cent., and in 1873-74 a regular settlement for ten years was introduced, by which the total land revenue has risen to Es. 20,16,584, being an increase of Es. 3,26,382 over the previous settlement. The ryots, who are the actual cultivators, pay to the zamindar in money and kind, and the ( 155 ) zamindar pays the Edj share in money only, by two instalments in the year, after the rabi and kharif harvests, to the patwdri, who makes the money over to the tahsildar, by whom it is sent under a guard to the treasury. The rate of assessment per bigha varies in the different par ganas as under : — 1. 2. 3. 4. 6. 6. 7.8. 9. 10. 11. 12.13.14. Pargana. Wair Rupbas Uchain Naga BhusawarAkhaigarh Biana Kaman Gopalgarh Pahari Dig Kumbhir Deorhi Salt Tahsil Amount of assessment. s. A. p. 1 3 6^ per bfgha 1 5 9 }J 1 4 H y> 0 15 n y> 1 1 10 }f 0 15 5 » 1 1 81 tf 1 2 6 » 1 13 8 ft 1 5 H >f 0 15 Oi Jf 1 1 0 }f 1 4 2 }f 1 2 11 >i The assessment being one-sixth of the produce, from this the hdk mukadami of one-third is deducted ; the actual assessment is only one-ninth. Thus, -^ — -l- of •|- = -^. By this settlement the total amount of assessment, without deducting the hdk muka dami in all khdlsa land in the State, calculated by taking one-sixth of the average produce, was Es. 32,28,553-4, which, multipUed by 6, wfll give the total annual produce of khdlsa lands, viz., Es. 1,93,71,319-8. The total amount of cultivated khdlsa land is 16,92,892 bighas, the average actual assessment of which is Es. 1-3 per bigha, and the average produce value Es. 10-11 per bigha. The amount of uncultivable waste is 5,88,174 bighas 18 biswas ; of culturable waste 2,46,803 bighas 3 biswas; of rent-free holdings 2,65,912 bighas 9 biswas — making a grand total area of 27,93,782 bighas 11^ biswas, or 1,263,403 acres 28 perches. The land tenures in Bhartpur may be divided into two classes — zamindari andmudfi, or rent-holdings and free-holdings. The amount of khdlsa or Cro-wn land is greater in proportion in Bhartpur than in the other States of Edjpiitdnd, and is con tinually being increased by the lapse of jdgirs which have ceased to be granted for a long period. In 1874, the total amount of mudfi land was 2,65,912 bighas, with a revenue of Es. 3,18,980. The khalsa land is farmed out by the zamindars to the ryots, who are the actual cultivators. The tenures between them are of two Land tenures. ( 156 ) - kinds : the ryots are either tenants-at-will or lease-holders. In the former case, there seems to be a kind of tenant-right estab lished by custom in some places, so that the ryots are not usually evicted -without fault. The leases are for short terms of two, three, or five years. The zamindar cannot raise the rent above the amount prescribed by the settlement. The rent paid by the ryot — that is, the full assessment of one-sixth without the deduction of the hdk zamindari and the zamindar's share of one-tweUth — varies from Es. 4-2-9 per bigha in Gopdlgarh to Es. 2-1-10 per bigha in Dig, the respective produce value of each being Es. 16-11 and Es. 8-5-4|^. The ryot pays his rent in either money or kind (generally the former) to the zamindar, except in case the land has passed into the hands of an intermediate holder on account of the sadr zamindar mortgaging his rights : such cases are said to be comparatively rare : or in case the zamin dar aUenates his rights as a kind of jdgir for reUgious purposes, which sometimes occurs. The zamindar has a kind of hereditary claim estabUshed by custom ; he is accountable for the payment of the revenue to the State, and is not disturbed so long as he pays it. Mudfi tenures are of three kinds — jdgir, indm, and pun. The total value of jagir lands is Es. 1,76,694. They are hered itary, and pay no revenue to the Edj. The jagirddrs do not seem to have the power of adoption -without the consent of the Darbar, and the degree of consanguinity entitling inheritance seems also subject to the same. The zamindars and ryots under the jagir ddrs are in the same position and condition as those under the khdlsa. The jdgirddr has not power to dispossess the hereditary zamindar "without fault, and cannot increase the rent over the settlement. Indm tenures are in Ueu of miUtary service to the State. The share per matchlock is 30 bighas. The revenue of these lands is Es. 95,772, and the number of men (or matchlocks) they are bound to furnish in case they are called out, 1,876 : when in ser-vice they receive pay at the rate of four pice a day. On ordinary occasions only two-thirds are caUed on to serve, one-third remain ing to cultivate. Pun vfllages, valued at Es. 46,514, are endowments for the support of temples and other reUgious and charitable institutions. A table follows, showing in detafl the khdlsa and mudfi vfllages in each pargana. ( 157 ) Statement showing the number qf Khdlsa and Mudfi Villages in the Bhartpur State. Paeoaitab. g Aliem-atiows, BElNa TBlfTJBES HEID EEWT-FEEE. i Kemaekb. No. (a M il •s a 3 1 Bhusdwar 75 6 3 11 19 94 Temple and other charities Jits • ... Banyas ... .. 5 .. 13 .. 1 2 BWna 147 4 3 17 24 171i Temple and other charities Jits Brahmans .. 4 .. 18 .. 2 3 -Wair 38 1 2 3 41 Temple and other charities JAta .. 1 .. a 4 Uchain and EudSwul 70 1 6 12 19 89 Temple and other charities Jits Banyas ... Muhammadans ... .. 1 .. 16 .. 1 .. 1 6 KSmdn 112 7 1 8 120 Temple and other charities Jita .. 7 .. 1 6 Dig 92 3 17 5 26 117 Temple and other charities JSts GujarsBanyas ... .. 3 .. 17 .. 4 .. I 7 Akliaigarh 77 3 3 12 18 96 Temple and other charities Jits Brahmans .. 3 .. 14 .. 1 8 Gopfflgarh 133 4 1 5 138 Temple and other charities Gujars .. 4 .. 1 9 PaMrf 86 85 Ail Crown property. 1011 Salt villages EfipMs 10 65 3 3 1068 The land revenue of these is debited in the Salt Department. Temple and other charities ... 3 12 Naga 76 1 2 3 79 JSts .. 3 13 Kumbhir 62 3 8 8 19 81 Temple and other charities GujarsJits .. 3 .. 2 .. 14 14 Bhartpur 132 11 9 29 49 181 Temple and other charities Gujars Jits Muhammadana Br^hm.insBanyas ... Bhats Mirasis ... .. 11 .. 1 .. 25 .. 5 .. 4 .. 1 .. 1 .. 1 Graitd Total 1,174 45 60 100 195 1,369 Population, Castes, Tribes, and state of Society. — The popu lation of Bhartpur was formerly estimated at 600,000 by allowing 300 to the square mfle : Captain Nixon made the first rough census in 1855-56. A regular census was taken by the PoUtical Agent on the 10th July 1867, and was considered by him to be fairly correct, possibly rather under than over rating the population. As nothing further since has been done, this census is here given (page 159), though in the Annual Eeport of 1873-74 it is stated ( 158 ) that there is reason to believe that since this census the population has increased, but no reason is given. There were only 76'28 girls per cent, of boys. The reasons assigned for the disproportion are, that female children being uncared-for, their mortaUty is greater, the inaccuracy of the statistics, and the native disUke to give any information relative to females. The crime of infanticide, which was formerly common among the Jdts, especiaUy the Thdkurs, is said to have altogether died out, principally through the instrumentaUty of Mahdrdjd Balwant Singh. Among other ways for the protecting of female children, he doubled for the marriage of a girl the amount known in the State as ghor or " bounty-money," which the Thdkurs receive from the Darbar towards defraying the marriage expenses of their children. The total number of Hindus „ „ Musalmans Musalmans to Hindus 630,242113,445 18 per cent. Of Hindus there are 326,604 cultivators and 303,638 non-cul tivators. Of the total population, Jdts are 122,989, or 19'51 per cent. ; Gujars 46,865 ; and Banyas 106,799, or 16"95 per cent. Of Musalmdns, 58,376 are cultivators and 55,070 non-cultivators ; to the former class belong the Meos, who number 47,476, or 11*84 per cent. Of the total population, 384,979, or 51'76 per cent., are culti vators. In addition to the castes mentioned above, the population consists of Brdhmans, Minas, and misceUaneous castes, of which latter the Chamdrs and MdUs are probably the most numerous. The approximate proportions are as under : — Miscellaneous Jats Musalmans Gujars Br&hmans Minas 30 per cent. m 1817 7 6i2 Even allowing that the population has increased, the census may be considered as fairly representing the proportio'n at present, and nothing as trustworthy can be substituted showing the whole population. Bhartpnr. l-> District. 1 1 t I Sio3" 1 1 td1 td-I ! ^ ^ 3- . tss IP o E4 t > t* : : : Number of mouzas or town % s 8 3 s g 1 g G K CO 25 I-*CD g CO ships. -i s 3 i 8 t-lCO s S g g 7 ? taen S t^ Area in British statate square miles of 640 acres 5 & S5 S K a 5 CO S fe a 1 CO ba COOS each. VI M P 1 g CO cn o -S p s "5 -5 iO s p .^ Oi O *5 CO fe en "w "cd CO en w^ I-" 00 ba Oi H* CO ^ B O ta bS -¦ & ba VJ ba g N> J* P .p ^i CS za ^ - CD P CO g CO s 7 i i CO o 7 09 i 1 1 § i GO Number of persons to each British statute square 2 CO 1 s 00 g g 1 ^ i 1 1 1 mile. g ^_1 t; g t> hd 8 : : = : : • 88 CO P §1 g s p 8 ^ 8; 5 QOOS 00OS g g P % S g s a So CO (-¦ ^ en cS 03 o 00 s CO Cd K' -k eS 8 en ts w CO CO ^ o CD O tf^ CO ^ o P s ^ 00 i OD 1 -S M bS o\ |S -s c Nnmber of houses. s s § en K ^ 1 g i i :? i g CB *^ CO 00 !£>¦ GO OD CD llh *5 CO CO CO A *^ K Average number of persons Cri ^J, -^ ?i c^ Or ^ S o *5 bs ^ l-J -i M to each honse. M to Cr( 1^ bs •'tax, nazardna, customs, faujdari, court-fees, and other miscellaneous items. Land Bevenue^ — The State is divided into chiras and khdlsa thikdnas. Chiras are sub-divisions containing " patta " and " betalab " (revenue-free villages) only. " Patta " villages are mostly held by Thdkurs, and subject to the payment of " rakm " (money rating), in lieu of the military service formerly requUed of them. " Betalab " villages are revenue-free grants assigned as " madad mudsh," or means of support to members and relations of the Mahdrdjd's famUy, endowment set apart for reUgious and charitable purposes, and remuneration for service. Former mode of collecting revenue in chira villages. — The mode of coUecting the revenue in the detached chiras was as follows : — At harvest-time, a havildar (collector) with a " dera" (party), which generally consists of 20 to 30 men and 10 to 15 camels, was appointed to each chira for the sole purpose of collecting the revenue. Additional deras on a smaller scale, but similarly constituted, were sent over the country for the coUection of extra cesses, such as the " chodurbdb," "talibdb," " singhoti," &c., and newly-invented taxes. These deras were a perfect scourge to the country. The collections were made on no fixed principles of assessment. The havildar annually settled the amount of the Darbdr demand with the bhogtds, or headmen, at his own discretion. The dera moved from village to village, remaining at each till their demands were paid to the uttermost farthing, burdening the unfortunate villagers with their expenses, which, it is said, varied from Es. 20 to Es. 150 per village, and in viUages paying up to Es. 500, which form the largest portion of the country, the dera expenses were as high as 37 per cent, on the Darbdr demand. On the completion of the revenue collection, the havildar retumed to the capital, leaving the chiras for the remainder of the year to their own resources ; the villagers had consequently no official to whom they could look for protection or redress of grievances. The dera, while employed in the chira, was supposed to confine itself exclusively to the coUection of revenue, but the havUdar generally took advantage of his position and presence in the village to settle ( 188 ) judicial cases to the advantage of those who best paid him for his interference. The fuU weight of this pernicious system of taxation fell ou the unhappy ryots. The havUdar coUected from the bhogtd, leaving the bhogtd to collect from the chowdries or headmen, and the chowdries from the ryots. The chowdries generaUy entered into a compact with the bhogtd, who, through them, exacted a large amount from the ryots, and shared it with the havildar by presenting him with a douceur, termed bidaigi, or parting gift, generaUy varying froni Es. 30 to Es. 300 per vUlage. The other members of the dera also received presents in proportion to their rank ; every village was thus compeUed to pay about half as much again as its actual assessment. Deeply interested as the bhogtd was, he never divulged the dishonest dealings of the revenue officer, who, in consideration of the presents he received, did not often hesitate to sacrifice the interests of the Darbdr by even reducing the legitimate amount of the revenue. The consequence was that, between the bhogtd and havUdar, both the Darbdr and ryot were plundered. This confused and ruinous system has now been superseded by arrangements in the direction of settUng some fixity of revenue demand, insisting on punctual payments, and on something Uke audit accounts. Khdlsa villages. — There are 363 khalsa villages. The sys tem of assessment and coUection in these villages is based on the principles of those followed in chiras. The assessment is made yearly by the revenue officer at his own discretion and in the same arbitrary manner, with this difference, that in chira viUages the State settles direct with the bhogtd who collects from the cultivators ; in khalsa viUages the Government demand is adjusted directly with the ryots themselves, and the items composing the Darbdr revenue in both instances naturally differ. In one case, the rakm (or commutation for service) , with certain cesses pecuUar to the nature of the tenure, forms the revenue ; in the other, the revenue consists of land-tax and cesses common to khalsa villages. There are two modes of assessment, called hdli* and pusditi. In the former, collections are made in cash and kind ; in the latter, in cash alone. The cash rate per hdli, or plough, is generaUy Es. 2 ; the collections in kind (grain) varies from one-fourth to one-eighth of the produce. Collections are usuaUy made in the following manner. Just before the revenue becomes due, the revenue officer summons the ryots or chowdries of viUages and the leading money-lenders * The hall, or plough, is represented by one camel, or pair of bullocks, supposed to cultivate as area of 100 bighas. ( 189 ) of the pargana, and, on their arrival, demands a certain large sum from each vUlage ; negotiations ensue, and end in the banker advancing the amount agreed on to the revenue officer, who some times, instead of remitting it at once to the capital, makes use of it in private investments. The banker then becomes the collector of the revenue of the villages for which he has paid, and, as a matter of course, is assisted by the revenue officers, who furnish him with horsemen and camel-men to enable him to levy his exac tions from the peasants. In some tahsUs the banking agency is more resorted to than in others. The collections in kind are made in a simUarly arbitrary manner ; the unfortunate ryot is left to the mercy of the havildar, and the appraiser who accompanies him to inspect the crops. In some khdlsa divisions the tax on families forms an important part of the village assessment. This assessment was generaUy made in a very unfair manner, inasmuch as the fluc tuations of the number of famiUes were not taken into account in assessing the yearly revenue ; this caused emigration of famiUes. Consequently many famiUes emigrated ; but these inequaUties have now been remedied as much as possible ; and it is hoped that the general system of revenue rating and collection in the State is gradually, though slowly, improving. Land Tenures. — Distribution of Landed Estates, and Pro prietary and Cultivating Classes. — Land being unlimited, the holdings are large, but, owing to the bad revenue system, there is Uttie competition. Cultivators sometimes take leases from the vUlage proprietors on annual rent. It is considered mijust to evict a cultivator before the succession of crops is complete. The rents charged by the Thdkurs are reaUsed from the cultivators in various ways ; sometimes a third of the crop is taken, and sometimes a fixed charge levied on a household. Ten rupees for 70 to 80 bighas (a bigha is 70 cubits square) is a common rent for banyas to charge when they hold viUages in farm, while smaUer proprietors often take but one-fourth. The revenue rates in fiscal viUages are Es. 10 per 100 bighas from Jdts, and somewhat less from Brdhmans, Edjputs, and other favoured castes, a portion of the crop being usuaUy taken in kind over and above the money rating. There is also what appears to be a Ught hearth -tax, and sometimes a plough-tax. The rates above given are for the autumn crop, which is the only crop over much the greater part of Bikanir, where there is seldom more than one harvest. In the few tracts which give a spring crop, the rents are paid in kind, the proportion being from one-fourth to one-seventh. ( 190 ) These rates are supplemented by irregular additions when good harvests enable the villagers to pay more. The total number of viUages in the province is about 1,800. Of this number, 368 are khalsa, in wluch the cultivators pay rent to the State officials, 384 are revenue-free, and the remainder are held by Thdkurs, andare caUedpattas (see "Land Eevenue"). The terms on which the Thdkurs hold their pattas or estates are these : — They are bound to render personal service to the Mahdrdjd in the field with a fixed number of horsemen properly equipped, and armed with sword, shield, spear, bow and arrow, and matchlock. They are required to keep their pattas " dbad," that is, in a flourishing state, and not to oppress or overtax their ryots, and are not to harbour or take part with the chief's enemies. There are two classes of pattidars — {1st) those who pay revenue, and {2nd) those who do not. The holders of the latter are caUed " betalab " pattas,— under which head are (1*^) the Edjwis (Mahdrdjd's near relations) ; {2nd) Pursungis (the chief's marriage connections) ; and {Srd) those Thakurs whose pattas having been attached or confiscated, hold viUages or receive a fixed allowance for their maintenance. The holders of betalab pattas or viUages are expected to attend their chief in the field and when he leaves Bikanir territory ; but they and their followers are, on such occasions, maintained at the expense of the State. The Thdkurs are bound to serve their own chief only. The word "rekh" Uterally implies a horseman properly equipped and armed for field service; Mahdrdjd Gaj Singh commuted the service by horsemen to cash payments at the rate of Es. 60 per horseman (rekh). This sum was subsequently raised to Es. 125, and.increased from time to time by the addition of certain taxes, until at last most of the principal Thdkurs formed a combination to resist the extortions of the Darbdr, which led to British media tion, when it was arranged that the Darbdr should grant the Thdkurs a ten years' settlement, during which time they were to pay revenue at the rate of Es. 200 per rekh or horseman. This arrangement took effect in the year 1868-69 ; it was accepted by a few of the principal Thdkurs at the time, and by several others after the death of Mahdrdjd Sirddr Singh. Therekhs of those Thdkurs who do not come under this settlement are unfixed : the Darbdr coUects from them at the rate of from Es. 200 to Es. 400 per rekh. The Taizimi or principal Thdkurs, in addition to their rekhs, are required to pay {1st) " Hiikumnama," or succession fees ; {2nd) a certain sum occasionaUy coUected towards the repair of the fort and city- walls ; {Srd) camel-hire when the chief leaves Bikanir territory ; {4>th) a tax levied to meet the expenses of the chief's ( 191 ) marriage ; {hth) a sum of money presented to the chief on his acces sion to the gadi ; {Qth) donation on the birth of the heir to the gadi. The non-Talzimi, or Thdkurs of a lower rank, in addition to the above, pay the foUowing cesses, which are coUected from their unfortunate ryots — {1st) " EukhivaU," or protection fee ; {2nd) " Dhuan," or hearth-tax per family ; (3rd) " Kurar* Jhunkera," a sum of money paid in Ueu of fodder, milk, curds, &c., supplied yearly to the Edj ; {Mh) "TaUbdb," a cess levied from non-agri culturists ; {bth) " Senghati," a tax on sheep and goats ; {Qth) Chandurbdb, a tax levied on chowdries or lambarddrs. The Thdkurs still furnish the chief with troops when he leaves his State, and would be required to do so in case of war. The Edjpiit owners of one or more vUlages are caUed "jdgirddrs ;" those in possession of land only are styled Bhiimias (from the Sanskrit word bhtim, which means land). There are two classes of Bhumias — -.{Ist) Edjputs who hold land as rewards for service rendered to the State ; {2nd) the descendants of jdgirddrs to whom land is assigned for maintenance. Bhiimias do not pay revenue to the Darbdr, but they are subject to certain taxes which, however, are not always exacted. There is much bhiim land in Bikanir. Commerce. — The imports are principaUy — 1st. — Jaipur cotton cloth, coloured and printed dhotis, chiefly prepared from English cotton piece-goods, coloured and printed at Sanganir, a town 8 miles to the south of Jaipur, famous for the design and durabUity of these prints, which are much appreciated by the higher classes in Edjputdnd. Some of the chintz in gold and silver colours are extensively used in making wadded winter coats. 2nd. — Paper of a superior description, also manufactured at Sanganir, largely used in native courts and mercantile firms. Zrd. — Cotton. Mh. — Iron. Mh. — Cooking utensils of brass, copper, and beU-metal. Qth. — " Euths " and carts made at Singhdnd, a town in Jaipur famous for the manufacture of these vehicles. Prom Jaipur come bulUon, gold, and enameUed ornaments', also tobacco and shoes. Opium, dyes, and cotton cloths come from Kota and from Marwar ; from Ajmer come misceUaneous goods of aU kinds. Grain is chiefly imported from the Punjab marts. Exports. — The principal articles of export are — 1*^. — Sugarcandy made of sugar brought from MUzapur, Mdhdrdjganj, Shahjahanpur, and Shimli, in the North-Westem * " Kurar " means a bunch of the grain called mflt. ( 192 ) Provinces. The best sugarcandy is produced from Mahdrdjganj sugar, and is celebrated for its purity, whiteness, and hardness, in which qualities it is not to be exceUed at Bikamr. 2nd. — Wool (white and black), the produce of a superior breed of sheep, resembUng those found in Afghanistan. The country in most parts of Bikanir is weU adapted for the breeding of sheep, and the other trade in wool is capable of expansion, and would greatly increase the revenues of the country if it were encouraged and protected by the native authorities. The best quaUty of Bikanir wool is said to equal that obtained in. the cold and hiUy regions of the Punjab, but it is not so soft, nor do the natives understand the art of sorting and cleaning it. It is chiefly exported to PazUka, where it is purchased by traders for exportation to Bombay. Srd. — ^WooUen fabrics, blankets (caUed loees and lonkar) . The loees are of a superior kind ; the texture of the best is nearly as fine as the Kashmir loee, the difference between the two being that the former is not so soft, and is made of two separate sheets locked together, whereas the latter consists of one piece. The manufacture of loees according to the Kashmir fashion has recently been successfuUy introduced into the Bikanir jaU. The loee is exported in all directions ; the winter clothing of some of the British irregular corps are made of it. The prices at Bikanir vary from Es. 3 to Es. 40 per piece. Lonkars are blankets dyed red or crimson, about 3 yards by 1^, and vary in price from Pks. 1-4 to Es. 3 each, and are used by both sexes. WooUen -cloth, made of black and red wool, is generaUy used for petticoats by the agricultural classes, camel-trapping, and chuts (large grain- bags made of goats' hair). Ghee (clarified butter), produced mostly in the northern dis tricts, is exported to a limited extent. Ivory bracelets tinted with gold are made at Bikanir, and are in great demand in Edjputdnd. Eaw hides, and choguls (leather water-bags) made at Eeni, are exported in great numbers. Taxes on Trade. — The taxes on trade are as foUows : — • " Edhddri" is a tax on duty levied at the gates of the city on merchandise brought into the city ; it varies from two rupees to nine pies per cart or camel load ; the income derived from it is aUotted for the payment of the guards stationed at the city-gates. " Riipdtd," a tax levied on shops, and on the sale of camels and certain goods in the city. " Af im-ka-souda," or license-tax on speculations in the prices of opium ; it is levied on each speculator, and varies from two rupees to six rupees. ( 193 ) " Meiih-ka-souda," a Ucense-tax on speculation on the proba- biUty of rainfaU. The two last named " soudas " are farmed to contractors, who coUect fees from those who engage in such speculations. There are also taxes on weighment and brokerance. And there is a Ucense-tax on craftsmen, such as goldsmiths, black smiths, ironmongers, tailors, shoemakers, &c. The amount is levied yearly through the chowdries or headmen of each party ; no register showing the name or number of the persons taxed is kept ; a certain lump sum is paid by the chowdries. The pro ceeds of the taxes levied on certain trades are permanently placed at the disposal of the PubUc Works Department, whose own officers impose and coUect them. Population and Social Sub-divisions. — According to the State returns, the number of the population is about 300,000, of whom about 260,000 are set down as agricultural ; of houses about 58,000, and of viUages about 1,800. These figures must be regarded as only approximately correct. The most numerous castes are Jdts, who are more than twice as numerous as any other class, banyas and Edjputs of various degree, from the proud Thdkur to the humble cultivator. The Jdts are aU agriculturists. Three-fourths of the Edjpiits and many of the banyas and Brdhmans also cultivate the soU. The numbers of the principal divisions of the people are thus estimated : — J^ts (about) ... ... ... 50,000 Banyas 30,000 Eajputs 12,000 Brdhmans ... ... ... 20,000 Caste, Clans, and Tribes. — A Ust of the different classes of Edjpiits has been given. The Jdts, who are the most numerous caste, were in ancient times the possessors of the greater portion of the Bikanir territory. They are the agriculturists of the country, and more severely taxed than any other class. Many of them are Bishnawis, and abstain from the taking of Ufe. They are civil, good-humored", and obUging, and, notwithstanding the weight of the taxation laid upon them, are attached to the ruler of the land and proud of his notice. The headmen of the Jat sub-clan of Goddrd has the right of placing the tUak, or mark of inauguration, on the forehead of every chief when he ascends the throne. This practice has pre vaUed since the foundation of the present dynasty. The Bishnawi Jats bury their dead. ( 194 ) Banyas of the Mahesri, Oswdl, and Agarwdld castes form the bulk of the trading community, and the two former are the richer and more influential. The latter trade a good deal locaUy in EngUsh imported goods, whUe the Mahesris and OswaUs are opium-traders, contractors, bankers, &c., and their business gener aUy is far from home. Edjputs of many clans are to be found in Bikanir, and form the aristocracy of the land. Bika, Kdndhlot Bidawat, Eathor, and other classes, Bhdti, Kachhwdha, and Ponwar, are the main divisions. According to employment, the Eajputs may be divided into — 1. Those who hold estates. 2. Those in service. 3. Those who tiU the soU. The first class comprises the old hereditary aristocracy of the State ; the second is employed by the nobles and at Court ; and the third, which is the most numerous, is treated with some favour. Brdhmans are divided into Pokama and Paliwdl. They are traders and agriculturists, and generaUy a hard-working class. Chamdrs are the only remaining numerous class. Of Musal mdns there are but comparatively few. A clan of Piradas, or descendants of a MusaUndn saint, claim to be lords of the region between Aniipgarh, Pugal, and Marot. And there are some Sayids settled in the country since the days of Aurangzeb. There are also Bhdtis and Eahts, both clans of Edjputs converted to Islam. The official class consists of hereditary servants of the State, and foreigners. Against the latter there is a strong prejudice throughout the country. Many important famiUes of hereditary servants are descended from the officials who accompanied Bika when he left Jodhpur to invade Bikanir ; these are caUed muta- sadis ; other mutasadis are descendants of men introduced long ago by chiefs other than Bika. The menials are hereditary household slaves caUed " chelas." They are never sold by Edjput famiUes of distinction, though fhey often form part of a bride's dowry. When not the chUdren of slaves, they have usuaUy been purchased in times of famine from their starving relations. Their work is Ught, and they are generaUy weU treated, and sometimes placed in positions of high trust; but some Thdkurs occasionaUy act with much cruelty towards those in their service. The term " chela " signifies disciple rather than slave. The priests of the Darbdr are generaUy Kanauj i Brdhmans of the Sanor division. The ancestors of the present priests are said ( 195 ) to have accompanied Seoji when he emigrated to the desert from Kanauj. Pdndits or teachers, and the astrologers, are Brdhmans. There are about ten official chdrans, or bards who compose historical verses and write books. Beligion and state of Society. — No statistics of the respective numbers of Hindus, Musalmdns, and Jains in the province are procurable. Among the Hindus, the Jains are very strong, and a great many merchants belong to the Oswal division of that sect. Many of the commercial classes belong to the Mahesri and Agarwdld castes, and Valabhacharya votaries of Krishna are nu merous. The general character of Hinduism is here the same as elsewhere, though a few of the pecuUar beUefs and worship may be mentioned. Perhaps the most curious reUgious sect in the State is that of the AlakgUs, founded by a Chamdr named Lalgir. He denounced idolatry, and taught his foUowers to caU only on the Incomprehensible (Alak),and his sole worship consisted in crying " Alak ! Alak ! " Charity was to be practised ; the taking of Ufe, and meat as food, was forbidden ; and a sceticism encouraged. The sole rewards he held out to his foUowers in this Ufe were the attainment of purity, untroubled contemplation, and serenity. 'There was no future state ; heaven and heU (that is, happiness and misery) were within. All perishes with the body, which is finaUy dissolved into the elements ; and man has no immortaUty. The worship of Karniji, the Chdran woman whose supernatural power secured the country to Bika and his descendants, is preva lent, and hers is the chief shrine in Bikanir. Lakshmi is adored with scarcely less devotion, and the temple of Devi near the city is much frequented. The image it contains was brought from Jodhpur several hundred years ago. Local deities and shrines are numerous, and exercise much influence on the devotees and dwellers in their neighbourhood. The jujhars, or heroes who have faUen in defence of their viUage, have been canonised, and their memory is cherished by adoration at their shrine. Although the poUtical power of the Thdkurs has greatly passed away, they retain much of their turbulent vigour, which is often expended in dacoity and cattle-Ufting. Every one who has the means possesses a smaU fort, which is surrounded by a rampart of sand, supported by twigs of the phog shrub. When a robbery at some distant point is contemplated, the Thdkur prepares his horses, for the exertions they wUl have to undergo, by a daUy aUowance of ghee, and, when aU is ready, he, banded with some of his active neighbours, makes a long night journey, often guided by the stars alone, to the appointed spot. Here, tUl the arrival of the victims, the party Ue hidden near a mound or thorny ( 196 ) hedge. The booty, which usuaUy consists of camels and their burdens, including perhaps the wife of a rich banya, is then hur ried off without delay in a direction likely to baffle pursuit, for a skilful tracker wiU soon be on their traU. Sometimes they take considerable trouble to obliterate their tracks; but this is no easy matter, for the skiU of the trackers is marveUous ; though thrown out for a time, they wiU recover the traU. But the wind and drifting sand aid the freebooter, who usuaUy gets off with his prize. If the offence is brought home to him, he seldom suffers any penalty beyond having to restore the stolen goods. It must not be inferred that all Thdkurs are unscrupulous as regards plundering. Some disapprove of it, and even an average Thdkur often thinks it improper to plunder within the limits of his own State, unless the Darbdr has Ul-treated or expatriated him. His object then is to make himself as offensive as possible to . the rulers. If active in dacoity, a good border Thdkur is equaUy active in resisting it, and some of the more powerful ones add to their income by the tribute they receive irom their weaker neighbours for protection from marauders. The Thdkur of the desert is of convivial habits, and, when a feast is given, no one is fit for business tUl noon the next day. However poor, they have a horror of menial work. The wealthy classes in the State are the officials who have made money by peculation and extortion, and the merchants who trade in British territory. Pew Thdkurs are rich, in consequence of the heavy taxes im posed upon them. Though the regular pay of the revenue coUectors is smaU, they make large sums by extortion, which is easUy practised, owing to the size of the tracts committed to them, and the consequent difficulty of supervising their proceedings. The agricultural community, which comprises thirteen-fif teenths of the population, is miserably poor for the most part. The camels, kine, and sheep they possess are their great resource, but a precarious one, owing to the prevalence of famine, drought, and robbery. Though famines are frequent, and a general famine occurs at least once in ten years, the mass of the people, until very recently, possessed no stores of grain wherewith to meet them; and emigration, dependence on charity, or subsistence on grass seeds, are the only resources of the population when a severe dearth sets in. Bdjrd cakes, m6t, and porridge made with buttermUk and bdjrd flour, form the staple food of aU but the weU-to-do, and even they often prefer bdjrd to wheat flour. Jdts who are large cattle- owners consume much ghee. Sugar is largely eaten at festivals. Houses are of three kinds. Those well off live in ma sonry houses, the intermediate classes in houses built of mud, and the poor in huts made of phog roots and grass. These last ( 197 ) are round, and look Uke small ricks. Pences of thorn usually surround them, inside which cattle are kept. The shop-keepers are thriftier than the peasantry. Many of the traders gamble in opium time-bargains, and so interested are the speculators, that a special post is estabUshed between Ajmer and Bikanir that the earUest information of prices may be obtained. Though the country would seem to possess few attractions, emigration or settlement in foreign towns is very rare among this class. At present, the wealth brought into the country by the merchants whose houses of business are in the great seats of commerce, is expended chiefly in entertaining Brdhmans and their caste-fellows, or is hoarded in the shape of jewels and orna ments. Except by the officials, little money is made within Bikanir. The principal manufactures are those of blankets and sweet meats ; the latter are made from sugar that is brought into the country, and large quantities are exported. Eain- water is used for refining the celebrated Bikanir sugar. Ghee, wool, and cattle are exported to a large extent. Wheat, rice, metal, piece-goods, the better kinds of pulses, and groceries are imported. Want of confidence in the Government prevents merchants and traders settling much in the State, and accounts largely for the non- occupation of waste-lands. Administration : Judicial System. — The administration of justice has latterly been conducted on a more satisfactory plan. Instead of the time of the Council being taken up in deciding . petty causes, the officers of the civU and criminal courts have been granted higher powers. The criminal officer is authorized to pass sentences of imprisonment not exceeding six months, and to impose fines of Es. 100. The civU officer has the same powers, and can decide civU suits to the extent of Rs. 1,000. Serious cases may also be investigated by these courts, but they must be submitted to the CouncU for final orders. During the year 1873-74, the number of criminal cases instituted was 752, disposed 697, and pending 55. Imprisonment was awarded to 187 offenders, and fine inflicted on 137, the total amount of fine being Es. 22,382. There were 15 cases of murder, 14 of dacoity, 105 of highway robbery, 115 of cattle-Ufting, 105 of assault, and 107 of house-breaking. The foUowing abstract shows the work done by the civil court during the same year : — Cases instituted ... ... ... 394 „ disposed ... ... ... 300 „ pending ... ... ..t 94 Amount of court fees ... ... Bs. 5,019 The Minas and Bdoris, who are notorious for their pre datory habits, have been subjected to many restrictions, which wiU probably have a salutary effect on their future behaviour. ( 198 ) Jails. — At the close of the year 1873-74 there were 88 prisoners in the Bikanir jaUs, 49 of whom were in those of the capital, and 39 of those in the districts. Pour were in prison for life, one for ten years, and the remainder for various terms less than ten years. Some of the prisoners are employed in carpet manufacture, and others in road-making. The jaUs are clean, and the inmates are weU and in good condition. Improvements in the jail system have only been effected recently, for formerly the arrangements were disgraceful. Low-caste prisoners used some times to be chained on the open plain without shelter of any kind. Education, — A school, which contains 300 students in Persian and Hindi, has been recently estabUshed. Previously the only places of instruction were the temples, Jain monasteries, and " patshdlas." At these the sons of many of the wealthy mer chants are taught to read, write, and cypher. Their whole school equipment is a board and a bit of wood, and their studies are usually conducted on a shady side of the street. They are not so weU attended now as formerly, as boys are taken away at an early age to be introduced into business. A course of reading and accounts occupies about three years. At the Jain monasteries Sanskrit is studied. In one of them. Captain Powlett found the priest, who was courteous and communicative, and ready to permit access to his large Sanskrit Ubrary, teaching geography from a curious map (which showed the concentric oceans and continents enormously exaggerated in dimensions), and history to match. A copy of the map was sent to the Kensington Exhi bition of 1871. At the mosques the usual elementary schooUng and learning by rote is given. In 1873-74, Dr. G. Biihler discovered many valuable works in Sanskrit in Bikanir, and one hundred and twenty manuscripts, referring chiefly to the Jain reUgion, were purchased for Government. Communications, — There are no made roads in the country, with the exception of one extending for a mile or so from the capital. Carts can make their way, though the travelling on the sand tracks is heavy and laborious work. Goods are carried on camels. The principal routes are as foUow : — From Bikanir to Ajmer, about 150 miles — Bikanir to Deshnuk, 16 mUes ; shops and good water at Deshnuk. Deshnuk to Chakra, 20 miles ; shops, good water. Eest of journey through Jodhpur territory. From Bikanir to Bahdwalpur, about 150 miles — Bikanir to Eadrasar, 16 miles ; good water, but no shops. Kamisar, 14 miles ; water bad, no shops. ( 199 ) Pdgal, 20 mUes ; water good, and shops (a line here branches off to Jesalmer). Maujgarh in Bahawalpur territory, 60 mUes ; water and shops ; intervening country waste. From Bikanir to Bhiwani, 180 miles — [The places are not marked on the map, and the distances are therefore not given in miles.] Bikanir to Kamisal, 12 kos ; water good, and shops. Kalu, 12 kos ; water good, and shops. Bahadursar, 16 kos ; water good, and shops. Sarddrgarh, 8 kos ; water good, and shops. Eeni, 14 kos ; water good, and shops. Edj garh, 14 kos ; water good, and shops. Khurdkot, 8 kos ; water good, and shops. From Bikanir to Sirsa, 160 miles — Bikanir to Malhasar, 10 kos ; water good, and shops. Khari, 12 kos ; water good, and shops. Nathwdnd, 8 kos ; water good, but no shops. Sai, 14 kos ; bad water, and no shops. Shekhsar, 16 kos ; good water, and shops. Palu, 16 kos ; good water, and shops. Nohar, 18 kos ; good water, and shops. Jamdlki, 10 kos, in British territory. Puel is procurable everywhere but on the Multan route ; there, it is procurable at Pdgal alone. The " kos " is sUghtly under two mUes, and as, untU the Bikanir topographical survey is finished, precision in distances is not always possible, it is preferable to employ the word " kos." Principal Towns, — The city of Bikanir was founded in A.D. 1488. It is situated on a desolate and sUghtly raised spot, the soU being hard and stony. Erom a distance, its waUs and towers and battlements, and the loftier houses and temples rising above them, have a most imposing effect. This illusion, however, is dispeUed when the interior of the city is reached, which may be described as a labyrinth of crooked aUeys. The waUs are 3^ miles in circumference, varying from 15 to 30 feet in height. They are buUt entirely of stone, and pierced with five gates and three saUy-ports. On three sides there is a ditch, but the ground to the south side is sufficiently protected by a net work of deep ravines. As the soil is calcareous conglomerate studded with siliceous pebbles, the sides of the moat are nearly perpendicular, though not faced with masonry. Within the walls there are many good houses faced with red sandstone and richly carved, but, being situated in narrow, dirty lanes, produce little effect. A reddish clay is plastered over the poorer houses, which ( 200 ) gives them an appearance of neatness and uniformity. Each trade or craft is allotted an exclusive ward. The population of the city and suburbs has been estimated at about 35,700, and the most numerous classes are banyas and Brdhmans. Water is obtained chiefly from very deep weUs, but also from tanks, of which there are four in the city and six in the outskirts. There are no remarkable pubUc buUdings in Bikanir city. The fort of Bikanir, which contains the Mahdrdjd's palace, has an imposing appearance. It is surrounded by a ditch, and fortified with ram parts and bastions. The old fort built by Bika, which is small, is picturesquely situated, outside the southern wall of the city, on some high rocky grbund, encompassed by ravines. Northern Districts. — Anupgarh is the chief town of the dis trict bearing the same name. It Ues on the bank of the Sotra, and contains a strong fort. There are 37 viUages in the Anupgarh district. Next among the northern parganas comes Sarddrgarh, lying to the eastward of Aniipgarh. Its chief town, Sarddrgarh, is also on the Sotra. Eastwards of this, again, lies Suratgarh, containing 500 houses. The Hanumangarh district contains 110 vUlages, and Bhatndr is its principal town. Tibi has 42 viUages. Good crops of wheat are raised here, when heavy rainfall causes the Sotrd to overflow its banks. North-eastern Districts. — The north-eastern districts comprise, in the west, Nohar with 142 viUages, and Bdhddrdn with 89 viUages. Eastern Districts. — Edjgarh, the chief town of the district of that name, contains 900 houses. The town of Eeni contains 1,100 houses, and is said to have been founded by Edjd E6ni Pal. There is a fort there. In the Chliru district there are 2,442 houses, and its head quarters is of the same name. It has rather a pleasant appear ance, as there are several good houses, and a few trees grow close to it. Several trade routes converge here. South-eastern Districts. — At Sujdngarh, the chief town of the Sujdngarh district, which contains 210 villages, there is a fort, British post-office, and a house for the use of the British PoUtical Officer. Most of the large villages in this district, in which Thdkurs reside, have forts. The Chdpar lake, which has been previously mentioned, produces annuaUy an average of 25 tons of salt ; but it is bitter, and of an inferior quaUty. There are two mosques and twenty-seven temples in the town. It was founded in A.D. 1835. ( 201 ) Eatangarh is a tolerably large place. The bazar and houses are good, and many of the inhabitants are affluent. The post- office established here receives and despatches 200 letters a day. There are sixteen temples. Piigal is a large fief in the west of the State. Besides the capital, the chief towns are Chiiru, Eatangarh, and Sujdngarh, each having a population of about 10,000. Next in order come Edjgarh, Eeni, Nohar, Bdhddrdn, Deshnuk, Siirat- garh, and Koldth, with a population of about 2,000 each. Fairs and Bemarkable Places. — ^A fair takes place at Koldth every October, at which 60,000 people assemble. This is the princi pal fair of the State. Koldth is a place of pUgrimage, and there is a tank there with a number of bathing- ghdts. There is a fair at Ko- ramdesar on the 13th August, to which some 10,000 people flock, but there is Uttie trading. At Devi Kund, Sahansarldo, Gaisulai, Harsoldi, Sujdndesar, and at three of the temples in the city, faUs are annuaUy held ; also one at Dadrewa, in Edjgarh, on the 9th of August, in honour of a Musalmdn saint. In January, Eeb ruary, March and September, the Mahdrdjd goes in state to visit the temples in the fort that are sacred to Devi ; and in July he worships at Devi Kund, where are the cenotaphs and mausolea of his ancestors. Bhatner Eort is of some historical interest, having at various times been captured by Mahmiid Ghaznavi, Taimur, and Kdmrdn, the son of Humayun. It appears to have been granted to Edi Singh of Bikanir by the Emperor Akbdr. The town of Pugal is one of the oldest in these regions ; it was one pf the nine strongholds of Maru, when the Ponwars ruled the desert. In 1830 the chief of Bikanir captured it, and re duced its Thdkur to subjection. E^ni, where Mahdrdjd Gaj Singh was born, is a place of some renown. There are a hand some Jain temple and some cenotaphs there. The temple was buUt in A.D. 942, and so soUdly that the structure is now as strong as when first erected. Sdldsur, on the Jaipur border and east of Sujdngarh, has much repute for its shrine of Hanumdn, and considerable numbers of pUgrims are attracted thither from distant parts on the fuU moons of Kdrtik and Baisdkh. In the city of Bikanir there are seven Jain monasteries (upisaras) which possess numerous Sanskrit works, but none are striking in appearance. The Jain temple, also in the city, with its lofty dome, is conspicuous from a distance, and is elaborately carved. With the exception of the "Madan Mohan," the other temples are not ornamental. Devi Kund (previously mentioned), the place of cremation of the Bikamr chiefs, is three nules east of the city. On each ( 202 ) side of the tank are ranged the sepulchres of twelve chiefs, KaUn Singh to Eatan Singh. Several of them are hand some structures, and aU are domes supported by graceful piUars. They are biUlt of red sandstone, and the commemorative stones are of marble. On these are sculptured in bass-reUef the mounted flgure of the chief, and on foot, standing in order of precedence before him, the wives, and, behind and below him, the concubines, who mounted his funeral pyre. Up to the time of Gaj Singh, the " satis" over each chief averaged above twelve. The last famous " sati " in Bikanir was that of Dip Kanwar, an Udaipur princess and wife of Mahdrdjd Siirat Singh, who met her death in 1825. People stUl speak of the courage and devotion her bearing showed as she wended her way with uncovered face to the fatal pUe. A numerously attended fair is annuaUy held in reverence to her memory at Devi Kund. A curious instance of "sati" by a male occurred in 1789, when one Sangrdm Singh perished in the flames with the corpse of Mahdrdjd Edi Singh. Deshnuk, the famous shrine of the tutelary deity Karniji, has been mentioned in another place. GAZETTEER OF BUNDL* General Topography. — The Eajput State of Biindi lies between north latitude 25° 59' 52" and south latitude 24° 59' 30". The extreme of its eastern longitude is 76° 21' 35", and of its western 75° 18' 6". Its area in square mUes is 2,218, length about 85 miles, and breadth about 50 miles. The territory of Bundi may be roughly described as an irregular rhombus lying between 25° and 26° north latitude, and 75° 15' and 76° 30' east longitude, having a total area of about 2,041 square mUes. Its longest diagonal, from the south-west to the north-east corner, is about 71 miles. The shorter one, from the north-west to the south-east corner, is about 47 miles. It is bounded on the north by the States of Jaipur and Tonk ; on the south and east by that of Kotah : the river Chambal forming for very nearly the whole distance a natural boundary between these two States ; and on the west by Mewar. The State is traversed throughout its whole length from south-west to north east by a double range of hills, constituting the central Biindi range, and dividing the country into two almost equal portions. At first a single range of some breadth crowned by a rather considerable plateau, it becomes spUt up into two ridges near Sdtur, which continue to run in a parallel direction, singularly regular through the remainder of their course to Judurgarh in the north-east. Eor many miles its precipitous scarp on the southern face forms an almost impassable barrier between the plains which it divides. In the centre of the range commanding the pass through which runs the high road from the south, toward Ajmer and Jaipur, Ues the city of Biindi. The highest elevation of the scarp reaches 1,793 feet above the sea at a point about 5 miles south-west of the large village of Sdtur. In the neighbourhood of Biindi itself, the average height above the sea is about 1,400 feet, and above the lowland below, 600 feet. Beside the Bundi pass, the only other passes through this ridge are one between Jainwds and Biindi, the entrance for the direct road from Tonk, • This Gazetteer consists almost entirely of papers contributed by Captain W. Muir and Dr. DeFabeek, of the RAjputajia Agency. ( 204 ) and another between Edmgarh and Khatgarh, where the Mej river has cut a channel for itself from the northern into the southern Bundi basUi. A prolongation of the sandstone ranges of western Kotah enters Biindi in the south-west, and forms along the whole extent of its western boundary a semi-lunar ridge, having its concavity to the east, and its boms almost due north and south. The southern one blends with the sandstone range of Kotah. The northern projects itself into a long low ridge of hills, of which the tract known as the Mina Kerdr may be consi dered to be the origin; and which, with singularly undeviating direction to the east-north-east, loses itself in the Jaipur State. In and about the central range the scenery is often very picturesque, but on either side of it the open country is for the most part flat and without marked features, though as the plains close in at their western extremity the landscape becomes more varied. In this respect the northern differs entirely from the southern basin ; a difference which is mainly due to the pecuUari ties of the geological formation hereafter to be described. The northern basin lies exclusively upon a bed of slate shale and clay slate, which is always very near the surface, and occa sionaUy, as at HindoU and Dugdri, it rises into very picturesque groups of low but rugged hills. The soU, too, throughout most of this basin is stiff and unproductive. The southern basin, on the contrary, is rich in good cultivable alluvial soU, and where this becomes associated with the low sandstone ridges of south-western Biindi, some very picturesque contrasts are the result ; the barren rocky ridges comuig out in strong reUef against the rich cultiva tion and profuse foliage of the lower lands. These same pecuUari ties of soil also give a totally opposite character to the river-beds of the two basins : thus, in the northern basin the streams have a much less devious course than in the southern ; and while these have rocky beds and tolerably regular banks, the others wind through an intricate net- work of ravines formed in the more yield ing soil. Beyond the northern boundary of Biindi proper there are several outlying portions of territory belonging to this State. The largest is that of which Garh is the chief town. It is a very irregularly-shaped patch in the south of Jaipur, and adjoining, by its north-eastern border, the south-western one of Tonk. WhUe it has a circumference of about 90 miles, its area is only between 50 to 60 mUes. There are three other such outlying portions of Biindi territory beyond its northern border, but they are aU small, insignificant patches of soU, none of them exceeding 4 square mUes in area. One, of which Shdotah is the chief village, is 8 miles west of ( 205 ) Namwah : another, Thdkoli, is 15 miles north of Nainwah : and the last and least, Deori, is 7 mUes north -north-east of Nainwah. Large tracts of Biindi are woodland, consisting chiefly of sdl, tendii, khair, mulkarai, bdbiil, mohwa, ber, and bel. The wood of the sal is brittle, and of Uttie use except for fuel. A gum exudes from it which the Bhils and others barter, weight for weight, against flour. A kind of incense is also sometimes made from it. The gum is procured by peeling off the thick bark, leaving only a thin sheU. After thus leaving the tree for a few days a handful of gum may be obtained. The tendii is of stunted growth, and is seldom allowed to exceed 6 inches in diameter. It is much used for rafters, &e. Except in very old trees, ebony is not found. The fruit of the tendid is much reUshed. A splendid tree growing near streams is the mulkarai. It attains a great height, remaining perfectly straight throughout, with a diameter of from 12 to 15 inches. The wood is prettily grained, but is too Mttle for timber.. Neat furniture might be made of it. The khair is a thorny tree used chiefly for ploughs, its wood being tough and strong. The forests are protected very fairly. Wood-cutters have to pay a tax of 8 annas a month per axe, but no more wood is allowed to be cut than is absolutely necessary. Geology. — The central range, forming as it were the backbone of the Biindi territory,, indicates sufficiently clearly the direction of strike of all the rock strata about this part of the country.. The geology of the district is therefore most advantageously studied on a sectional Une running in the directions of the dip, or almost at right-angles to that of the strike. This Une may be- drawn roughly in a south-easterly direction from the Edjmahal and Todah range of hUls in the Jaipur territory, to somewhere- near the city of Kotah. The Todah hiUs are composed almost exclusively of gneiss, and present in a marked degree the features which that formation- generaUy imparts to a landscape. It is through these hUls that the Bands has cut its way; and although that river for only about two miles of its course flows through Biindi soil, it yet is. a marked indication of the geological changes which have taken place in that territory, and, as has been already shown, becomes an important element in the consideration of the watershed of this part of the country. Pursuing the Une indicated above, the gneiss is foimd to be* overlain by a thick bed of mica slate. An important outcrop of this rock is traced in a very long regular Unear range of low and irregularly-shaped hUls running nearly paraUel to the great Biindi' midrib from Jawdl in Mewar, with unusuaUy straight direction^. into the Jaipur territory near Ehakar. ( 206 ) Between this ridge (which is described in the topographical section as the Awdn range) and the Edjmahal and Todah range, there is a shallow basin of transition rock, which has become overlain by an extensive plain of kankar, averaging about from 6 to 8 feet in thickness. It is on this bed that the cantonment of Deoli stands. Near that station the ridge is considerably broken, forming an irregular tract of low hUls, chiefly composed of mica slate and transition schistose rock, sometimes containing garnets and actinoUte, copiously veined with quartz. This is the tract known as the Mina Kerdr. Leaving, then, these hUls near Tikar, the Biindi territory is entered between that viUage a-nd the village of Bdsni, about two miles beyond which latter viUage Ues that of Umar. Here a marked difference appears in the geological formation, and thence in the character of the scenery. The rock is rich in limestone of exceedingly compact and crystalline substance, admirably adapted for building purposes of aU kinds. Much of it is used in various parts . of the Bundi territory, notably in the palace of the capital itseU. It is aU hard and of close-grained texture, easUy susceptible of poUsh, but varies much in colour. Some is Ught-grey, occasionaUy veined with chlorite and felspar ; some is dark- grey, streaked with striae of yeUow ironstone ; some is reddish- grey ; and some approaches the charac ter of marble, very weU suited for ornamental architectural work, but not sufficiently saccharoid in texture to render it applicable for statuary purposes. Most of these Umestones are dolomitic, though both the white and Ught-grey varieties are burned for lime. Many of them are copiously striped with intercoUary layers of the black oxide and carbonate of iron, and aU of them are f ossilif erous. - Associated with this formation are occasional deposits of ironstone, which were at one tune worked much more extensively than they are now. There are stiU the remains of ancient quarries (they hardly deserve the name of mines), which gave work at one time, it is said, to no fewer than 700 famiUes. Now there are not more than 11 houses in the village of Umar inhabited by iron-workers, and the old disused quarries have become yawning caves, often frequented by tigers, who find in the perennial stream flowing past the vUlage, and in the wild brushwood jungle covering the surrounding bills, a pleasant retreat during the hotter and drier seasons of the year. The ironstone is not found in veins, but Ues very irregularly dispersed. The distribution of the metal, too, within the ore is yery irregular, sometimes exhibiting an appearance of partial infiltration ; sometimes the iron is more homogeneously diffused. ( 207 ) and sometimes it is deposited in drusic cavities in the form of crystaUized carbonate of iron. Nor is it rich in ore, yelding probably not more than 15 to 20 per cent. ; but it is of the kind caUed spathic iron, and is weU adapted for the manufacture of steel. Yellow and brown ochre are found in connexion with it, sometimes in considerable quantities. OccasionaUy extensive cavities occur filled with a friable chalky stone very nearly white, composed almost entirely of carbonate of lime with a trace of iron. Iron of simUar quality to that just described, and similarly associated, occurs in several parts of this ridge : but in the Biindi territory it is only worked at Umar and Pagdrd, a large viUage about four mUes to the north-west of Umar. The magnesian Umestone bed in which it is found is probably only a partial deposit ; for lying over it, immediately after leaving it at Umar, the usual transition from the lower mica slate to schistose clay slate is observed ; this latter merging ultimately into actual clay slate, forming what has already been described as the great north Biindi slate-bed. Between Umar and HindoU it is schistose, much reddened here and there by Uon ; but soon after leaving the latter village, it passes into pure slate, extending up to the foot of the main central range within which the capital is situated. The slate, as far as can be ascertained from superficial observation, appears to be variable in quality ; but nowhere is it properly worked. Near the small village of Bichri, where the Mej river has laid bare a more than usuaUy compact stratum, slabs of slate of from 20 to 30 square feet in area are occasionaUy extracted, but there can be Uttie doubt but that the labour of deep- quarrying would in many places be amply repaid by the result. In colour the slate varies from bluish- grey to greenish and violet-grey. It is soft in consistence, hence easUy worked, and much employed for open lattice-work windows and screens: it absorbs about one-fortieth of its own weight of water, hence it is unsuitable for exposed situations, and, being deficient in compactness, it can only be used in slates varying from half an inch to an inch or inch-and-a-quarter in thickness. It is mainly to the softness of this extensive slate-bed that the Biindi territory owes its present physical features, as wUl hereafter be shown in treating of the manner in which teUuric ' and atmospheric causes have operated to bring about this result. In approaching the great central hiU-range the slate becomes more schistose and fermginous. Here and there veins of quartz associated with greenstone break through it, running in a paraUel direction to all the other rock formations. ( 208 ) The central range itself is composed chiefly of Umestone, varying much in quality, being sometimes crystalUne, of fine compact grain, and grey in colour, as near Bdrodiah, Ndyagdon, Phul-bdgh, and Dalelpurah, in aU which places it is quarried : •sometimes loose and shaly, as near Taldogaon, where it is burned for lime (this locaUty being indeed the principal source from which Ume used in the capital is drawn) : sometimes brecciated and tufaoeous intermixed with quartz and felspar in various stages of decomposition, ironstone, and occasionaUy porphyritic rock. Near Bdrodiah, a band of decomposing quartz suppUes one of the chief ingredients employed by the glass-workers of that village for making their beads. The ironstone, as at Umar, does not occur in veins or strata, but is irregularly distributed. It is also similar in quaUty to the Umar .stone, though somewhat richer in ore, and, Uke it, associated with yeUow and brown ochre. In several locaUties along the range, mines have been estabUshed. At the quarry whence the ironstone for the Lohdpurah works near Kiddmdth is obtained, bloodstone is found in quantity. On the southern slope of the great central range, the slate shale again •appears, indicating that the extensive stratum of limestone rock and trap of which that range is composed, is an accidental deposit, and not to be classed in the same category with that which is found to underUe the slate at Umar. Nevertheless aU these rocks are enitirely fossUiferous, and therefore belong to an age immediately succeeding that of the earUest crystaUizations of teUuric elements into a solid crust. With the re-appearanee of the slate shale, we have slaty Ume stone forming the basis cf the vast sUurian stratum which extends through southern Bundi into Kotah, and as the boundary between these two States is approached, the sandstone of that system appears. This sandstone, Uke the Umestone, exhibits no traces of organic remains. It is of fine close grain, Ught- grey, sometimes inclined to red, in colour, and occasionaUy occm"s in such wonderfully unbroken beds, that could appUances for raising such masses be obtained, blocks of from 200 to 300 square feet in superficial area, and from 1 to 2 feet in thickness, might be extracted. It is further to be remarked that while the dip of the northern strata indicates the occurrence of considerable displacement, these sandstone beds Ue horizontally, and appear to have suffered little disturbance since their first deposition. Hence the character of the scenery, although the rock is much exposed, is that of low gentle undulations, without any abrupt features, except where some rain-torrent has riven a chasm for ( 209 ) itself through the silicious rock. The channel of the Chambal above Kotah, and that of a tributary of the Sukh river, furnish notable instances. Near Keshorai Patan, the sandstone is traversed by a band of dark-red Umestone, which, on exposure to the action of the atmosphere, exhibits undulations, indicating that soUdification has taken place from points within the mass round which the remainder became gradually concreted. Hard and of rich colour as this stone is, and weU adapted for internal use, or for purposes for which a high polish is desirable, it is, on account of this quaUty, quite unsuitable for exposed situations. Broadly, then, the soU of the Biindi State Ues on a vast bed of slate, with the sUurian sandstone above it, and the primary mica slate and gneiss below it, in regular geologic order. It is traversed longitudinally throughout its centre by a thick stratum of magnesian Umestone and trap, which rocks form the principal constituents of the central midrib. It has already been observed, in treating of the rivers of Biindi, that the watershed on both sides of these MUs, north and south, is towards these hUls, not away, from them ; and so markedly is this the case on the Kotah side, that streamlets having their source within a mile or so of the Chambal do not discharge themselves southward into that river, but flow northward to join the Mej naddi, the sole, or almost the sole, outlet for aU the waters which faU on Bundi territory. That this was always the case is highly improbable. There must have been a time when both the Bands on the north, and the Chambal on the south, shared more equally in receiving the water which fell on the great Biindi slate-bed ; but, as has been stated, this slate is soft, hence easily acted upon by atmospheric or mechanical processes of erosion. The limestone and trap, on the other hand, are hard, hence more capable of resisting these disintegrating influences, and the dense band composed of these rocks graduaUy rose into prominence as the slate within which it lay was worn away on either side of it. To the north was the hard gneiss and mica slate in which the Bands had found its bed. To the south was the sUurian sandstone, almost equaUy as hard, through which the Chambal had worn its channel : so that between each of these strata and the central band of Umestone and trap, lay a graduaUy sinking basin of corroding clay slate, which ultimately retained the waters which formerly found an outlet both northward and southward, and these estabUshed for themselves new and independent channels, represented now by the system of which the Mej is the principal artery. ( 210 ) Jiiversi— The Chambal, though not properly a river of Biindi; and never fairly entering Biindi soU, washes its south-eastern border for a distance of over 80 mUes. Of these, the first 10 are through wUd rocky scenery, the river having cut a deep precipitous channel into the sandstone rock. Below this point a portion of Kotah overlaps the river, but the boundary-Une returns to it again about 15 mUes further down, and the river then continues to mark the Biindi-Kotah boundary, untU it reaches the extreme north-east angle of the former State. About a mUe above this, just below PdU, the Mej naddi, the principal, almost the only, drainage channel of the Biindi State, faUs into the Chambal. The important vUlage of Keshorai Pdtan is situated at an abrupt bend of the river, where the channel, after running m a. north-easterly direction, suddenly turns, almost at right-angles, to the south-east, and, after a straight reach of 5 miles, turns back again with a stiU more abrupt elbow to its former direction. This is the beginning of a series of sinuosities which the river maintains in its north-western course. It has a varying breadth of from 200 to 400 yards, and at some places, even at low level, attains considerable depth. "A section of the river taken at Kotah in December 1870 by Captain G. Strahan, r.e., gives a breadth of 560 feet, and a depth of 16 feet of water. The flood- level of 1858, the highest on record, is given as 68 feet above the ordinary winter level, and the height of the latter above sea-level as 745 feet. At Awhra, on the Central India plateau, the height of the stream, as trigonometricaUy determined by the GwdUor and Central India Survey, is 1,249 feet, giving a fall per mUe to Kotah, a distance of almost exactly 100 mUes, of 5 feet."* At a point near the extreme southern border of the Biindi boundary, the river is fordable : so it is above Keshorai Pdtan, near Gdmoch, and at other parts lower down the stream. At Kotah and Pdtan it is crossed by a ferry. With the change in the nature of the bed of the Chambal, the character of the scenery alters completely. Above Kotah it is all precipitous rock, with wild glens and gulUes, and thick tangled overhanging brushwood. Below Patau, where the Chambal traverses the alluvial soil of the south Bundi basin, there are gently-sloping banks, occasionally very picturesquely wooded and much intersected by ramifying surface channels. Several unimportant vUlages stud the bank, but with the exception of Keshorai Pdtan, for whose site there was a special reason, no large villages are situated near the river. * Note on Bundi by Lieutenant Leach, B.B., Assistant Superintendent, Topographical Survey of India. ( 211 ) The Bands plays but a very unimportant part as a Biindi river. Leaving the Edjmahal gorge, when, after its abrupt diversion through the gneiss hiUs of Todah, it turns again to the north-east, it crosses a small outlying patch of Biindi territory on the Jaipur border. At another bend, some ten miles down the river, it again touches upon Biindi, but only for one mile, consti tuting for that mUe the boundary between Biindi and Jaipur. The mountain ranges of Biindi have been aUeady described as being connected on its western boundary by a semi-lunar ridge, with its convexity to the west. All the water falling upon this convexity ultimately reaches the Bands, while that faUing on the concavity of the ridge goes to form the river system of Biindi. It is probable, however, that in pre-historic times, the soil on which the territory of Biindi now Ues, had a much higher level than its present one, from which the rain-floods found their way directly into the Bands on the north-west, and into the Chambal on the south-east; but that this surface, having suffered erosion from atmospheric and mechanical causes, has fallen below the summit of this ridge, so that a new river system became estabUshed, of which the Mej naddi is the sole representative. No water at all, therefore, from Biindi territory now finds its way into the Bands, except that supplied by the small tribu tary above referred to, and that only because the portion of terri tory through which it flows Ues north of the long low ridge of hUls described as the Awdn range. The Mej rises at an elevation of about 1,700 feet above sea-level in the Mewar territory, on the semi-lunar ridge above referred to, and, after filling the Dhunwdrah tank, continues a course almost due north through Mewar for nearly 13 mUes, entering the Biindi territory near the village of Nagar in a north easterly direction. After a course of two miles, the boundary-line between Bundi and Mewar again reverts to it ; and continues along its bed for a distance of nearly six miles, after which the Mej becomes for the remainder of its length, about 92 miles, solely a river of Bundi, the only one indeed by means of which that territory is irrigated. Making now a more easterly deflection to a Uttie beyond Dabldnah, it then incUnes almost due east, and, after a course of about 16 mUes in that direction, it turns abruptly to the south near Gudha, cuts its way through the central Biindi range of hiUs, and, emerging thence near Khatgarh, bends with a long and tortuous sweep again to the eastward, and flnaUy skirting the base of the hUl range, and maintaining a direction somewhat in conformity with it, faUs ultimately into the Chambal near PdU at the extreme north-west angle of the State. ( 212 ) Keeping in view, therefore, the division into northern and southern Biindi by the central midrib of hiUs, which was des cribed in treating of the general topography of the State, the Mej irrigates both the northern and southern basins. Its chief tributary in the former is the Bdjawds, in the latter the Kurdl. To the north the watershed of- the Mej basin keeps pretty closely to the line of the boundary, and the catchment-area is about 1,200 square miles. AU the water falUng on the northem haU of the Biindi State finds its. way into the Mej naddi before it cuts its channel through the central range, emerging through the narrow gorge at Khatgarh, where the rocks are not more than 400 feet apart. The southern catchment-area of the Mej is perhaps a Utile less than its northem one, and what is remarkable is that, although the river Chambal for about 80 miles of its course forms the south western boundary of the Bundi State, very little water from that State finds its way directly into the Chambal. Indeed, in many instances, the Kurdl, the main southern tributary of the Mej, extends its feeders up to within a mUe of the banks of the Cham bal, indicating that the northem bank of that river, composed chiefly of sandstone, has formed a dyke, which is higher than the transition basin which Ues between it and the central Bundi range. It is further worthy of remark that in both the northern and southern basins of Biindi, the flow of the rivers and their tributaries is towards, and not away from, the great central range. In northem Bdndi the bed of the Mej is, for the most part, rocky, and its course subject to few inflections ; but in southern Biindi, where it winds its way through a thick bed of alluvial soU, its course is much more tortuous. Never completely dry at any time of the year, it nevertheless ceases to be a flowing stream during the hot rainless months of the year, and becomes Uttie else than a chain of pools more or less continuous. But during the height of the rainy season, when its pent-up waters are forced through the constricted gorge at Khatgarh, it becomes an imposing river. Besides the two main tributaries above mentioned, the Mej is fed by numerous smaller ones, some of which deserve notice. Two tolerably important ones join it soon after leaving the Mewar border : one from the south near Dholdnah, and the other from the north near Neri. Another, receiving the surplus waters from the lake at HindoU, faUs into the Mej about three-quarters of a mUe below Bichri from the north. A fourth, called the Bhik^h nallah, after passing through the gardens at Sdtur and receiying the surplus waters from the tanks at Taldogaon, Phiil-bagh, and Jainwds, falls into the Mej on its right bank just below Bardgdon. ( 213 ) A fifth, being the outlet of the large Dugari lake, enters the Mej on its north side near Gudha : and a sixth, collecting aU the water from the eastern extremity of the northern Biindi basin, joins the Mej just after its abrupt turn southward through the central range below Gudha. In the southern basin there are no tributaries worthy of special notice which are not included in the system of the Kurdl. The Bajaen is the chief tributary of the Mej during its passage through the northern Bundi basin. Eising in the irregular hills of the Mina Kerdr near Itondah in the Mewar territory, and receiving the surplus water from the lake near that viUage, it enters' Bundi territory shortly afterwards in a north-easterly direction, skirts the Jaipur border at Sujdnpura, enters that State, and, turning abruptly to the south-east, re-enters Bundi haU-way between Gotra and Biindi-ka-Gotrd, faUing into the Mej near the village of Sddera. Its entire length is about 35 miles. The perennial stream flowing near Umar is one of its more important tributaries, and the Gargdin naUah another. Biindi-ka-Gotrd and Bdi on its right bank, and Eanipur on its left, just opposite Bdi, are the principal vUlages near its course. The Kurdl is the chief tributary of the Mej in the southern Biindi basin. It is produced by the junction of the Sukh and the Tdi, and two tributaries of almost equal importance which unite at Singhodah, whence it foUows an extremely sinuous course for a distance of about 26 miles to join the Mej near Pipaldah. It receives three sub-tributaries, two from the south and one from the north. The northem tributary, the most important of the three, though not more than 14 miles in length, is the Bdldndi naUah, which rises by numerous heads in the central Biindi range to the east of the capital between it and Khatgarh, and, after irrigating the land about Burd-Jdotah and Bhaironpurah, unites with the Kurdl near EdithdU. These tributaries are aU little more than rain streams, with here and there a few perennial pools. The Kurdl, lying for its whole length in the rich aUuvial soU of south-eastern Bundi, has numerous viUages dotted about its banks, of which the chief is Jaithil, on the road between Khatgarh and Kapran. Of the two streams whose union is the source of the Kural, the Tai naddi perhaps is the most important. It collects the waters of a great number of small streams which descend from the sandstone slopes of south-western Bundi; some of them rising from within a mile of the Chambal. " The total length of the Tdi is about 35 miles, a length made up chiefly by considerable tortuosity in the lower portion of the ( 214 ) stream where it winds about in the aUuvial soil of the plains, frequently dividing to form considerable islands. The musk-melons of the Tai are famous both in Biindi and Kotah. The Ghora Pachdr, a tributary of the Tdi, collects the smaU streamlets lying between the sources of the Tdi and Sukh naddis, and, after a course of about 25 miles, joins the former stream near Pipaldah. The important vUlage of Bdrondhun Ues on its right bank, and that of Nainwah on its left. At the latter place the water of this perennial stream is arrested by a stone dam below the village, which results in the production of a consider able reach of deep water, beautifully wooded on either side. It is crossed at the viUage by a boat-ferry. This stream is said to have derived its name from the slippery nature of its bed, aU the upper portion of which lies in the sandstone, and is so slippery that it is difficult for horses crossing it to maintain their footing. The Sukh river derives its principal sources in the Mewar territory, from the higher sandstone slopes which close the southern Biindi basin to the westward ; the lower or southern horn of the semi-lunar ridge. It is from this same ridge that the earUer sources of the Mej take their rise ; these flowing down the north-western slopes to ultimately irrigate the northern Bundi basin, while those descend the south-eastern slopes to join the Tdi in the formation of the Kurdl. Numerous other branches descend from the central Biindi range lying to the west of the capital, and unite into two principal tributaries, the higher one of which, and the larger of the two, enters the bed of the Sukh naddi below Merdmpur, and the lower one below Barkherah. The Sukh has thus a course of over 50 mUes, and, while its channels through the rock suffer . little deviation, it, like the Tdi, becomes very tortuous as it approaches its confluence with that stream. One of its principal feeders has cut a chasm for itself in the sandstone rock about 5 miles west of Nim-ka-Khera, at a place caUed Bhimlut. How this chasm about 2^ miles in length was originated, it is difficult to conjecture, for it commences quite abruptly with a width at once of about 300 feet, and a perpendicular precipice of about 150 feet. The water falling into this chasm is only surface- drainage from the surrounding slopes during rainfaU, and quite too insufficient to be credited with the capability of excavating so large a chasm in the soUd rock. It can only be conjectured that it was formed during the epoch of subsidence of the overlying waters, when the hills of these regions first showed themselves above their surface. The Gen is a small stream Uttie over 20 miles in length, coUect ing the rainfaU from a valley skirting the extreme south-western. ( 215 ) border of Biindi, which it discharges into the Chambal, about three mUes below the point where the boundary between the Biindi and Mewar States touches the left bank of that river. It waters a wild rocky vaUey containing few villages and little cultivation. Synopsis of the River System of Bundi. C OJ Id Chambal. o ^ a co Mej 'Baj ain LKurM ... North Biindi basin. Sukh naddi. Sehi naddi. . Ghora Paehar. Tai c PQ.9 Gen. L« Lakes and Tanks. — There are no natural lakes in Biindi. The large sheets of water at Dugdri and HindoU are artificially enclosed, where, as with aU the other tanks in the district, advantage has been taken of the natural slope of the soU to retain the rain-flood by means of a dam. Of these the Dugdri lake is much the largest. An outcrop of low hiUs composed chiefly of ferruginous slate shale has furnished an opportunity, by means of a comparatively small dam, to imprison a mass of water covering an area of about three square miles. This dam is said to have been first constructed by one of the Solankhi Edjas of Anopul Pdtan in Guzerdt, who afterwards settled at Todah in Jaipur. A large temple sacred to Mahddeo appears to have been built about the same time, but was destroyed at the time of the Muhammadan invasion. The old materials, however, were subsequently used to rebuUd it on a large scale, and amongst these is a column bearing an inscrip tion, on which the following date is traceable : Jeyt budi 7th S. 1151. The remainder of the letters are Ulegible. The pre sumption is, therefore, that both bund and temple were con structed at that time. Tradition adds that some five hundred years later, the Edni Kankdwatti, wife of Edo Surjan, caused ( 216 ) the bund to be repaired, since which time the lake has borne the name of Kanak Sdgar. Dugdri is held in jdgir by Mucdr Singh, a relation of the present chief. A very picturesque palace enclosed within meagre fortifications, stands on a prominent hill near the lake. The former is said to have been erected by Edo Sdghand Deoji, and the latter by the brothers Sirdar Singh and Umed Singh, to whom also is accredited the construction of the garden below the dam. The viUage is a tolerably prosperous one, containing about 2,000 inhabitants, and yielding an annual revenue of Es. 9,000. There are six temples sacred to Vishnu, two to Mahddeo, and two Jain temples. The garden below the bund, irrigated by the water from the lake, is Uttie better than a wood in which nu merous fine trees are permitted to grow just as they please. There is no attempt at order, or interference in any way with their natural growth, or with the underwood which they shelter. After supplying this garden, the water is conveyed away by channels for the irrigation of the fields to the south of the viUage, of which there are about 1,500 bighas under cultivation. Wheat, rice, jowdr, makka, turmeric, tobacco, sugarcane, and sweet- potatoes are chiefly cultivated. The waters of the lake also supply singhdra nuts in abundance. Next to the Dugdri lake, the one at HindoU is the most important, a flood-stream running between a series of low hills of similar geological formation to that of Dugari ; it has been dammed by a stone bund of considerable thickness, and the waters thus retained spread over an area of about one square mUe. The result is a scene almost as pictur esque as any the Biindi State can boast. The group of hiUs con centrated about the south-west angle of the lake is pleasingly diversified, and as the water forms bays and creeks where its margin winds amongst them, now washing their rocky bases, and then extending over shallow 'slopes or losing itseU among thick beds of bending reeds, it combines to form a picture which never fails to eUcit the admiration of the traveUer. The beauty of these features is stUl further augmented by the assistance they derive from artificial ones. One of the most easily accessible hiUocks, overlooking the water, has been selected for the Sandoli palace, and an extremely graceful, withal massive, pUe of buildings has been erected upon it, of which the square turrets, with their domed canopies, bracketed oriels, and over hanging eaves standing out crisp against the sky, are a pleasing prospect for miles around. Circling the base of this hillock nestles the viUage, from the midst of which rise the vimanas of some of its temples. The bund itself, and much of the lower land lying beyond iti is covered ( 217 ) with large, wide-spreading trees, from amongst one group of which the spire of another temple is visible; and beyond the bund, at its north-eastern extremity, there is a group of exceed ingly handsome memorial cenotaphs, all very nearly aUke in design, and placed side by side in one line. They were erected in memory of Umar Singh, Partdb Singh, Jeswant Singh, and Sher Singh — all members of the famUy which formerly occupied the palace. Another cenotaph, though not so ornate, sacred to the memory of Edm Singh, also a member of the same family, stands at the other extremity of the dam. The palace is said to have been buUt in Sambat 1706 by Partdb Singh, a scion of the reigning family ; but the lake owes its existence to a merchant named Buda Edo, who built it about four hundred years ago. The town of Nainwah is situated between two tanks formed by artificial embankments ; probably with the view of strengthening the fortifications of the town. The larger of the two is on the west. It is said to have been constructed by Nawal Singh Solankhi, brother of Edghodds, jdgirddr of the pargana during the reign of the Emperor Akbdr. In the building of this bund, a great deal of material resulting from the destruction of several large temples by the Muhammadans was used, some of the stones being unusually large in size. The smaller of the two tanks Ues to the north-east of the town, and was probably constructed about the same period, if not by the same persons, as the former one. Except the artificial sheets of water in and near the capital, there are few other tanks worthy of special description in the districts of Biindi. There is a tolerably good-sized one at Tdlwds near the fort of Ajitgarh, but throughout the State, as is the case with most others in Edjpiitdnd where there is no other available source of water-supply, every village has at least one, and some times two tanks used for purposes of irrigation, as well as for the supply of the usual domestic wants of the villagers. There are two tanks of importance within the precincts of the capital : (1) Jait or Jodh Sdgar, and (2) the Naulakhah Taldo ; and there is one in tolerably close proximity also worthy of mention, viz., Phiil Sdgar. The great gap in the central Biindi range, which suggested the buUding of a capital there, is pecuUar in character. It seems almost as if the continuity of the southern ridge at this point had been forcibly rent by the detachment of a huge mass of moun tain, which now occupies a site between the two ridges. There has thus been made an accessible entrance from the south, having outlets northward on either side of this detached mountain ( 218 ) mass ; the western one giving exit to the DeoU and Nasirabdd road, and the eastern one to the Tonk road. It is in this latter outlet, at the north-west angle of the city, that Jait Sdgar is situated ; advantage having been taken of the narrow gorge left there to build a dam of remarkable strength and enclose a consi derable sheet of water, which offers one of the most picturesque scenes in the Bundi territory. When full, this lake is nearly seven furlongs in length, and averages about one and-a-half in breadth. It covers about 84 bighas of land. Either looking up from the Ghati gate towards the point of influx of its waters, or proceeding a little further along the road which skirts its northern boundary and looking down towards the city — in both cases an exceedingly picturesque scene is disclosed to the traveller, in which hiU and wood and prominent arcMtectural features are most pleasingly blent. This lake is said to have been constructed by Jaita, a former Mina ruler of Biindi. On the bund stands an open palace, Uke many to be met with in Edjputdnd, erected for the occasional visits of the chief. This is said to have been buUt by Sukhrdm Dhdbhdi, and bears the name of the Sukh Mahal to this day. A lamentable occurrence is connected with the history of this lake. In Sambat 1763, Jodha Singh, brother of Eao Edjd Budha Singh, the then reigning chief, was drowned in it by the upsetting of a boat at the Gargbr festival, which has never since been celebrated at Biindi. The Naulakhah Taldo is situated at the south-west angle of the capital, and is about two furlongs in length by about one in breadth. Though much smaller than the one just described, it too is very picturesque, and offers from its southern bank one of the most impressive views of the Biindi palace. It is the chief bathing resort of the inhabitants. The Phiil Sdgar, situated north of the DeoU and Nasirdbdd road, before reaching Taldogdon from Biindi, is the source of water-supply to the adjoining pleasure- garden, said to have been constructed by, or for, a concubine of Edo Edjd Bhoj Singh in Sambat 1659. Here is a cheerful little summer-palace, with balconies overlooking a small walled-in basin of water crowded with lotus-flowers. The larger lake is beyond on the south side, and, at the height of a full rainy season, its limits extend as far as the village of Taldogdon on one side, and that of Rdmpurah on the other ; but as the soU which forms its basin is somewhat porous, it soon dries up. History. — The history of the Bundi State is the history, so far as it can be extracted from chronicles and genealogies, of the family of the ruling chief, and of the fortunes of his clan in settling themselves in this part of the country. The annals of the ( 219 ) chief's family have been lately compiled by the hereditary bard and genealogist, under the supervision of the present Mahdrdo Edjd. The chiefs of Biindi belong to the Hdra sept of the great clan of the Chohdns, and the country which this sept has occupied for many centuries is called Hdraoti. The lineage begins, as usual, with the miraculous birth of a hero, who became a great conqueror ; and the chronicle goes on to recite the names and deeds of many successive warlike chiefs. All that can be dis tinctly collected from these records is that the Hdras went through the ordinary course of incessant fighting with rival clans for lands and dominion, that they drove out or extirpated the non- Eajput tribes whom they found in occupation (a massacre of the Minas in the fourteenth century is particularly mentioned, which cleared the country round Biindi itself) ; that they built strong places, and gradually acquired predominance in the eastern districts, which they still hold. The chiefs appear to have admitted the supremacy of the Sesodia chiefs at Chitor whenever the latter were strong enough to enforce it ; and to have enlarged their borders at the expense or in defiance of the Sesodia suzerain whenever he was weakened by foreign invasions. Ala-ud-din's sack of Chitor gave them an opportunity of this sort ; the Hdra country being protected by a range of hills and wilds from easy invasion out of the Mewar plains. There are numerous accounts of feuds and battles between Biindi and Chitor, two capitals distant about sixty miles ; but the most dangerous enemy of the Hdras in the fifteenth century was the powerful Muhammadan dynasty of Malwa, and it appears that at one time Biindi was taken and sacked by an army from Mdndu under a son of Mahmud KhUzi (1457 A.D.), who left an officer in command of the fort. The Malwa armies seem to have constantly invaded and devastated all Eastern Edjputdnd, penetrating through the more accessible routes as far even as Ajmer ; and in the beginning of the sixteenth century the Hdras made common cause with the Sesodias in resisting the attacks of the combined forces of Guzerat and Malwa. We may conclude generally that these eastern chiefs were pressed hard by the Muhammadans from the open south-west country, until Edna Sanga restored the power of the Rdjputs, and retook from the Muhammadans their most important fortresses in this quarter; but this brief period of brilUant revival ended with the great defeat of the Edna at Eathepur Sikri; and Bahadur Shah of Guzerdt soon after took Chitor, when Edo Arjun of Biindi with his Hdras was slain in the storm. Sher Shah the Afghan also marched down into this country, and again took Chitor ; though, after his death, the Hdras got possession of the great fort of Einthanbor on their eastern ( 220 ) border, which had long been an imperial outpost. This they held as feudatories of the Sesodia chief ; but when Akbdr undertook the pacification of Edjpiitdnd, he induced the Hdra chief to transfer his aUegiance to the emperor of Delhi, and the fortress after a short siege. He (Eai Surjan) and his sons entered the service of Akbdr, receiving rank and pay. Prom this time forward ceased the supremacy of the Sesodias, and began the connection of the Haras of Biindi with the Mughal emperors. Several of their chiefs took service mth the emperors, obtained high rank at the Delhi Court, and received large grants of lands, which were alternately resumed and restored as the chiefs lost or gained favor, or took the wrong or right side in the dynastic struggles for the throne of Delhi. The bravery of the Hdra chiefs in the field is constantly recorded ; they accompanied the emperor upon distant expeditions, and took leading parts in the political revolutions of the time. One of them feU fighting for Ddra in the decisive battle near Agra (1658 A.D.), and of course his family became the object of Aurangzeb's revenge; who, however, pardoned the Hdras after a vain attempt to ruin them. Another chief had better luck in the battle for Aurangzeb's vacant throne, for he took the winning side of Bahadur Shah, whUe his kinsman of Kotah was kiUed on the losing side, whereby the Bundi famUy secured predominance for the time. Soon after, however, a furious feud broke out between the Biindi chief and the powerful Jai Singh of Amber (now Jaipur), when the Biindi chief was driven out of his land, and died in exile ; whUe the Kotah and Amber chiefs annexed large portions of his territory. His successor appealed to Malhar Edo Holkar, who forced the Amber Edjd to disgorge, and replaced the Biindi chief, keep ing Pdtan as payment for his services. After this the most important incident chronicled is the death of Ednd Ursi of Udaipur, who was kUled by the Edo of Biindi during a hunting- party, whence arose a feud> between the two great houses which is not yet forgotten. Prom the time of the appearance of the Marathas in these parts, the Edjpiit States were constantly exposed to plundering excursions and heavy contributions, with occasional loss of territory ; and Biindi was among the greatest sufferers. In 1804, the chief of Biindi assisted Colonel Monson's expedition against Holkar through his country, and gave friendly aid when Monson was forced to retreat. Erom that time up to 1817, the Marathas and Pinddris constantly ravaged the State ; exacting tribute, and assuming supremacy. The territory of Biindi was so situated as to be of great importance during the war in 1817 in cutting off the flight of the Pinddris. Mahdrdo Bishen Singh early accepted the British alUance, and a treaty ( 221 ) was concluded with him on the 10th Pebruary 1818. Although his forces were inconsiderable, he co-operated heartily with the British Government. It was this connection with the British (iovernment that raised Bundi from the lamentable condition to which it was reduced by the Marathas. The present chief is, by date of accession, the senior of the ruling native princes in India. He came to the throne in 1821, and has governed his country with ability and popularity for fifty-six years. Population. —The following return is from an enumeration recently made, but it is only approximately correct :— Census of the Bmdi State. POPCLATIOW. Caste. Men. Womea. Boys. Girls. Total. Brahman 6,734 3,331 3,164 2,244 15,473 Eajput 2,393 2,186 1,251 928 6,758 Mahajan 4,660 4,210 2,128 1,449 12,447 Mali 5,291 5,285 3,347 2,374 16,297 Giijar 9,131 8,793 5,748 3,797 27,469 Mina 10,754 9,546 6,717 4,693 31,710 Chamar and Balai 10,460 10,425 6,486 5,128 32,499 Mu.salman ... 1,591 1,539 871 658 4,659 Other castes ... 24,445 24,079 13,425 9,410 71,359 Totals 75,459 69,394 43,137 30,681 218,671 Castes, Clans, and Tribes. — The principal Hindu castes in the Biindi State may be thus classed : — Brdhmans, sub-divided into Sadu, Gaur, Sanadh, Parikh, Giijar, Doima, Palliwdl, and Ndgars ; in the toAvn predominate Sarusruth, andiSikhwdl in small numbers. They have, as usual, some tincture of letters ; some of them take service, and a few cultivate : there are Brdhman patels in many villages. Of the official families, the first in consideration and importance belongs to the Nagar Bohra division of Brdhmans ; which family has been for two generations in the service of the State ; one of its mem bers having been prime-minister during a long and important period. Edjpiits are divided into Hdras, Solankhi, Chohdn, Edthor pre dominate, but Sesodia, Gaur, Edthwa, Dubia, Parihdr are found in small numbers. The principal houses of the Edjput aristocracy are Kdpran, Dugdri, Nagki-ka-Kherd, Jujdwar, Gotrd, Pagdra, and Bdrondan. The first five are offshoots of the stock of the ruling family. Pagdra is Solankhi ; and Bdrondan, Eathor. There are other minor Sirdars and Thakurs. AU hold their lands ( 222 ) on a fixed tenure, varying with each estate, some doing service in person, others sending a contingent or paying a money commuta tion. The Edjpiits, as a body, own or cultivate land, or take service. The commercial classes are either orthodox Hindus or of the Jain sect, with the usual sub-divisions known in Northern India ; Agarwdlds, Mahesri and Oswdl divisions predominate. _ To these classes belong also many of the writers and accountants in the ser vice of the State. The Chdrans and Bhdts, keepers of genealogies and family bards, hold in Bundi their usual rank of honour ; they sometimes take service, or trade, and occasionally hold grants of land. Bhdts act as marriage negotiators and reciters of genealogical history of all classes of Hindus. Both Chdrans and Bhdts follow the profession of Banjdrdhs, or carriers and traders with pack- buUocks. Kdyaths are of two classes in Biindi, viz., Mdthur and Bhut- ndjar. These again are sub-divided into Desi (native) and Pardesi (foreigner), who do not intermarry with each other ,^ and whose customs differ. The profession of all is service as writers, and, as a class, they are neither rich nor poor. The ordinary artizan classes need no special description : the skiUed craftsmen are not numerous. The Lohdrs or smiths can manufacture only the rudest rural implements, and can scarcely maintain themselves by their profession alone, without adding to their incomes by agriculture. The town of Bundi, however, contains the shops of eight or ten blacksmiths who manufacture daggers and bits, the former of which are famous in Edjputdnd. Lohdrs in this State also extract iron from the ore, by smelt ing, in several places. Lakhera or makers of lac bangles. They also paint wooden dolls and other articles with coloured lac. The miscellaneous professional or manufacturing castes and callings common in India are represented ; but there is no peculiar manufacture, and local industries are mostly in the rough ; all the finer and better kinds of commodities being imported. Professions followed by Musalmdns, — In the Bundi State, besides the common sub-divisions of Shekh, Sdyyid, and Pathdn, are found the Mewdttis and a few of the Bohra sect. The Musal mdn usually prefers service — ^miUtary, civil, or domestic — though he also practises such industries as cotton-dressing, embroidery, and the like. The Bohra is almost wholly a trading class. The Parihdr Minas. — The portion of the territories of Biindi, Mewar, and Jaipur inhabited by this tribe is called the Kerar, and is situated in the immediate vicinity of DeoU, the head- quarters ( 223 ) of the Hdraoti and Tonk Agency. It extends in an easterly direction from the town of Jahdzpur in the Mewar State to a distance of about 12 miles. The Parihar Minas are said to be a cross between the Parihdr Edjputs of Mundor in Marwar, and the aboriginal Minas of Edjpiitdnd divided into 38 clans. It seems certain that they represent the earlier tribes whom the Edjpiits drove into the jungles, where they did not exterminate them when they seized this country, and they are probably in the main of half-blood between the conquered and conquerors. They profess to trace their descent from Shoma, son of Nahar Edo, king of Mundor, who married a Mina woman, settled in the Kherdr, and became the progenitor of its present inhabitants, and of others scattered over the adjacent districts of Ajmer, Jaipur, and Biindi. An inscription in a temple at the Kerar viUage of Umar would fix the date of their advent about the twelfth century A.D. Within a radius of 50 miles, every vUlage contains two or three famUies of Parihdr Minas. They do not intermarry with the other groups of Minas in Sirohi and in northern Jaipur and Alwar. The Parihdr Minas inherit much of the pride, spirit, and superstition of their Edjpiit descent. As a plundering class, they have ever been conspicuous as daring and expert leaders. Until lately, dacoity was with them a profession and a favourite pastime, and they have always taken advantage of pubUc disorder to com mit great excesses. On the other hand, they have usually been put down with much severity. Zdlim Singh of Kotah slaughtered them far and wide ; nor were they brought under control after 1857 without very sharp and summary processes. Personally they are athletic and brave, taU, handsome, and pleasing in address, and sensible of kindness, but they are blood thirsty and revengeful. Private quarrels are always attended with serious crime. Except the cow and wUd-boar, they eat flesh of all kinds ; for this abstention from the latter, a legendary tale is told of a former Parihdr prince having been led to a stream near Pokur whUe pursuing a boar, the waters of which cured him from a loathsome disease. Since then the animal is considered sacred by aU clans descended from the Parihars. The Parihdr Minas indulge freely in spirits, opium, and tobacco. The bow, spear, and katdr are their chief weapons, in the use of which they are very expert. Some have matchlocks. The Parihdr Mina follows the Edjpiit marriage-law, which prohibits marriage between two members of the same kindred clan. Differing from Edjpiit custom, the Mina receives pay ment for his daughter. Mina mdows re-marry, but not in the ( 224 ) same clan to which their parents belong. A man may marry an elder brother's widow, but not that of a younger. In 1874-75 it was reported that no instance of female infan ticide, once so universal, had been detected for many years. Though thus apparently suppressed, the very circumstances of the Parihdrs, with marriageable daughters remaining unmarried on their hands, and others springing up, offer, from a native point of view, a terrible incentive to the continuation of the crime, and make one hesitate to conclude that it has been eradicated. Looked down upon as an outcast by all the other branches of the Mina race, and forbidden to marry a female of their own clan, it is only with the greatest difficulty they can get wives for themselves or husbands for their daughters. Beligion. — The general Hinduism in Biindi is of the orthodox form and description, requiring no special account. Of the sects, or fraternities with peculiar doctrines or worship, may be men tioned first the Ndgas, sub-divided into Dddupanthi, Eamnath, and Vishnu Swdmi. The first-named sect follows the teaching of a spiritual leader called Dddu Pant, weU known in Edjputdnd ; the two latter represent different branches of the Vaishnava worship. The Ndgas are mostly in miUtary service ; and aU the sects have many members who follow lay caUings. Celibacy is strictly observed among Nagas, who recruit their body by taking children from others as chelas or foUowers. Khdki. — The men of this sect lead mendicant lives. They wear only a piece of thick cord round the loins, and are profusely smeared with ash of cowdung. The sect of the Edm Sanehi, or " affection to Edm," had its origin in Edjputdnd, and has its head- quarters at Shdhpurah. Its followers do not worship any images, and its teaching is toward spiritual reUgion and ethical reforms. Its apostles are directed always to go about two-and- two, and to have no superfluity of garments or provisions. The Kabirpanthis are a sect weU known throughout Hindustan. Administration, Sj-c .— Administrative Sub -divisions. — ^The to tal number of towns, vUlages, and hamlets in the Bundi State is 853, divided as foUows : — Khalsa (or paying rents directly to the public treasury) ... 615 Zpnana (assignments to the householder in dower) ... 45 Wiidak (rehgious and charitable grants) ... ... 27 Personal estates, appanage or allotments to members of the chief 's family ... ... ... 20 f Jagirdars ... ... .., ... 106 Owned by < Officials ... .., ... ... 23 ( Bhdts and Charans ..'. f. ... 14 Total ... 853 ( 225 ) The total revenue of the State is estimated at Es. 10,14,000, of which about Es. 8,50,000 is derived from the land. The assign ments, allotments, and endowments diminish by about Es. 3,50,000 the land-revenue demand of the treasury ; leaving the effective in come of the State at about Es. 6,64,000,'of which about Es. 64,000 comes from customs. But it is not possible to obtain accurate accounts of the finances, though these figures probably give a fair general idea of the State's resources. P'or purposes of administration, the State is divided into ten parganas, namely : — (1) Barodiah. (2) Bansi. (3) Nainwah. (4) Tamaidi. (5) Karwar. (6) Lakheri. (7) Ganidoli. (8) Keshorai Patan (9) Loecha. (10) Sillor. These again are sub-divided into 22 tdlukas, each presided over by an officer caUed the tdlukddr, who exercises revenue, civil, and criminal jurisdiction within certain limits. Civil cases are adjudi cated chiefly by arbitration (punchayat) , or else by the tdlukddr himself. As a general rule, the cases disposed of by this offical are not of large value. Both parties have to pay 6^ per cent, as court- fees. No regular procedure prevails for execution of decrees. As soon as a case is disposed of, some arrangement is effected, either by instalments or otherwise, for payment of the debt. No written codes exist. Lighter offences can be tried by the tdlukddr, whose powers in this respect extend to 15 days' imprisonment and a fine of Es. 11. He cannot take any cognizance of serious offences, but only reports such complaints to a higher authority. In revenue matters, only disputes regarding land between inhabi tants of the same village can be decided by the tdlukddr, but those in which two villages are concerned must be reported to head- quar ters, where they are either disposed of, or the tdlukddr is empower ed to adjudicate. This officer also conducts aU revenue matters regarding the State, making assessments and realizing the rents, Avhich he from time to time remits to the treasury at the capital. Nominally the tdlukddrs are invested with police powers, but they have neither time nor inclination to suppress or detect crime. If the person robbed is fortunate enough to trace either his pro perty or the perpetrators, the case goes up for trial before the Hukam-ki-Katcheri; otherwise there is an end of the matter after a summary local enquiry by the tdlukddr. Offices and Courts of Jastice. — In the capital there are eight katcheris. The first is the office through which all matters are reported to the chief, and his orders communicated. ( 226 ) The second, or court of justice, is presided over by Bohora Champa Ldl, younger brother to the late minister, Jiwan Ldl. He cannot be said to possess the power of taking cognizance of cases filed directly in his court. All petitions and plaints must come through the first-named office, with the authorization of the chief for enquiry and decision. Cases of a serious nature, both civil and criminal, have to go up for final orders before the chief, with the recommendations of the officer presiding over the court. In this State there are no thdnas nor any regular body of poUce. On the chief trade and passenger routes, chaukis or outposts of six men each are established to prevent thefts and robberies. The men belong to the Sibandi force. Except the capital, no other town has a kotwdl. Sanitary arrangements are not thought of in any of the towns. There is a charitable dispensary in the capital, over which is a native doctor entertained by the Edj. Minor Establishments. — Besides the eight principal administra tive departments mentioned elsewhere, certain minor estabUsh ments require a passing notice. The mint of Biindi coins gold, silver, and copper pieces — the first in very inconsiderable numbers. The silver piece weighs 10 mdshas and 7 rdtis, of which 4 rdtis are alloy. The Biindi pice is about 18 mdshas. The reverse on all coins bears the Queen's name since 1869. The metals are heated and then stamped with a die, the whole process being done by hand. Detail of the coin manufacture in Bfi^ndi from Sambat 1929 to 1932. GOLIMOHTIEa. Rttpkes. S-Ansa bits. 4-Anh-a bits. PiCB. Year. No. Value in Rupees. Fresh coined. Old rupees re-stamped No. Value in Rupees. No. V.alue in Uupees. No Value in Rupees. St. 1929 or 1 1872 ( Do. 1930 or ^ 1873 ( Do. 1931 or -| 1874 5 Do. 1932 or 1 1875 j 1510 249-6 175 1,00,000 35,00040,000 60,000 1,50,0001,50,000 1,50,0001,75,000 600 400 600400 300200 8002()0 100 80 100 100 2520 25 25 15,000 588-3-9 ( 227 ) Two-anna bits are not coined, there being no demand for them. The Amber or Kothdr is something Uke a commissariat de partment. It not only supplies the chief's kitchen, but distributes the feed of the Edj elephants, horses, camels, and bullocks. A certain portion of the grain taken as rent is kept here, and distri buted to the Edj servants in rations in part payment of salaries. The jail at the capital is a commodious building outside the city- walls, and was adopted for its present purpose in 1870. The premises consist of a spacious rectangle 107 feet long by 84 broad, with open corridors on three sides. Education.— In the English school at the capital there is a schoolmaster, with two or three pupils who pretend to learn Eng lish. A number of scholars, however, read Sanskrit, Urdii, and Hindi. Eive indigenous Pdtshdllas are attended by a large num ber of boys learning Hindi. Large villages have these indigenous Pdtshdllas to teach letter- writing and the elements of arithmetic in Hindi. Encouragement is given to Hindi and Sanskrit educa tion, the present ruling chief being deeply read in both, and the sacred writings. His Highness further personaUy supervises the education of the sons of his Sirdars. Post Office. — ^An English post-office has been in existence since 1858 or 1859 in the capital. Agriculture. — Principal Cro ps — Khs irif Crops^ 1 . Jowari. 11. Kuluth (grain). 2. Maize. 12. Kola (grain). 3. Urid (cereal). 13. Berti (grain) . 4. Hemp or Jute. 14. Bajra. 5. Sugarcane. 15. Miing (cereal). 6. Til (oil-seed). 16. Al (colour) . 7. Cotton. 17. Indigo. 8. Chowula (cereal). 18. Kodu (grain). 9. Gur. 19. Rice. 10. Moth (cereal). 20. Tobacco. 21. Betel-leaf. Names of crops depending on irrigation — 1. Barley. 6. Capsicum. 2. Wheat. 7. Masur. 3. Opium. 8. Kasum (colour) 4. Gram. 9. Flax (oil-seed). 5. Arhar-Tur (cereal). 10. Mustard. Cost of Production. — The cost of production varies according to the nature of the crop. Where artificial irrigation, manure, and more ploughing are necessary, the cost is greater. When the husbandman does not possess cattle, ploughs, or workmen of his ( 228 ) own family, it is as foUows : — Eor one ploughing of a bigha : hire of plough, bullocks, and labourer, P^s. 0-8-0 ; price of man ure and cost of carriage, three cart-loads, Es. 1-14-0; pair of buUocks for one watering with two labourers for three days, per bigha, Es. 1-14-0 ; six labourers for weeding, 1^ annas per man, Es. 0-9-0; cost of implements per bigha, Es. 0-3-0; fencing and other misceUaneous cost per bigha, Es. 0-3-0. Besides cost of seed, and rent of land. PoUowing the mode of cultivation mentioned above, according to these rates the cost per bigha for the kharif would be — Por jowdr, Es. 2-3-0 ; for rabi per bigha of wheat, Es. 9-14-0. If the farmer owns cattle and plough, and has adult male relations to assist him, then the actual cost would be about — for the kharif of a bigha of jowdr, Es. 0-4-0 ; for the rabi crops of a bigha of wheat, Es. 2-0-0. Add to this, price of seed, and rent of land, which latter greatly varies, and therefore cannot be given in this calculation. The kharif crops are more profitable to the farmer, as the cost of cultivation is less, and the outturn larger, than those of tbe rabi ; opium excepted. Agriculture. — The mode of cultivating depends on the mon soon rains, bdrdni or mal land, and chdhi or irrigated land. The manner of preparing both kinds of land is substantially the same. In the months of May and June, the land is first furrowed twice, by either the common plough or the kalli, to retain suffi cient moisture from the earUer showers. When the soil becomes moist by one or two f aUs of rain, it is again ploughed by the plough or kalU. The process of finally preparing the land for sowing does not take place till the ground has been ploughed a tliird time after one or two heavy showers. ,Por the kharif crops the seed is sown broadcast, and the land is immediately after lightly ploughed. When the newly-grown crop is about a foot high, the plough is again driven in parallel lines. Land prejiared by the kalli requires very little weeding, for it furrows deep and removes the roots of grasses, &c. Land preparedby the plough alone requires one or two weedings with a small hand-hoe. Land requUed for cotton is weeded by the hand, and, as well as that for sugarcane, requires much tilling Avith a troM^el or koddli to increase the outturn. Prom the time that the grain begins to sprout tiU the crop ripens, a good deal of watching is necessary to protect it from squirrels and parrots by day, and from deer and wild-hogs at night. Each member of the husbandman's family takes his or her tm-n in this task. A small hut perched on poles, known aU over India as machdn, is built for the watcher to take his place at night. After the crop is cut, the sheaves are deposited in the threshing-yard. There are one or tAvo yards ( 229 ) common to every village, where aU the grain is trod out of the ear by cattle, and then winnowed by being held to the wind in sieves. The produce is then partitioned between the State and the rdyat. The stalks, which are utilised as fodder for cattle, may be removed, but no grain can be taken away tUl the demands of the State are satisfied. Among the kharif crops, only maize and cotton are manured. About eight cart-loads of manure are laid to the bigha. Night- soil, cow, goat, and sheep dung, ashes, and all sorts of refuse, are heaped together near villages, and afterwards utilised as manure. The best kind is the dung of goats and sheep. Euel being so dear in Edjpiitdnd, cow-dung only of the rainy season, which cannot be made into cakes, is thrown into the refuse heaps for manure. Eor sugarcane, the preparation of the ground with plough and kalU is the same as mentioned above. The quantity of manure is also eight cart-loads. It is, however, profusely irrigated with well water, and is weU weeded. It is irrigated eighteen or twenty times at intervals. Different kinds of cultivated land. — Cultivated land is divi sible into five kinds, viz, — 1st, — Goraila, or land adjacent to vUlages of higher level than others. 2nd, — KdU, the soil of which is black and tenacious. Srd. — Dhdmni, the soil of which is yeUowish-brown. Mh. — Bhiir or Bhura, generaUy found near rivers, the soU of which is sandy. hth. — Biira, the soil of which is yellowish-brown mixed with gravel, being situated near hills. The first two kinds of land are culturable both by irrigation and by the monsoon rains, called chdhi and bdrdni. Irrigated or chdhi goraila produces two crops in the year. Among kharif crops, maize is sovm, and, after it is gathered at the end of the rains, barley is cultivated, which is preferred to wheat, as giving a larger outturn on such soU. Unirrigated or bdrdni goraila, i.e,, depending on monsoon rains, can only produce two crops when sufficient showers faU. Kdli chdhi, or artificiaUy irrigated kdli land, also produces two crops. After gathering the kharif, it is sown with wheat, barley, and opium. Bdrdni kdU, or land depending on monsoon water, produces only one crop, either kharif or rabi, at the cultivator's pleasure. Dhdmni. — Its produce is smaUer than that of the goraila and kdU, and it gives only one crop in the year. In the kharif, tU, jowdr, and bdjra, and in the rabi, gram, &c., are grown. < 230 ) The fourth, or bhur, when in the bed of rivers, produces wheat, barley, musk-melon, water-melon, cucurbitaceous plants, and vegetables, especially the egg plant. Bhiira, when not near rivers, is only sown with arhdr, mung, and jowdr. The fifth, or biira land, produces mostly miing and jowdr. The last three kinds of land are always bdrdni — depending on monsoon rains for irrigation. Land newly reclaimed from jungle, after being prepared with plough and kalU, is always sown with tu, the second year with jowdr, and the third with gram. The reclamation is then complete. Husbandmen in Haraoti do not oonsider it worth while to manure any but land artificially irrigated, which consists of the two kinds known as goraUa and kdU. Sugarcane and opium can be grown only on chdhi land. In the dry beds of tanks, if sufficient moisture exists, sugarcane is also grown, SoU irrigated by weUs and tanks (chdM) is manured, and once ploughed before the commencement of the rains; after some showers, kharif seeds are sown, and it is again ploughed. If there be large accumulations of rain-water, sufficient time is given for the soU to dry. Maize and cotton lands are properly weeded, but jowdr is only ploughed when the shoots are a foot high. The latter cannot be injured by the feet of men and cattle during ploughing. Three or four such weedings and ploughings take place, Chdhi land for the rabi crops is first manured, and then undergoes four-or five ploughings in June, It is then leveUed with the kalU, which breaks the clods. In the beginning of November, when the sub-soU retains sufficient moisture, the rabi crops — wheat, barley, opium, &c. — are sown. When the shoots are about four inches high, the soU is once more irrigated. Opium alone is weU weeded, Bdrdni or unirrigated soU is prepared before and after the rains, simUarly to chdhi. The sowing and weeding of the kharif crops on this soU are also similar to the chdhi. Eor rabi crops this soU is ploughed four or five times during the rains. When the surface, with the sub-soU, becomes sufficiently moist, wheat, barley, gram, &c., are sown. The mode of harvest ing, &c., has been given in another place. As grass is very plentiful in the country, the people are rather careless about fodder. They have the stalks of jowdr, maize, and bdjra as high as two feet above the ground. These stalks serve as manure when ploughed in. Cultivated Area. — The cultivated area cannot be given exactly, as it varies greatly each year. Sometimes a large quantity ( 231 ) of new land is brought under, at others large areas are thrown out of, cultivation, and remam faUow for some years. The area of 10,08,0p0 bighas suppUed by the State returns can only be an approximate figure. Besides the actual cultivated area, some 23,00,000 bighas are culturable waste, and the remainder whoUy unculturable. This cannot be a matter of surprise, as that portion of the State called the Bdrar is rocky and sterile with a scarcity of water, and its larger area is unculturable. The average extent of about four miles on the borders of the Chambal is so cut up with ravines, that no cultivation is possible. Land Tenures. — A hereditary right to possession of land undoubtedly exists in Biindi, though it is the practice of the State to discourage and ignore it. The zaminddrs assert the right most distinctly, and besides asserting their right of sale and mortgage, they also claim the privilege of re-occupation at wUl. The State has the option of reaUzing its dues from the cultiva tors either in cash or in kind, according to estabUshed rates. Jagirdars. — Villages in jdgir are granted only to members of the ruling family, and, in exceptional cases, to Edjputs of other clans. ViUages are also given to officials in lieu of pay, but are Uable to resumption when their services are dispensed with ; though, as a rule, such resumption is not enforced in cases of hereditary ser vants, of which there are several famiUes in the State. But more depends on the will and pleasure of the reigning chief than on any established rule or custom. Owners of jdgir viUages realize their dues on land in the same way that the State does. They, however, do not enjoy rights of grazing, and of realizing, seigneurial dues from forests and customs, except where these privUeges have been granted by the chief. The original terms of jdgir grants to relations and con nections exacted three annas in the rupee on the rental, but have been much modified latterly ; the grants to sons and wives of the chief, including concubines and personal household, are totaUy rent-free. Personal service is also exacted from the regular jdgirddrs, who by its tenure are obliged to maintain both horse and foot. But the number to be maintained is more dependent on the wUl of the chief than on any fixed rating. According to the official account, the wUl of the chief in this, as in other matters, is supreme ; he can enlarge a jdgir, or resume it for misconduct. The Bhiimia is always a Edjpiit ; there are now few of them in Bundi. Where there is a Bhumia in a vUlage, he has a few bighas of rent-free land, as service for which he represents the State in local boundary disputes, keeps guard over forts, towns, and villages during the absence of the chief from the State, when ( 232 ) the regular forces accompany him, and keeps watch and ward over any parties, foreign or native, that pass through his vUlages. Bhumias, however, do not pay compensation for thefts that may occur within their limits. As stated before, their holdings are rent- free, but every third year they have to pay a third to half of their annual income as gift. On the other hand, the Bhiimia gets a perquisite from the cultivator of a seer for every maund that is the State's due. Chouthbatta is the name given to a poorer class of Edjputs who have been accorded the privilege of cultivating lands on payment of only a fourth of the produce. They discharge simUar functions to the Bhiimia, but are excused the presents every third year; on the other hand, they do not enjoy the grain perquisite from the cultivators. Their number is comparatively large. Sdnsri is a term equivalent to chaukiddr in this State. Some years before, they had rent- free lands from the Edj in every village, and were respon sible for its protection and that of aU property within its Umits. The office was hereditary, and the holders were chiefly, if not entirely, of the Mina caste. The present chief in 1860-61 dismissed the whole class, and resumed their lands. This was owing to his having, on the institution of the international courts, had to pay compensation to foreigners robbed in his territories, and his determination not to maintain an expen sive poUce if caUed on to make good such losses. The conse quences of this measure have been felt in the frequency of theft and petty robberies. Patels are not hereditary officials in the State. To obtain the office, applicants have to pay a large bonus according to the size of the charge. They can be removed for misconduct, or at the pleasure of the Edj, except in cases where the contract is for a fixed period. As certain privileges are attached to patelships, they are eagerly sought by substantial viUagers. Patels are entitled to select the best lands and as much as they can cultivate, paying rent at the prevaiUng rates ; they also get from ten to twenty rupees, according to the size of the viUage, during each harvest from the coUections made for general vUlage expenditure, their contributions being only haU of the usual rate reaUzed from others to make up the common fund. They also obtain a certain quantity of grain from each cultivator when the produce is harvested. Their duties are to increase cultivation, to furnish suppUes to officials, to execute aU orders of the State, to assist in the measurement of land, and to keep the coUecting officer acquainted with the circumstances of each cultivator. Besides the State demand, the cultivator has to contribute his share to make up the perquisites and aUowances of the patel, ( 233 ) patwari, and other vUlage officials, and towards the common fund of the vUlage for various expenditure including that of collection. In the case of a cultivator having a well of his own, he obtains the right of pledging his land to borrow money, but the officials declare that he cannot seU it. The village Balai performs many of the functions of ^ chauki ddr, and is the immediate assistant of the patel. He has a red rod of office similar to the harkara. Grass, fodder, fuel, and other suppUes are collected through him for parties entitled to have them. He has no land, but is entitled to a certain quantity of grain from every cultivator, and presents on occasions of marriage, &c. Each large village has a patwdri of its own. Eor hamlets, a group of three or four has one. He receives from eight to ten rupees for stationery, &c., and one or two rupees for pen and inkstand, from the common village fund, and two annas for each holding during assessment from each cultivator. He also receives a certain quantity of grain before the produce is taken away by their owners. His duties are the preparation of the assessment-rolls, the payment of the rent through him, and keeping the khdta or common fund account. The village Shahina is a Edj servant on Es. 3 a month, and gets a small quantity of grain from each cultivator. He performs the duty of watching the crops for the Edj, and is responsible that they are not stolen or removed before payment of rent. He sometimes performs police functions. Bent-rates, 8fc. — There is no general established rate of rent per bigha. Almost every viUage has separate rates ; no fixed rule prevails for its determination, and the procedure is altogether arbitrary. Eor instance, in one vUlage a certain sort of land pays 11 annas a bigha, whUe in another the very same sort pays Ee. 1 and Es. 1-2. The rate, however, greatly depends on the outturn. It is impossible, therefore, to specify them all, except recording minimum and maximum rates. Culturable waste, when first brought under cultivation, pays 1 anna per bigha, which goes ' on increasing yearly tiU the fourth year, when f uU rates are charg ed. The rates as mentioned above are — goraUa, when irrigated maize, cotton, barley, wheat, &c., per bigha, Es. 2 to Es. 2-4 ; for opium and tobacco, simUar soU, Es. 2-8 to Es. 5 ; sugarcane and turmeric, Es. 6 to Es. 6-8. Bdrdni goraila 11 annas to Es. 1-4. Any cultivator digging a weU is remitted 2 to 6 annas per bigha for four or five years. The assessment of kaU soU, both irrigated and unirrigated, i.e,, depending on monsoon rains, is simUar to that of the goraila. Dhdmni is assessed at 11 annas to Ee. 1 per bigha. ( 234 ) Bhura, where irrigated by monsoon rains, pay from 7 annas to Ee, 1 per bigha. Bhura, when situated near, or in the bed of, rivers when culti vated by the Kirs, is assessed for cereal crops at Es. 2 per bigha ; for vegetables, melons, and pumpkins at Ks. 1-13 to Rs. 2. The regular cultivating class, however, pay less, i.e., from 11 annas to Es. 1-4 for similar land. The rate for burru is simUar to that of bdrdni bhura. There are besides cesses under various names and pretexts for incidental charges and viUage expenses. These details refer to places where the rent is paid in dash, but a different account is necessary for those which pay in kind or where the battai system, i.e., division of produce, is in vogue. In battai from one-third to haU of the kharif produce is taken by the State ; of the rabi, from one-third to three-sevenths. Mode of collection. — ^Where the rent is payable in cash, the tdlukddr or his subordinate goes the round of the viUages before the harvest is gathered, and measures the holdings of each cultivator. When this is finished, the collection begins, which takes up about two months. HaU the rent of the maize crops is taken in advance before even the measurement is taken. At the head-quar ters of each tdluka is a fotiddr who takes charge of the collections as they come in, and remits them to the capital, either in cash, or by hundis on city bankers. Battai, or division of produce, takes place as follows : — When the whole produce is stacked in the common stacking-yard of the village, called a kalidn, the revenue officer proceeds to the vU lage and divides it according to the proportion due to the State and the tenants. The grain so coUected is either stored and afterwards sold on the spot, or sent to Biindi, as ordered. Communications. — The main road through the State is from DeoU cantonment toward Kotah and Jhdlawdr ; it has recently been demarcated and smoothed out so as to make a practicable fair-weather road. The road from Tonk to DeoU crosses the north-eastern corner of Biindi, and has also been put in order. Over the rest of the country there are mere tracks, which serve the purpose of local traffic. Passes and Trade Boutes. — There are two passes through the town of Biindi — one through which the road to DeoU Ues, caUed the Maidak Dara ; and the other through which leads the road to Tonk, called Gunesh Ghdti. The traffic route from Jhdlrd Pdtan and Kotah northward passes through the Maidak Dara for DeoU and Ajmer, and through the Gunesh Ghdti for Tonk. There is another route from the north east through the Ldkheri Ghdt to Keshorai Pdtan, and so to Kotah. Another frequented pass through the Bundi ( 235 ) hiUs is near the village of Khinia, 18 miles south-west of the capital. The Eathi Ghdti is situated eight miles south-west of Biindi, and is used by foot-passengers from Tonkra and other places in the State on the north, to Giirha and others on the south. There are many other Ghdtis over the hiUs from one vUlage to another, but they can only be cUmbed by men on foot, and cannot properly be caUed passes. Towns.^ — Biindi, next to Udaipur, is the most picturesque city in Edjpiitdnd. Indeed, the city itself, and especially the palace, rising up above the city in pinnacled terraces upon the steep side of a mountain having an elevation above sea-level of nearly 1,500 feet, is quite as striking, and as characteristic of its country and period, as anything at Udaipur. The town is situated on 25° 27' north latitude, and 75° 41' east longitude, and occupies an area of over two square miles. Its site is very pecuUar. The double ridge of hiUs which has been described in the notes on the general topography of this State, has at this point faUen into a kind of disorder. This range has been described as consisting of two ridges of hUls running almost paraUel to each other through the whole length of the Biindi terri tory, the continuity of which is broken at the site of the capital and at Khatgarh. At the latter place, the interruption is simply that produced by a current of water during the subsidence of the universal ocean, rushing over a rocky impediment, and gradually cutting a channel through it. Something of the same kind doubtless occurred near the site of Biindi; but there seem, besides this, to have been other disrupting influences at work, for a large mountain mass appears to have been detached from the southern ridge, and forcibly driven into the vaUey between it and the northem ridge, so that- a Y-shaped channel became estabUshed, of which the present Deoli and Nasirdbdd road, and the Tonk road, respectively represent the western and eastern arm, whUe the Biindi and Kotah road represents the southern leg. The capital stands at the apex formed by the junction of both arms with the leg ; a position which could not possibly f aU to impress the scene with strong characteristic features. The streets and houses rise and fall with the unevenness of the ground, and some of the suburbs have crept upwards on both the northern slopes. The palace, an imposing pUe of very irregularly massed buUdings, crowns the whole, extending up on the slope which closes the northern side of the city. Below is a large range of stable-yards and other offices, appropriated for the use of the various members of the palace estabUshment. Above this rise the reception courts and halls of audience ; over which again are ranged the ( 236 ) more private chambers and receiving rooms of the court. Higher stiU, rise the crenelated battlements and columned chatris surmounting still more private apartments ; and finally a stone causeway leads upwards to the summit of the ridge, where the main fort and the chief's most secluded recesses are situated. The city is entirely enclosed within waUed fortiflcations, through which ingress and egress are obtained by means of four gateways, viz., the Mahal gate on the west* the Chaogdn gate on the south, the Mina gate on the east, and the Jdt-Sdgar gate on the north-east. One tolerably regular street nearly 60 feet in width, runs throughout the whole length of the city from the palace to the Mina gate, and perhaps the most picturesque sight to be seen anywhere in Edjputdnd is the turn of this street as it leads up towards the palace, during any of the principal fairs, when it is thronged with people dressed in their gayest colours. The other streets are aU narrow and very irregular : the upper- storeys of the houses often bracketed-out and surmounted with weU-projecting eaves -stones, so that the streets never suffer very much from the direct rays of the sun. There is one large temple sacred to Devi on the fort hiU ; and another one in the southern suburb of Chaogdn. Of Jain temples there are 12, and some 15 or 16 others are devoted to Vishnu. About 400 smaller temples and shrines sacred to Mahddeo are scattered about the town. Shut in, as the city is, so much by the surrounding hiUs, there is not much of interest to be met with in the environs of Biindi. The fortifications of the city on the north and south sides are carried up to, and over, the summits of the adjoining hiUs ; and on the northern one, at an elevation of nearly 1,500 feet above the level of the sea, and between 500 and 600 feet from the plain below, stands the fort. There are four approaches to it : one from the palace, which of course is a private one, one from the Ghdti gate near the Sukh Mahal, one from Birkhandi, and one from Phiil-bagh. Beyond the natural strength of its position, there is little of interest to claim attention. At the south-west angle of the hiU on which it stands runs a spur which is surmounted by a large and very handsome chdtri caUed the Suraj chdtri, or sun-dome, whose cupola rests on 16 piUars, and cannot be less than 20 feet in diameter. Beyond this, to the northward, near the viUage of Rdmpura Ues the Phiil-bdgh, constructed during the reign of Rdo Rdjd Bijay Singh; and to the south again of tlus, close to the DeoU and Nasirdbdd road, barely two mUes from the city, is the Nayd-bdgh, stUl in process of construction. Both are private places of retirement ( 237 ) for the chiefs of Biindi, in the cool shade of which they often find a pleasant retreat from the glare of the city. Immediately to the west of the city rises an abrupt cliff, very nearly as high as that on which the fort stands, surmounted by a small mosque, to which a rather strange history is attached. It is related that a certain person known as Mirdn Sdhib, and celebrated for his powers as a magician, subjugated to his service a genius named Zen Khdn, whom he treated with great cruelty. One day, however, surprising his master in a state of uncleanness, this genius prevailed over him and slew him : yet even then he found that he was unable to free himself entirely from this arch-magi cian's influence. Mirdn's tomb is at Ajmer, and a Dargdh to his name exists in Amroha near Moraddbdd ; but a member of the reigning house of Bundi, having in some way benefited by the mys terious arts of this necromancer, erected the smaller Dargdh which now surmounts what is known as the Mirdn Sdhib-ka-Dargdh. Between this and the city- walls lies the Muhammadan grave yard. To the south of the city, as the view opens out on to the plain of the southern basin, there are a few scattered remains of former pleasure-gardens, with here and there a monumental cenotaph. One large and very handsome one, rapidly falling into decay, is dedicated to one of the royal foster-brothers of Ajit Singh's time. Leaving the city by the Tonk road at the Ghdti gate, and skirting the northern bank of the Jdt-Sdgar, several pleasure- gardens, still in tolerably good repair, are met with. There are six or seven such gardens flanking both sides of the road, terminated at length by the Ser-bdgh or Mahdsatti, the place of cremation for all the chiefs of Biindi, to whose memory cenotaphs have been raised. These are of the same style and as richly ornamented as those to be met with in the simUar mausolea of other Edjput capitals ; and they record terrible sacrifices of human Ufe. The following is a list of the principal monuments, with the names of the chiefs to whom they are dedicated, and the number of women who became sati, or were burnt at the funeral obsequies of each. We may be permitted, however, to conjecture that these figures are no more authentic than other statistics of Asiatic books of kings ; and that a desire to enhance the pomp and barbaric ceremonies of a chief's funeral may have sometimes influenced the recorders. It wUl be remembered that the monuments are often erected several years after the deaths they commemorate. 1. E4o KSiS Sattra SSV 2. ESo B4* BMo Singli S. Efo Umrad Singh i. M4h&4j Jodh Singh 6. BAo ESiS Uni6d Singh 6. B&o E^jS Ajit Singh 7. Edo Bhoj Singh 8. Mo Battan Smgh Satis. 95 35 3 9. 10. 11. 12,13. M&MTij Kummer GopinSth ... MSh&r&j Bhort Singh Mihirij Bhim Singh ESo Kishen Singh ESo Bud Singh Sati iii 12 .'.'.' 84 ... 3 2 2 1 237 ( 238 ) Beyond the scene of the celebration of these barbarous rites, Ues the temple of Kiddrnath, regarded with much veneration by the Hindus of the neighbourhood; it is quite devoid of architectural merit. The chief feeder of the Jdt-Sdgar, a suffi ciently insigniflcant stream, runs, or rather drags its sluggish waters along, close to this temple, and has received the high- sounding name of the Bdngangd. Its waters are supposed by these people to possess the same cleansing virtues as those of the Ganges, and the chiefs of Biindi occasionaUy try its efficacy. Next in importance to the capital is Keshorai Pdtan. It is a town, however, of much more traditional celebrity than it is noteworthy for its size or commercial signiflcance. It is a small town, situated on the northem bank of the Chambal, at an abrupt elbow which that river makes about 12 mUes below Kotah ; and lies a Uttie north of 25° 15' north latitude, and a Utile west of 77° 0' east longitude. It is a Khalsah town, yield ing a revenue of over Rs. 6,500, and containing barely 4,000 inhabitants, cultivating about 7,400 bighas of land with the usual kinds of produce. Keshorai Pdtan claims very ancient antiquity, local historians affecting to trace its traditions back to mythological periods. In the present aspect of the town, however, there is Uttie that testifies to any such great antiquity. Two ancient inscriptions alone remain as evidence of its Arabic descent. One is in a sati temple on the Breham Ghat, which bears date Sambat 35. The other one is also preserved in an adjoining temple, and bears date Sambat 152. Long before these periods, however, and before the existence of any town at aU, it is said that one Parasrdm buUt a temple there sacred to Mahadeo. This temple gradually feU into decay, but was re-built during the reign of Ohattar Sdl ; to whom also is due the construction of the larger temple of Keshorai, for which the town of Pdtan is famous. The foundations of this latter temple were laid during the reign of Chattar Sdl's grandfather, Mahdrdo Eattanji, whose reign saw the work commenced on a scale of great magnificence, but he died before anything more than the supporting platform, which stands close on to the river-bank, had been constructed. On the accession of his grandson, the work was resumed, and the temple erected as it now stands. Legendary traditions preserve the foUowing account of the idol which now occupies it. The deity which it represents — ¦ Keshorai, another name for Vishnu — appeared to Chattar Sdl in a dream, and revealed to him the existence of this image of himself lying in the bed of the Chambal. To recover it, he directed him to throw some flowers into the stream, and at the place where ( 239 ) they should aU congregate into one spot to cast a net. The injunctions of this apparition were strictly obeyed, and on drawing in the net, two stone images were discovered entangled in it. The larger of the two was at once recognized by Chattar Sdl as being that of his spiritual visitor Keshorai, and was conveyed to the temple devoted to him ; the other, being that of Chatarbhuj, was placed in a smaUer temple adjoining. The images draw yearly a large crowd of worshippers. The temple has an endowment of Es. 10,000 yearly from Biindi, and Es. 3,000 from Kotah, The managers and attendants are hereditary, counting now about 300 persons, the descendants of one family. The temple itself, though large, does not possess any marked architectural beauties, and it has been so incessantly covered with fresh coats of whitewash, that it now looks not unUke a huge piece of fretwork in wax or sugar, which the heat or moisture had partiaUy melted. The town is credited by local tradition with having been the scene of a successful resistance to the Muhammadans. It is said that Aurangzeb, who undoubtedly bore a serious enmity against the Biindi chief, Chattar Sdl, for having sided with Ddra, sent an army to destroy the Hindu temples and shrines of the country ; and that this army came to Patau, where it began to pull down and despoil the principal temple. But just as the Musalmdns were removing the golden fiinial, they were attacked and utterly routed by Edo Bhdo Singh, son of Chattar Sdl. The original finial was never recovered^ but another one has since been substituted for it. To the north of the town, and a Uttie removed from it, stand the remains of another edifice, bearing a somewhat romantic history. It is recorded that a warrior of great physical powers, having traveUed into India from Mecca, took up his residence at Pdtan, and slew a demon which greatly vexed the people, himself surviving only a day. Two hundred years later, the Emperor Ala-ud-dln is said to have caused to be buUt the stone platform which now marks the place, and which bears the name of the Mekka Sdhib-ka-Dargdh. At that time the environs of the town were much disturbed. Fairs and Holy -places,— ^o large fairs are held in the Biindi territory. The Hindustani term " Mela" is appUed to any gather ing of people on occasions of festivals, &c., but these cannot come under the heading of fairs. Those that are essentiaUy such are mentioned here. (1) On the occasion of the Shivardtri festival (about March), a fair is held on a plam outside the city of Biindi. Besides the inhabitants of the city, there is a gathering of about 6,000 ( 240 ) people from other States and distant places. Tradesmen from Tonk, Madhapur, Kotah, &c., all assemble and set up about 100 booths and staUs. Blankets, cloths, and other coarse cotton fabrics, brass and copper utensUs, sugar, &c., are the chief articles sold. The distant traders leave after twelve days, but the local shop-keepers continue the traffic for the remaining days. The gathering for the whole month is about 40,000 people. No duty is levied on goods brought to the fair. Extension of trade may be intended, but its origin is a religious festival. (2) In the town of Keshorai Patau, a fair is held for four days, commencing in the month of Kartik Punum. The occasion is a reUgious festival caUed the " Eashjattra," as well as for bathing in the Chambal. The gathering is, however, confined to Hardoti and adjacent places. Distant traders do not attend. The total value of merchandise sold average Es. 4,000. Temples. — The largest temple and of any note, is the one at Keshorai Pdtan, which has been mentioned already. The State maintains the temples of Rugndthji and the Asdpuri Devi in the city. The former has a vUlage in jdgir, and maintains a suite of attendants. The chief himseU worships the latter diety during the Dasera festival. The temples of Gopdl Ldlji, Chatarbhuj, and Pitdmburji, aU in the city, belong to the State. The first has seven vUlages in jdgir, and the second and third have aUowances in cash and some land. Pour other large temples belonging to the Hindu Pantheon are supported by private individuals, besides numerous smaUer ones. The Jain sect has four, supported by members of its foUowing. Sdtur has a locaUy noted temple dedicated to the Eukt Duntika Devi. It is maintained partly by the Edj and partly by private contributions. In the romantically situated vUlage of Khatgarh on the Mej, before it issues from the mountain-gorge into the plain, is a temple . dedicated to a very old image (Singa) of Mahddeo, caUed Billodkeshur. It is said people from distant places come to worship here. The vUlage of Dagldoda possesses a temple dedicated to Lakshminarionji, noted as a very ancient place of worship, though the temple is not so old. The viUage belongs to the Sillore pargana. The Kasba of Dugdri has a temple of Mahddeo (Pdleshar) on the embankment of the large tank. The other is an ancient image of Durga, with a new temple situated in a celebrated old garden. The Kasba of HindoU has three large and three small temples belonging to Hindus situated near each other in the bazar. ( 241 ) A Jain temple also exists here, the waUs of which are painted. The village of BIsolah has a temple situated on a hillock presided over by a Mahant of the Edmaoth Boishnuv sect, to which a jdgir is attached from the State. Each large village possesses one or two temples, but they require no particular mention. Forts. — The arsenal of the capital lies in a gorge in the hills commanding the principal pass into Hardoti from the north, and is defended on all sides by masonry walls. Immediately overhang ing it is the fort of Tardgarh. On the side of the former rises the chief's palace, tier above tier. The summit and approaches are strongly fortiiied and jealously guarded, none but hereditary guards and a few others being allowed to enter. There are said to be forty guns in position on the ramparts. Ajitgarh is always talked of in Hardoti as an important fortress. In Eebruary 1871 Captain Muir obtained permission to visit it, and found it to consist of an isolated hiU in the heart of a wild, mountainous country. The approaches through the outer ranges are strictly guarded, and the jungle carefully preserved. The summit is formed of a table-land two and-a-half miles long from east to west, by a mUe broad, and must be of considerable altitude. The sides, naturally scarped, rise preci pitously from the deep valley which surrounds it. Owing to the surface trending inwards, nothing of the top is discernible. There are two approaches — one from the east up a long spur, the other by a steep pathway on the west. Both are fortified, the entire eastern side being defended by a strong embattled wall. Towers exist at intervals, and on the open are three or four smaU buildings, and two artificial tanks for storing the rainfall. On each side of the entrance-gate on the west are a few buUdings, in which some thirty sepoys reside. The place is simply a natural stronghold fortified, and has been used in times of national need and danger as a place of refuge, to which the famiUes and property of the chief and his people were removed. So Uttie is known of it, that it is spoken of as a first-class fortress, and hence is referred to. Nainwah is a town of some consequence, thirty mUes to the north-east of the capital, and is surrounded by strong old forti fications and a ditch kept in fair preservation, and flanked on its northern and western faces by large tanks, from which the fosse can be flooded at pleasure. It contains twenty pieces of sizes, chiefly of Ught caUbre ; only a few are mounted. Archceology.—Tlie following places are worth mention under this head. ( 242 ) Near the vUlage of Khairunak, six mUes south-west of the capital, in the gorge of the ArvaU, formed Uke an amphitheatre, are the remains of four large temples with two koonds ; an inscrip- tion bears date Sambat 1320, but evidently altered from an older era to show that these temples were the work of Dewdji's time, the first Hdra chief of Biindi. The place is now fuU of jungle. The entrance is a smaU opening in the hUls like a gateway. Eight miles west of Biindi, in a sUnilar gorge, are the remains of the capital of the former Mina chiefs whom DewdjI Hdra dispossessed, and it was here that they were finally overcome and slaughtered. Twelve nules west of the capital, near the vUlage of Gudha, are the remains of pukka buUdings and a large temple, buUt of hewn stone, inscribed with the date Sambat 1209, and the name of a Bhfl Edjd, Sdvarendra. A mile from Gudha, near a deserted village caUed Khijori, are the remains of some buUdings, a large cut-stone temple and three koonds, with the years Sambat 1561 and 1563 on an inscription. Near the viUage of Mina-ka-Khera and Gudha, in this neighbourhood, on the top of the ArvaU chain, leading through a narrow pass are the remains of a fort caUed Ghairgarh, now full of jungle. This fort is said to have been captured by the Mahammadans, after an obstinate defence by the Hdra Thakur, Edwut Gudha, about the year 1589 (Sambat). Two miles east of Ldkheri are the remains of an old town named Bachdlsa, captured and destroyed by one of the Pathdn kings of Malwa. Below the deserted town are the remains of a large artificial lake, the embankment of which is broken. A large dUapidated mosque, built on the site, and with the materials of a Hindu temple, stands in the neighbourhood. GAZETTEER OF DHOLPUR. oco ^'IJ^j^^^^s ««(^ ^?-m.— Dholpur lies between 26° 21' 20" and 7, o , ^" parallels of north latitude, and between 77° 16' 15" and 78 18 49" paraUels of east longitude. It extends from the north-east towards the south-west over a length of 72 mUes, with an average breadth of 16 mUes 1 furlong. Its area is 1,174 square miles. It is bounded on the east and north by the British district of Agra, from which it is for the most part divided by the Bdn gangd river ; on the west by the States of KerauU and Bhartpur; and on the south by the river Chambal which separates it from the independent State of GwaUor (Central India). Geology. — The geological accidence of the country does not present any features of peculiar interest. An underlying ridge of red sandstone runs for over 60 miles through the State in the direction of its greatest length. It is first noticeable as a solitary hill at Pahari, a village 12 mUes to the north-east of the town of Dholpur. At Dholpur it again crops to the surface, and thence it can be traced to and beyond the extreme south-western boundary of the State. The apparent breadth of this ridge varies from 2 to 14 miles. It is impossible at present to estimate its real width ; it probably underlies (though at a considerable depth) the beds of the Bdn gangd to the north, and of the Chambal to the south, as forma tions similar to those in Dholpur crop up in several places in the adjoining districts of Agra, Bhartpur, and Gwalior. All the lower portions of the ridge are weU stratified : the dip of the strata is generally towards the north. The stone is most valuable for building purposes : it is fine grained, easily worked in the quarries. It hardens from exposure to the weather, and does not deteriorate by lamination. The magnificent bridge now in course of construction on the Chambal, within five miles of the town of Dholpur, for the Sindia State Eailway, is being buUt entirely of this stone. * PrincipaUy by Lieutenant-Colonel Dennehy, Political Agent. ( 244 ) Kankar (nodular limestone) is found in many places in the ravines of the Chambal, Bdngangd, and other streams ; and a considerable bed of excellent limestone exists on the banks of the Chambal, within 2^ mUes of Dholpur itself, near the Agra and Bombay road. There is no reason to beUeve that any coal or metalUc ores are to be found in the State. Uplands and lowlands, — Many portions of the sandstone ridge and of its lateral spurs Ue considerably higher than the surround ing country. In some places, as at Pahdri, and in the immediate neighbourhood of the town of Dholpur, they assume the form of isolated hills, rising from 180 to 200 feet above the general level ; in others, as at Machchi Kiind and Kdnpur, these upheavals form considerable plateaux, almost entirely denuded of vegeta tion. The highlands, due to the elevation of the underlying sand stone strata, begin within two mUes to the south-east of Dholpur itself. They extend in the same direction into the Bdri pargana, averaging a height above the plain of 100 feet, and covering an area of 194 square miles. To the north of the town of Dholpur, on the other hand, an area of nine miles long by four broad lies at an average of from 10 to 20 feet below the general elevation of the country ; it was, until lately, always flooded in the rains, and later on in the cold weather. Arrangements are now made to drain this tract into the Bdngangd river. Soils, — The bed of rock is nearly everywhere throughout its entire length overlaid with a stratum of stiff yellow clay ; which again (except in a portion of the pargana of Eajakhera where the clay crops to the surface) is covered to a considerable depth with a friable alluvium. The hollows of the ridge are also filled up with this alluvial deposit ; which, with a greater or less admixture of detritus from the sandstone itself, forms, with but few exceptions, the soil of the entire State. Due north of Dholpur this detritus has, by the continued action of successive rains, been carried to a distance of nine mUes from the parent rock ; it entirely covers the low-lying area above spoken of, which Ues in the direction of the greatest flow of surface-water. The soU is everywhere poor on the sandstone ridge and in its immediate vicinity ; but it becomes richer and more fertUe in proportion to the increase of distance from the ridge, and of immunity from the deteriorating admixture of detritus yearly washed into it. ( 245 ) The " Domat," or mixture of sand and clay, which covers the parganas of Baseri, Kolari, and the portions of Bari and Eajakhera farthest from this influence, is fuUy equal in produc tiveness to the best land in the Agra district. In the Eajakhera pargana, 15 miles north-east of the town of Dholpur, an area of about 90 square miles is covered with black soU similar to that of Bundelkhand, producing exceUent cold- weather crops. Elevation. — The elevation above the level of the sea on the ridge varies from 560 to 1,074 feet. The elevation of the rest of the country varies from 500 to 700 feet ; that of Dholpur itself is 570 feet. Bivers. — The principal rivers of Dholpur are the Chambal, the Banganga (or Utangun), the Parbati, the Merka, and the Merki. The Chambal flows from south-west to north-east along a course of over 100 miles through Dholpur territory ; it forms the southern boundary of the State, which it divides from Gwalior. In the dry weather it is a sluggish stream 300 yards wide and 170 feet below the level of the surrounding country. In the rains it rises generally about 70 feet, and in extreme floods 97 feet, above its summer level ; its breadth is then increased to over 1,000 yards, and it runs at the rate of 5^ miles an hour. It is bordered everywhere by a labyrinth of ravines (some of which are 90 feet deep), which run back inland from the river's bank to a distance of from two to four miles. The difficulties of navigation of the Chambal, and its rapid changes of level, render it useless for water-carriage. Boats ply at sixteen ghats between the Dholpur and Gwalior banks. The most important crossing is that at Eajghdt, three miles south of Dholpur itself, on the high road between Agra and Bombay. A bridge of boats is here kept up between the 1st of November and the 15th June, and a large ferry-boat plies during the rest of the year. No tributaries faU into the Chambal dm-ing its course through Dholpur territory. The watershed of the sandstone ridge, described above, runs parallel to the river at an average distance of three miles, so that only the narrow strip of intervening country drains into the Chambal. The drainage of the far larger area to north of the ridge goes to the Bdngangd, the Parbati, the Merka, and the Merki. The Bdngangd, or Utangun, rises in the hills near Bairat in Jaipur; whence it runs westward, traverses the Bhartpur territory, and then runs for about 40 miles between the northem boundary of Dholpur and the British district of Agra. After ( 246 ) leaving the Dholpur State it falls into the Jumna. Its bed is about 40 feet below the surrounding country. It is a mere thread of water in the dry season, but is liable to floods in the rains, with a rise of from 17 to 20 feet. On either bank; ravines run inland, sometimes two miles or more. The Parbati rises in Kerauli, not far from the Dholpur border; and taking a sinuous course through Dholpur north-eastward for over 60 miles, it falls into the Bdngangd in the Agra district. The Merka and Merki rise on the north of the sandstone ridge within the State ; they each run northwards for about 18 or 20 miles, and fall into the Parbati. The Merka, the Merki, and the Parbati dry up in the hot season, leaving only occasional pools where the channels are deep. The soil nearly everywhere throughout the State consisting, as before stated, of a friable alluvium, the beds of all these rivers are considerably below the general level of the country, and the banks of all are more or less cut up and fringed with ravines. ClimMe and Rainfall. — The climate is generally healthy; the hot winds blow steadily and strongly during the months of April, May, and June. The rainfaU averages from 27 to 30 inches. History. — According to local tradition, Dholpur derives its name from Edjd Dholun Dev Tonwdr (an offshoot of the family reigning at Delhi), who about A.D. 1005 held the country between the Chambal and Bdngangd rivers, and resided at Belpur on the Chambal, 10 miles south-west of the present town of Dholpur. It is stated that Edjd Dholun Dev built in the ravines of the Chambal the old fort which still exists, though in a ruinous condition ; and the spot acquired sanctity and good omen from the lucky discovery of a " lingam " of Mahadeo on the site. This lingam was duly worshipped up to the year 1868 A.D., when it was washed away with its temple by a flood of the Chambal. It is most probable that the strip of country which now makes up the State was a part of the kingdom of Kanoj, which, under the Edthors, certainly extended westward for some distance along the Chambal in this direction, and must have included the open country. The KerauU Jddons claim to have buUt a fort at Dholpur in A.D. 1120, and the clan may have occupied temporarily some lands in these parts ; but they could have had no permanent territory so far east. When Shahdb-ud-din over threw the Kanoj kingdom in 1194, he and his generals took the forts of Bidna and GwaUor, which command aU.this part of the country. Prom this time up to the date of Babar's invasion, there ( 247 ) must have been much fighting along the Chambal, and the forts were taken and re-taken in the struggles and insurrections that went on, especially with the Tonwdr Edjpiits beyond the river, who held Gwalior during the greater part of the fifteenth century. About 1490 A.D. Edjd Mdn Singh of Gwalior succeeded in expeUing the Musalmdn governor from Dholpur, and retained possession for several years ; while the Tonwdrs were again driven Out by the Emperor Sikandar Lodi. On the whole, we may conclude that this tract, which is quite open and accessible from the east, was from early times incorporated with Musalmdn conquests. The victory of Bdbar at Eathepur Sikri gave all this country to the Mughals, though Dholpur held out for a short time ; and under Akbdr these laads belonged to the Subah of Agra. The town was the residence of imperial governors, of whom several monuments are left in the buildings which they added. Sddiq Muhammad Khdn buUt a good deal in Akbdr's time, and Nawabs EathuUah Khan and Mahdbat Khdn, who gov erned Dholpur during the reign of Shahjahdn, built, the first, a new quarter of the city, and the latter, an outlying suburb, which were called after them " Pathdbdd " and " Mahdbatnagar," respectively. In October 1628 Khdn Jahdn Khdn rebelled against the Emperor Shahjahdn, and with 2,000 Afghan horse fled from Agra to his government of the Dakhan. Overtaken at the Cham bal, near Dholpur, by the imperial troops, he made a gallant stand to secure the passage of his family, and after leading a final charge on his pursuers, he plunged his horse into tbe river and swam to the Gwalior bank, losing only a few men and horses swept away by the current. Thirty years later the battle for empire between the sons of Shahjahdn was fought at Eanka Chabutra, three miles to the east of Dholpur. Here the Frinces Aurangzeb and Murdd overthrew their brother Ddra Sheko, and here the gaUant Edo Eam Singh of Biindi was slain. Again, after the death of Aurangzeb, the final struggle for supreme power between his sons, Azam and Muazza,m, was fought out in 1707 within this territory, near the viUage of Barehta, where Azam was kiUed. . Soon after this, Edjd Kalian Singh Bhadauriya, taking advantage of the troubles which beset the emperor on aU sides, obtained possession of the Dholpur parganas. The Bhadauriyas remained undisturbed until 1761, when the Jdt Edjd Siiraj Mal, of Bhartpur, after the battle of Pdmpat, seized upon Agra and overran the Dholpm- country to the Chambal. ( 248 ) During the succeeding forty-five years Dholpur changed mas ters no less than five times. In 1775 it shared the fate of the rest of the Bhartpur posses sions, which were appropriated by Mirza Najaf Khan. At the death of Mirza, in 1782, it fell into the hands of Sindia. On the outbreak of the Maratha war in 1803 it was occupied by the British, by whom it was, in accordance with the treaty of Sirji Anjengaum, at the end of the same year again ceded to the Gwalior chief. In 1805, under fresh arrangements with Daulat Edo Sindia, it was resumed by the English ; who finally, in 1806, uniting the parganas of Dholpur, Bdri, and Eajakhera with the taluqa of Sir Muttra into one State, made it over as a possession to Mahdrdjd Eana Kirat Singh (the ancestor of the present Eana of Dholpur), in exchange for his territory of Gohad, which was abandoned by Sindia. Name, age, caste, family name, and other personal particulars of the ruling Chiefs. — The present ruler of the Dholpur State, the fourth in descent from Mahdrdj Eana Kirat Singh, is His High-. ness the Mahdrdi Eana Nehal Singh, a Jdt of the Bamraulia family, born in 1868. He succeeded to the gadi on the death of his grandfather, Maharana Bhagwant Singh, in 1873. His official designation is Eais-ud-daula Supador-ul-Mulk, Maharaj Dheraj Sri Sewdi Eana Nehdl Singh, Lokinder Bahadur Diler Jung. The father of the Eana Nehdl Singh never came to the chief- ship ; he died during the lUe-time of his father, Maharana Bhag want Singh. The family of the ruling chief belongs to the DeswaU tribe of Jdts, and traces a pedigree back to one Jeth Singh, who is supposed to have got lands for himself about Bairat, to the south of Alwar, in the eleventh century. He is said to have risen to honour under the Tonwdr kings of Delhi ; and after the faU of that dynasty, one of his descendants is said to have settled on the lands of BamroU, whence the family name. At Bam- roli the family is recorded to have remained for 172 years, but Eatan Pal Bamraulia came to misfortune during the reign of Piruz-ud-din Tughlak, and about the year 1367 A.D. was driven from his strongholds by Manir Muhammad, Subahdar of Agra. He left BamroU, and with his followers crossed the Cham bal into Gwalior, where the perpetual border warfare between Gwalior Edjpiits and the lieutenants of the King of Delhi offered chances for adventurers, and he joined the Edjputs. In this alUance the BamroU family appears to have pros pered as devoted adherents to the Edjpiit Edjds of Gwalior, and as distinguished soldiers in the wars against Musalmdns. ( 249 ) They eventually settled at Bagtharma, near Gohad, where the head of their house still further strengthened his position by a marriage with the daughter of the Bissauntya Jdt Thdkur. And Singan Deo, fifth in descent from Eatan Pal, obtained, as a reward for great services in an expedition to the Dakhan, a forrnal grant from Edjd Mdn Singh Tonwdr, of GwaUor, of the territory of Gohad, whence he assumed his title of Eana. This is said to_ have occurred in 1505 A.D. ; and the Emperor Sikandar Lodi is asserted to have conferred on the Eana a mansab, or imperial title of honour, confirming his possessions and recognizing his title. In this manner, at first by their attach ment to the Tonwdr Edjds of Gwalior, and afterwards by adroit management of their affairs under the Mughal empire, and during the Maratha incursions of the eighteenth century, the Jdt Eanas of Gohad seem to have maintained their footing with varying for tunes until the British appeared in Northern India. They appear to have been connected with the Peshwa Baji Eao ; and "in 1761, when the Marathas had been completely defeated at Pdnipat, Eana Bhim Singh seized the important fortress of Gwalior. Then Sindia came on the scene, and besieged Gwalior in 1767 unsuccess fully, though he succeeded in taking it from the Eana in 1777. In order to form a barrier against the encroachments of the Mara thas, Warren Hastings made a treaty with the Eana in 1779, and in execution of this treaty the join|; forces of the English and the Eana retook Gwalior. In 1781 another treaty was stipulated for the inte grity of the Gohad territories ; but afterwards this stipulation was withdrawn, and Sindia repossessed himself of Gohad and Gwalior in 1783. The Eana himself surrendered, but lost all his dominions, and went into exUe until Lord WeUesley's policy against the Maratha confederacy brought him forward again in 1803. Under the British treaty of 1803 with Sindia, and 1804 with Ambaji Inglia, the Eana recovered certain districts ; but in 1805 another treaty was concluded by which he lost Gwalior and Gohad, and the parganas of Dholpur, Bdri, and Eajakhera were finally assigned to the Eana of Dholpur. These lands now constitute his State. The Eana is entitled to a salute of 15 guns. Belatives and connections of the Chief. — The relatives of the Mahdrdj Eana include representatives of seven famiUes, or, with that of the Eana himself, eight families, known as the "Athghar." The Eana is alone in the " Gadi-ka-ghar," or ruling house. The other seven families branched off from the parent stem many generations back : all are descended from the four sons of ( 250 ) Mahdrdj Bhagraj, the ancestor in the eighth generation of the present Eana, who occupied the gadi about A.D. 1665, and was then the sole representative of the " Bamraulia" house, who had issue. Prom his eldest son, Eana Gaj Singh, are descended : — I. — The " Gadi" (or reigning family), represented by the pre sent Mahdraj Rana. II. — The "Ekayuna" family, represented by Kunwar Surjan Singh. III. — The " Pachgaon " famUy, represented by Kunwar Kheri Singh. IV. — The " Makoi " famUy, represented by Rdo Eanjit Singh and Kunwar Dalip Singh. V. — The " Eajpura" famUy, of which no legitimate descendants are left. Prom Sham Singh, the second son of Mahdraj Bhagraj, come : — VI. — The " Sur Kythoda" family, of which Kunwars Jarrias Singh, Bhagwant Singh, and GUwar Singh. Prom Badan Singh, third son of Mahdrdj Bhagraj, come: — VII. — The " Bhag wasi " famUy, of which Kunwar BhaUon Singh. Erom Anup Singh, fourth son of Mahdrdj Bhagraj : — VIIL — The " Dandrowa " farftily, represented by Kunwar Hardeo Singh, Kunwar Ratan Singh, and Kunwar Chumaji. The names mentioned are only those of the heads of different branches of families in possession of separate properties and jdgirs : the total number of the male descendants of Mahdrdj Bhag Singh is over thirty. Por the last 370 years there have been only three adoptions in the reigning branch ; all have taken place subsequent to Mahdrdj Rana Bhagraj, and aU were from the " Pachgaon " family (No. III). The " Dandrowa " branch (No. VIII) has for several genera tions occupied a high position in wealth and importance. The representatives of these seven families now take rank in the State only as connections of the chief. Form of Government. — The State is at present administered, during the nunority of the chief, by a CouncU of Management of four members under the supervision of a British officer. The Council of Management consists of Kunwar Hardeo Singh of the Dandrowa family, Thdkur Bechu Singh, in special charge of the land revenue, and Lala Sundar Ldl, whose family have been for several generations vakils of the State. ( 251 ) The fourth place is vacant, the first member and one of the principal Sirdars of the State having lately died. This Council has the supreme direction of affairs. Erom them emanate aU orders involving payments from the treasury, whether for ordinary or extraordinary expenditure; punishments, dismissals, appointments, and promotions of State servants; settlements of claims for the transfer of land, and other final orders in the revenue department ; criminal cases necessitating a punishment more severe than imprisonment for three years, and generaUy all important cases in every department. Orders in the miUtary, household, and treasury establishments are given by the Council direct to the officers concerned. Land- revenue is managed through the d'eputy collector and tahsildars ; customs and indirect revenue through the superintendent of cus toms ; civil and criminal justice and police through the principal judge of the State. Appeals from all orders of officers of the State in every department are heard by the Council, provided the appeal be presented within two months. Dominant Classes. — Edo Madan Singh, Edo of Sir Muttra, occupies the first position in the State ; he is a Kerauli Jddon descended from Mukat Edo, second son of Edjd Gopdl Das of Kerauli. Edo Mukat Edo settled in Sir Muttra in A.D. 1570. The present Edo Madan Singh is fifteenth in descent from Mukat Eao ; he has a son seven years old. The taluqa of Sir Muttra is situated in the extreme south west portion of the State ; it comprises 32 villages, with an area of 175 square miles, of which one-fifth only is culturable, the rest is a waste of rocks and ravines. The Edo is allowed to manage his own estate under the general control of the Dholpur Darbdr, to which he pays an annual quit- rent of Es. 20,000, with a fine on the investiture of a new Edo of Es. 10,000. In 1828 Edo Manohar Singh, and again in 1850 his son Edo Baldeo Singh, grandfather of the present Edo, refused to carry out their obUgations to the Dholpur Darbdr ; on each occasion they were, after a stubborn fight, reduced to submission by troops sent from Dholpur. The relations of Edo Madan Singh with the Darbar are satisfactory. Rijouni and Bilouni, — Thdkur Dalel Singh of Eijouni, and Durjan Singh and ZdUm Singh, zamindars of BUouni, both near the Sir Muttra border, are Jddons of the Sir Muttra famUy. The first pays the State a hQad-rent of Es. 1,660. Difficulties have also from time to time arisen between these Thakurs and the Darbdr on account of their contumacy. Both Eijouni and BUoun ( 252 ) were for some years sequestrated ; since 1863, however, they have given no trouble. Among the Jdts outside the immediate f amUy of His Highness, the most important are the Bidankria family, descended from three cousins — Kanhaiya Lai, Eatti Eam, and Hindupat — who were entrusted by the late Maharana with the management of the affairs of the State as Diwdn, Pdujddr, and Eajdhar, respectively — the first in A.D. 1836, and the two others in 1839. Edo Balwant Singh, grandson of Hindupat, resides at Dholpur. Hakims Abas Husen and Mir Achu are great-grandsons of Bahdr AU, a famous hakim in the beginning of this century in the service of Maharana Kirat Singh. A considerable jdgir still remains in the hands of these hakims. Mansabdar Mangal Khdn of Kire, and Haji Ahmad Khan of Gumat, are the oldest Muhammadan jdgirddrs of the State ; they reside at Bdri. The ancestor of Mangal Khdn, Bdzid Khan, first settled at Bdri in the reign of Shahjahdn. His great-grandson, Aim Khan, distinguished Mmself in the service of the Emperor Muhammad Shah, from whom he obtained in A.D. 1721 a mansab, or title of honour, of a Chdrhdzdri. The descendants of Mirza Khdn also received the titles of honour of " Dildzdq" and " Hdzdri Khdn " for miUtary services under Muhammad Shah. Among the principal officials of the State, those who have longest held office by hereditary descent are the foUowing : — Gopal Singh Sirautia, Sinauria Brdhman, now a jdgirddr of the State, and employed in the siUehdar troops, whose ancestor Manrup Singh took service from Rana Singan Deo in A.D. 1507. Dinandth Ahir, in charge of the Khasgi establishments; his ancestor Paresram was first appointed to the post in A.D. 1674 by Maharana Gaj Singh. Rai Ohote Ldl, a Sribastak Kayath, one of the head auditors of revenue accounts, whose ancestor was appointed by Eana Jeswant Singh in A.D. 1734. The ancestor of Lai Suraj Mal, another of the head auditors of revenue accounts, came to the State under Eana Bhim Singh about 1740. Administrative Sub-divisions. — Eor fiscal purposes the State is divided into the following five tahsils, which again are sub-divided into nineteen taluqas : — I.— TahsU Gird Dholpur, including the viUages immediately about Dholpur itself as well as the tract stretching north-east along the Agra road,— five taluqas, viz.. Gird 43 viUages, Chaoni ( 253 ) 29 viUages, Dang 15 viUages, Mania 38 villages, Mangral 13 viUages — total 139 vUlages. II. — TahsU Bdri, including aU the south-western portion of the district — seven taluqas, viz,. Sir Muttra 32 villages, Eijauni 7 villages, Bdri 71 villages, Sikarra 17 viUages, Umreh 28 villages. Dang 13 viUages, Bilauni 9 villages — total 177 vUlages. III. — Tahsil Baseri, situated to the north-west of Dholpur — two taluqas, viz,, Baseri 26 viUages, Angai 24 vUlages — total 50 villages. IV. — Tahsil Kolari, situated to the north of Dholpur — three taluqas, viz,, Kolari 42 villages, Bdsai 14 viUages, Sahpan 11 viUages — total 67 villages. V. — TahsU Eajakhera, situated to the north-east of Dholpur — two taluqas, viz., Eajakhera 60 vUlages, Eahna 37 viUages — total 97 villages. Besides the above, the vUlage of NimraiU in GwaUor territory is held by this Darbdr, to whom the revenue returns are sent direct. The total number of villages in the State is 531. The adminis tration of the land-revenue is under a tahsilddr for each tahsil ; there is besides a naib tahsilddr in Gird for taluqas Mania and Mangral, and one in Eajakhera for taluqa Eahna. The tahsUddrs are subordinate to the deputy collector. Copies of records, accounts, and statistics regarding each pargana are kept by the kdnungos as well as at the tahsiU : village accounts are kept by a patwari at each viUage. Both offices are hereditary. The arrangements for the collection of customs and indirect revenue are co-ordinate with those for land-revenue. They are under the general supervision of the superintendent of customs, who has a deputy superintendent in each tahsU. Seventy- five collection stations are distributed over the State ; to each is attached a group of villages, and in each the duty on articles in transit and on sales is coUected. The right to manufacture and seU spirituous Uquors and drugs is let out on contract direct by the Darbdr. A smaU forest department is employed in each pargana under the tahsUddr, which manages the woodlands by a system of regular cutting and feUing. Principal Crops. — The area under kharif, or rain crops, m Dholpur is in excess of that under rabi, or spring crops, being about 187,182 acres of the former to 123,100 of the latter, which includes 37,267 acres of " dofasU " land, from which one kharif and one rabi crop are taken in the year. In the kharif the grains most commonly grovra are :— Jowdr (Holcus sorgum, Lmn.), 69,000 acres, of which the greater portion in parganas Bdri and Gird. ( 254 ) M6t {Phaseolus aconitifolius, Jacq.), 40,000 acres, of which the largest proportion in Bdri. Bdjrd {Holcus spicatus, Linn.), 27,500 acres, principally in Eajakhera and Bdri. Cottcm, 23,000 acres, of which most in Bdri, in Eajakhera, and in Baseri. Of sugarcane only 2,^0 acres are grown in the State, princi pally in Bari and Baseri. Eice is cultivated only to the extent of 3,456 acres, princi pally in taluqa Sir Muttra. Three hundred and forty acres of tobacco are produced in Bdri and 532 .in the entire State. Tbe leaf of the Dholpur tobacco is eonsidered of superior quality. In the rabi or cold- weather sowings the proportion of gram is the largest, being about 65,130 acres : the largest sowings are in Bdri and in Eajakhera. Twenty-four thousand two hundred and forty acres of wheat are grown, of which 7,100 in Bdri, 6,700 in Gird, and 4,800 in Kolari. It is less grown in Baseri and Eaja khera. Barley mixed with sarson. is sown to the extent of 16,800 acres, principaUy in Gird and in Eajakhera. Barley unmixed with any other grain is grown in 15,700 acres, pretty equally divided through each pargana. Arhdr {Cajanus Indicus, Spreng.) is not a favorite crop; the sub-soil beisig generally porous, tbe water drains off quickly and leaves the plant more exposed to the attacks of frost, from which it suffers severely. Only 2,648 acres of arhdr is grown, principally in Kolari. Three hundred and twenty acres of land are under poppy culti vation : lOO acres in pargana Baseri, 212 in taluqa Sir Muttra, and 8 in taluqa Eijouni (pargana Bdri). Zird or Jird (Cumimm cyminum, Linn. — cummin-seed) is grown in 606 acres, principally in Gird. All the above calculations are based on the rough and untested records of the survey of the .State made in 1875-76. The statistics are in the main exact, but are subject to a certain variation in different years. The amount of land brought under cultivation is now yearly increasing. Cost of production — The cost of production of ordinary crops consists of the following items, in which calculations are based on the supposition that all articles required for the cultivation of one acre are purchased, and all labour paid for at the average market value and rate. ( 255 ) Ploughing. — Eor jowdr, mixed with mung {Phaseolus mungo, Linn.), til {Sesamum Indicum, Linn.), &c., bdjrd, mung, cotton, and m6t, two light ploughings are sufficient ; the cost of wages for this would average Re. 1-8 per acre. In some villages, in addition to what is grown on ploughed lands, poor crops of bdjrd, jowdr, and mot are produced by merely scratching the surface of the soil with bill-hooks and " furwahs," and then sowing the seed. About 6 per cent, of the rain crops are produced in this way. Eor rice and gram four ploughings are required, costing Rs. 3 ; for wheat and barley, six ploughings, costing Es. 4-8. Manure of the ordinary crops. — Wheat and barley only are manured ; the cost is about Ee. 1-6 per acre ; for cotton it is 11 annas only. Price of seed, — The amount and price of seed per acre varies from 9 seers of bdjrd and jowdr, costing Es. 0-6-6, to 1 maund of rice, costing Es. 2, and 1 maund and 6 seers of wheat and barley, costing respectively Es. 2-4 and Ee. 1-12. Weeding. — Cotton is weeded three times, at a cost of Es. 3-12 per acre ; jowdr and bdjrd twice, at a cost of Rs. 1-6 ; wheat and barley once, at a cost of 8 annas. CooUes are generally paid for weeding 1 anna a day each. Irrigation. — Of the more ordinary crops only, wheat, barley, and gram are irrigated, at a cost of Rs. 10,, Es. 5, and Es. 2^8 respectively. Gram is either unirrigated, or irrigated once only. Cotton is generally unirrigated. Watching crops. — When nearly ripe, jowdr, bdjrd, and gram crops cost about 8 annas an acre for " rakhwdri. " Reaping. — P^or jowdr, bajra, and m6t, labourers receive per day from 2 annas to 2 annas 3 pies each, or five seers of grain. The cost for one acre of jowdr and bdjrd of 8 cooUes would be Ee. 1-2 ; for mot 12 coolies, costing. Re. 1-8. Eeapers are paid for wheat, barley, and gram at the rate of If seers of the former and 3 seers of the latter, or in cash 1 anna 6 pie per day each, at a cost per acre of Ee. 1-5 ; 102 cooUes at one anna each, costing Es. 6-6, are requUred to pick an acre of cotton. Threshing for jowdr and bajra costs Ee.. 1-3-9, and for gram^ wheat, and barley Ee. 1-12. _ .• - j Wear and tear of instruments of husbandry is estimated for irrigated crops at 10 per cent, of the total cost of produc tion ; on account of wear and tear of ropes, leather buckets, &c. ^ for unirrigated crops, it is estimated merely at a nominal sum.^ Bent paid to Zamindar,. including State demand, for jowdr, bdjrd, mot, and gram is per acre Es. 6, for wheat and barley Es. 9, ( 256 ) for cotton, sugarcane, and poppy Es. 11-4, zird and tobacco Ks. 7, and rice, mung, and m6t Es. 5-10, Es. 5-1, and Es. 4, respectively. The total cost of production per acre would thus be : for jowdr and bdjrd about Es. 12-6, for m6t Es. 9-12-9, cotton Es. 25-3, wheat Es. 33-12, barley Es. 27-11-6, gram Rs. 12-14-6. The outturn of an acre of jowdr mixed with mung, tU, &c., would be about 15 maunds 12 seers, British Indian weight, of the different grains, which, with karb and bhusd, should sell for Es. 20. Thus, after defraying aU costs of expenditure, this should leave in the hands of the cultivator a net profit of Es. 7-11 per acre. The outturn of bdjrd mixed with other grains would be 10 maunds of bdjrd and 6 maunds and 12 seers of other grains, the whole selling for Es. 19-8 ; thus leaving a margin of Es. 7-3. An acre of cotton (usually mixed with urid, tU, arhdr, and san — Crotalaria juMcea, Linn., or Indian hemp) would produce 8 maunds of cotton, which, at 12 seers per rupee, would sell for Es. 26-10-9, and six maunds of other grain, wluch, with the bhusd, &c., would seU for Es. 8-10-9. The total value of the crop would be Es. 35-5-6, from which, if we deduct the cost of production, Es. 25, a profit of Es. 10-5-6 will be left to the cultivator. M6t is not sown with a mixture of other grains : an average acre wiU produce 10 maunds, which wUl sell for Es. 10, and 8 maunds of bhusd, selUng for Es. 2 ; total Es. 12, leaving a profit of Es. 2-3-3. The cost of production of rice is Es. 17 per acre; the value of the crop, 15 maunds. selling at 25 seers per rupee, Es. 24, and straw 7 annas ; total Es. 24-7 : profit Es. 7-7 per acre. Sugarcane. — The cost of production is Es. 83 ; the value of 40 maunds 20 seers of rah, at 13 seers 8 chatdks per rupee, is Es. ] 20, and the balance of profit Es. 37. Wheat. — The cost of production is Es. 33-12 per acre ; the value of crop, 26 maunds wheat, at 26 seers per rupee, Es. 32 ; value of 2 maunds 20 seers of sarson, at 20 seers per rupee, Es. 6 ; value of 20 maunds of bhiisd, at 5 maunds per rupee, Es. 4 ; total Es. 41 ; and the balance of profit is Es. 7-4. Por barley the cost of production is Es. 27-11-6, the value of crop, Es. 33-13, and consequent profit Rs. 6-1-6. Gram, unirrigated. — The cost of production is Rs. 12-14-6, and of gram, irrigated, Ks. 19-0-6 : the value of the crop is, for the first, Es. 18, and Es. 26-8 for the second ; the profit in the two cases being Es. 5-1-6 and Es. 6-7-6, respectively. Zird (cummin-seed, a spice commanding a ready sale).— The cost of production is Es. 22-3 ; the value of the crop Es. 32, and the profit Es. 9-13. This crop is a precarious one. ( 257 ) Tobacco.— -The cost of production is Es. 27-9-6, the value of crop Es. 34-4-6 ; the profit Es. 6-11. Poppy. — The cost of production is Es. 61-14-6, the value of the crop Es. 106-5-3, and the profit Es. 44-6-9. Taking into consideration the amount of capital required to be expended in production, the most profitable of the ordinary rain crops are jowdr and bdjrd, mixed with mung, tU, &c. Next to them come rice and cotton. Of the rabi crops, gram, according to this view, is the most profitable to the cultivator, after which would come barley and wheat. It must be remembered that, as a fact, the members of agricultural families to a large extent themselves work in the field, and that thus the cost of much labour is saved, and the profits of cultivation considerably enhanced in consequence ; and, in point of fact, in the instances of most of the ordinary crops, the profits would be at least one-third more than I have stated. Agriculture. — In the highlands on the banks of the Chambal, Bdngangd, and Parbati, rain crops are exclusively grown : the land is poor, and irrigation is impossible. In the rest of the State the cultivation in each season is about equal. Over the total area, if we take the amount of land culti vated in the kharif as one, that taken up for rabi crops would be two-thirds. The only three divisions of the soil recognized by the people are, — "goind," or the land immediately around the village; " manjha," the belt beyond that ; and " bar," the outlying cul tivated fields. The proportion which these three kinds of land bear to the cultivated area of the State is about 13 per cent., 22 per cent., and 65 per cent., respectively. The most carefully tilled vUlages are to be found in the Baseri, Kolari, and Bdri parganas, among the Mainas, the Ponwdrs, and Jddon Thakurs, and the Golapurab Brdhmans ; the worst are in Rajakhera and Gird, among the Tonwdr and Mori Thdkurs : these people are bad zamindars and worse cultivators. In the latter parganas, too, many vUlages are under-populated; they suffered more severely than their neighbours in the famine of 1868-69. Some of the inhabitants died, and many left their homes with their families to seek for employment and food elsewhere. The Darbdr is now making every effort to attract cultivators to these villages by the reduction of the revenue demand, the institution of a liberal system of " takdvi" advances, and by increased means of irrigation : the process, however, is necessarUy slow. ( 258 ) Cultivation is generally more encouraged and better attended to in khdlsa, or State villages, than in those in the hands of jdgirddrs or mudfidars. ' The manner and seasons of cultivation are generally similar to those in the adjoining North-Westem Provinces. Irrigation. -^Thete are 4,936 masonry and 6,967 kutcha wells in the State : by far the largest proportion of the former is in Baseri and Kolari ; Bdri and Eajakhera have most of the latter. The average number of pairs of bullocks which can be worked simultaneously at each of the masonry wells is two : at the kutcha wells, one. Each masonry well should furnish water sufficient to irrigate eight, and each kutcha well four, acres of land. There are 61 masonry and 294 kutcha tanks in the State. The number of acres irrigated in the State by wells and tanks is 65,344, or about 24 per cent, of the land cultivated. If we exclude from the calculation Sir Muttra, in which there are but few wells, we find that in Bdri 36 per cent., and in Baseri and Kolari 33 per cent., of cultivated land is irrigated. Taking the general average of the entire State, 72 per cent, of goinda, 43 per cent, of mon j ha, and 9 per cent, of bar, is irrigated. The average depth at which water is found is in Gird 16 feet, in Kolari and Baseri 20 feet, in Bdri 22 feet, in Sir Muttra 25 feet, and in Eajakhera 35 feet. Por the entire State the average depth would be 25 feet 6 inches. Within the limits of the sandstone ridge the sinking of wells is attended with great expense and considerable uncertainty. The means used for irrigation are : 1st, the ordinary leather bucket, which is drawn up from the well by a pair of bullocks ; 2nd, in some shallow kutcha wells the " dhenklds," which is an ordinary earthen pot hanging from the extremity of a long bamboo, which works as a lever with a heavy weight at the end, whereby the pot is dipped and brought back full ; 3rd, irrigation rdjbdhas from the large tanks. Irrigation, both from wells and tanks, is increasing every year. Cultivated Area. — The total area of the State is 751,216 acres ; of this, 272,970, or about 36-4 per cent., is cultivated ; 130,030 acres, or about 17*3 per cent., are culturable but not cultivated; 325,122 acres, or about 43*4 per cent., are barren land; 23,094 acres, or about 3 per cent., are occupied by sites of villages, rivers, tanks, &c. That is to say, that revenue is paid on 36-4 per cent, of the area of the State, while 63-6 per cent, is at present unproductive. Nineteen per cent, of the barren land is in the taluqa of Sir Muttra. ( 259 ) The greater portion of the culturable but uncultivated land itas been lying fallow since the famine of 1868-69 ; none of it IS first-class land ; but, as the population makes year by year further approaches to its normal standard, this fallow-land is being again gradually broken up. The drainage-works, too, in pargana Gird are rescuing some exceUent land from the annual floods and rendering it available for cultivation. Land-Bevenue.-The land-revenue of the State is about Es. 9,22,355, It is collected yearly in four instalments : in October 5 annas and in December 5 annas, making 10 annas in the rupee, are collected for the kharif or rain crops ; in March 3 annas and in April 3 annas, making the remaining 6 annas in the rupee, are demanded for the rabi or cold-weather crops. The total demand is not high, but it presses unequally on viUages, The land had not until 1875 been surveyed since 1570, in the reign of the Emperor Akbdr, and there were absolutely no records, even approximately correct, as to the areas of vUlages in the present day. A survey, preparatory to a re-settlement of the land, was commenced towards the end of October 1875 : it was completed in the beginning of July 1876. A regular settlement for twelve years is now in progress, on a basis similar to those of the North-Western Provinces, but simpler in its details. Out of its land-paying revenue, including the quit-rent from Sir Muttra and Eijouni, the State receives only about Es. 7,20,637 annually. Lands of an annual estimated revenue of Es. 1,04,567 and Es. 97,151 have been given away in jagir and mudfi respectively, principally by the late Eana Bhagwant Singh. This does not include the annual money payment of Es. 36,000 to mudfidars, disbursed in cash from the treasury. The total assets thus alienated from the State amount to Rs. 2,37,718. Land Tenures. — The land tenures are : pattidari or " Phdtwar," of which there are 384 villages, and zamindari, that is, without holdings separately assessed, 146 villages. The conditions of these tenures are in most respects similar to those in the North-Western Provinces ; with this important exception, that in Dholpur, as under other Native Governments, the Eana is the absolute owner of the land. The zamindars, or lambarddrs as they are more usually termed, are persons (generally descendants of the original founders of the vUlage) who contract with the State for the payment of the revenue demand, which they collect from the cultivators, who are either members of their own body or tenants under them. ( 260 ) They are, as long as they observe their contract, considered as owners of the land actually cultivated by them and by their tenants, and of uncultivated land, if there is any in the vUlage, sufficient for the grazing of the viUage cattle. All the rest of the uncultivated land, with its produce, sarpat grass {sarpat, — sacharum procerum, Linn.), groves, tanks, &c., belongs to the State ; aU dry or faUen trees are likewise the property of the State. Lambarddrs can sell or mortgage their rights. Sales are almost unknown : mortgages of frequent occurrence. Lambarddrs are entitled to receive 5 per cent, of the State reve nue as " mukaduami" f or the cost of collection. Certain lambar ddrs in 210 villages are further permitted to reaUze a rent charge, "ndnkdr," varying from Es. 15 toEs. 775 per annum, on the assets of their village. This ndnkdr was originaUy given either on condition of the recipient rendering certain services to the State, such as the watch and protection of a ghdt, or a disturbed border locality, or with a view to deciding the more powerful Thdkurs to throw their influence on the side of the State and assist in effecting the collection of the revenue. The total amount of ndnkar is Rs. 29,134. Of the pattiddri villages, 205 are Bhayachara ; of these, 38 belong to Gujar communities, 22 to Golapurah Brdhmans, 31 to Tonwdr and Ponwdr Edjputs, 91 to Lodhas ; Sikarwars and Jats have 11 each, the rest are in the hands of Brdhmans, Mdinas, Kachhis, &c. In some, the sub-division of Thokes Phduts have become so numerous and minute, that there is barely sufficient left to each proprietor of a separate share to feed himself and his family, and to acquit his liability to the State demand. In the Ponwdr villages of Sikarra Eawatpati in Bdri, and of Pipraun in the Baseri pargana, there are 150 and 100 co-sharers respectively, and in the Edjput village of Eajakhera khds there are 164 co-sharers ; in such vUlages there is scarcely any separate cultivating class ; each of the smaller sharers himself cultivates the land he owns. Ordinary cultivators have occupancy but no proprietary rights. Pabi Kasht cultivation is not usual : it is generaUy to be found in under-populated villages where good land is vacant and cannot be taken up in the village itself. The Rdo of Sir Muttra and the Thdkur of Eijouni hold their 39 viUages from the Eana at a quit-rent. The State has not renounced its right to enhance the tanka or quit-rent collected from them, but practically it is not enhanced as long as the taluqddrs adhere to their agreements with the Dholpur Darbdr. ( 261 ) AU the viUages of these taluqas are held from the taluqdars in zamindari "Gol" tenure. The land is not divided among several owners. Of the 630 villages in the State, 67, with a total area of 40,246 acres, are in possession of jdgirdars who, in return, are expected themselves to serve in the State troops, and to furnish a certain number of horsemen for the State service. Nine thousand five hundred and forty-four acres in smaller amounts distributed over the khdlsa villages, have further been from time to time granted to less important jdgirdars on the same condition. Porty-four villages, with an area of 26,182 acres, besides portion of other villages, aggregating 20,063 acres, have been given to mudflddrs, principally for reUgious purposes. The State exercises the right of interference in cases of oppres sion or exaction on the part of jdgirddrs or mudflddrs. Proprietary and Cultivating Classes. — Two hundred and twenty- five villages are possessed by Edjput lambarddrs, viz., Ponwdrs 103, Jddiis 49, Bargujar 25, Sikarwdrs 23, Tonwdrs 15, Tagargari 6, Mori 3, and Purhiars 1. In 51 villages the lambarddrs are Sandd Brdhmans, in 96 Giijars, in 45 Lodhas, in 32 Jdts, in 13 Mainas ; the remaining 15 villages are divided between Kachhis, Kirars (Ahir), and Muham madans. Among the cultivators the most numerous are : 1st, Brdhmans, who number nearly 27,000, cultivating 43,600 acres of land ; 2nd, Thdkurs, 21,000 of whom cultivate 66,000 acres ; 3rd, 18,000 Chamdrs, cultivating 19,600 acres ; 4th, Gujars, numbering 15,700, who cultivate 34,500 acres ; 5th, Kachhis, 13,000, cultivating 19,300 acres ; 6th, 10,000 Mainas, cultivating nearly 20,000 acres ; 7th, Lodhas 60,700, cultivating nearly 13,000 acres ; 8th, Gola- purahs 5,200, cultivating nearly 17,000 acres. The remaining 50,170 acres are cultivated by 21,944 persons belonging to 62 of the inferior castes. The average quantity of land tilled by each individual of the cultivating classes in the State, is a fraction under two acres. Amongst the proprietary class the Gujars were, according to local tradition, among the oldest known inhabitants of the country; they are generaUy located along the banks of the Chambal, in the Ddng, or ravine, taluqas of parganas Bdri and Gird. They are great cattle-Ufters. Severe repressive measures have partiaUy converted them into agriculturists. The Mainas are among the oldest inhabitants of Bdri and Baseri; they are beUeved originaUy to have come from Jaipur. They are among the best zamindars and cultivators of the State. ( 262 ) The Tonwdrs are spoken of as the first Thdkur occupants of the country ; they would appear to have had a footing here and at Gwalior in the beginning of the eleventh century, while the chief of their clan was still reigning at Delhi. They are located princi pally in the Eahna taluqa in the Eajakhera tahsil. The first of the Ponwdr Thdkurs who came to Dholpur is stated to be Lakhan Singh, who towards the close of the tweUth century emigrated from Ujain. He married a daughter of the Jddon house of Kerauli, and established himself in pargana Baseri. The direct descendants of Lakhan Singh in the present day are Thdkurs Eanjit Singh and Deo Singh, who are zamindars of five of the Ponwdr viUages in the Baseri pargana. The Golapurahs claim to be Pdtak Brdhmans ; they would appear to have come about the middle of the thirteenth century from mouza Palli in Bhartpur. The Jdts first came to Dholpur with Eana Kirat Singh at the beginning of the present century. Population, — A rough census of the population was taken during the survey of the State in 1876. The returns show : of males, — adults 101,539, minors under ten years 29,627 ; of females, — adults 67,540, and minors under ten years 29,270 — total 227,976. It may be guessed, however, that these numbers do not give the whole population, and that the census has not been accurately taken, especially of the women. Perhaps the population of the State may be reckoned at 250,000, or about 213 inhabitants to each square mile, and 622 to each cultivated square mile. Cases of infanticide sometimes occur, but there is no reason to beUeve that it is generally practised. Castes and Tribes. — The most numerous classes are at two extremes of the social scale : Brdhmans 36,884, and Chamdrs 32,092. Thdkurs number 23,703, Gujars 17,229, Kachhis 15,090, Mainas 10,620, and Lodas 8,050. The remainder of the population is divided among 75 other ordinary castes. There are 9,964 Muhammadans who reside for the most part in the towns of Bdri and Dholpur. State of Society. — The people generally are engaged in tilUng the land, and tbe whole country is agricultural, with no particular manufactures and no trading marts. In fact, the State territory in no way differs in character from any other district of the plains west of the Jumna. The inhabitants are of similar classes and occupations to those of the North-Western Provinces generaUy. Many of the chief Thdkurs and landowners are improvident and in debt. In the time of the last Eana some of them rack-rented ( 263 ) their tenantry, who left the estates. Meanwhile the Government farmed out its land-revenue largely ; and these proceedings, intensified by the drought of 1868-69, had for effect the depopu lation of many villages, a contraction and deterioration of the cultivation, and impoverishment of the country generaUy. Since the accession of the present chief, considerable im provements have been effected, and the regular land settlement wUl restore the cultivation and land- revenues to a better condi tion. The admixture in the population of criminal classes, properly so caUed, is small. The crimes of more ordinary occur rence are agrarian outrages arising from disputes regarding the possession of land, and cattle theft, which is yearly diminishing. Thefts and burglaries are not common, and the highroad from Agra to GwaUor, running for 20 miles through the centre of the State, is quite safe. Occupations : Houses.— The following is a Ust of the principal trades r-— T E A D E . Town or locality where they principally reside. Banyas (grain-sellers) 6,778 Bari, Dholpur, Rajakhera. Kolis (weavers) e,66g Bari, Dholpur, Rajakhera. Julahas (do. Muhammadans) 91 Bari, DholpUr. KumLars (potters) a,376 B^ri, Dholpur, Rajakhera. Lohars- (blacksmiths) 882 Bari, Dholpur. Munihars (bangle-makers) 543 Bari, Kolari. Sungtarash (stone-cutters) 442 Bari, Dholpur. Kussab (butchers) 283 Bari, DholpuV. Kungrez (dyers) 254 Dholpur. Sikligars (knife-grinders and armour ers) 145 Kolari. Mochis (shoe-makers) 77 Bari, Dholpur, Sir Muttra. Thatteras (braziers) 18 Dholpur. Total 18,458 Dholpur is not remarkable for any special manufacture. The work of the Bari blacksmiths is thought very good ; but they get their iron from a distance, and are unable to compete with cheaper work in markets beyond the State. The number of houses in the State is 49,302, of which 9,834 are buUt of masonry; these are principaUy in the towns of Bdri, Dholpur, and Sir Muttra. Beligion. — In religion, Hinduism of the Vaishnavite section prevails : there are some few Jains at Eajakhera. ( 264 ) There are 308 temples dedicated to different forms of Vishnu, the preserver; 58 to Siva, the destroyer ; 64 to Hanumdn, the monkey-god ; and 27 to other minor deities. Of this total of 467 temples, 222 are kept up by the State, The tutelar deity of the family of the chief is Narsinghji, the man-Uon, the fourth incarnation of Vishnu. Education. — Only 2 per cent, of the Hindus and 5 per cent. of the Muhammadans can read and write ; 664 persons read Per sian and Urdu, 21 Arabic, 65 English, and 40,700 Hindi. There are eight schools maintained by the State in the larger towns, at an annual cost of Es. 3,637. Of these, in one, EngUsh, Persian, and Hindi are taught ; in four, Persian and Hindi ; and in three, Hindi only. The number of scholars is 509. The number of schools and scholars is increasing year by year. A large number of children of the better classes read with private teachers at their own houses. Jail.— Police. — The jail is four miles west of Dholpur. It contains an average of 140 prisoners sentenced to various terms of imprisonment, from one month to life ; 60 prisoners are employed in extra-mural labour, the rest work on the roads. The dieting of prisoners is on a scale similar to that in British jails. The police and judicial administration is under the Nazim or chief civil and criminal judge. There are 11 police stations and 44 outposts, with a watchman in each village. The entire police force consists of 45 officers of different grades, 39 sowars, 213 barkandazes, and 129 chaukidars, besides viUage chaukidars. TahsUddrs have in their parganas judicial powers similar to those of a magistrate of the 3rd class in British districts. The Ndzim is authorized to try all cases ; but those involving a punishment heavier than three years' imprisonment, must be referred for confirmation to the Council of Management. He hears appeals from orders of subordinate judicial officers. Appeals from his orders are heard by the Council of Management, which has also the power of transferring any case for trial to the Court of the Council, or of taking up any in original jurisdiction. Principal Towns. — The principal towns are three in number. Dholpur, the capital of the State, has 3,337 houses and 16,000 inhabitants. The original town is supposed to have been built by Edjd Dholan Dev in the beginning of the eleventh century, to the south of the present site ; which latter was probably selected by Prince Humayun about 1626, as farther removed from the encroachments of the Chambal. ( 266 ) An enclosed, and to some extent fortified, serai was built in the reign of Akbdr; further additions were made during tbe same reign by Mansabdar SadUt Muhammad Khan ; and finally Ea^ehabad was added by Nawab EathuUah Khdn, Subdhddr of the Emperor Shahjahdn. The new portion of the town and the palaces of the Rana were built by Maharana Kirat Singh, the great-grandfather of the present chief of Dholpur. Eajakhera, or the " village of the Edjd," is 24 miles from Dholpur itself and close to the north-east boundary of the State ; it is said to have been buUt by Eaja Mdn Singh Tonwdr, during his occupation of the country towards the end of the fifteenth century. It is the head-quarters of a tahsil, with 1,194 houses and 7,460 inhabitants. A large mud fort was built near the town by Edjd Siiraj Mal, Jdt, in about 1766 ; it is still in a good state of preservation. Bdri is situated 22 miles to the south-west of Dholpur ; it has 2,839 houses and 9,490 inhabitants. Up to the middle of the fourteenth century, tbe tahsili was at Sewar, on the banks of the Chambal ; about that time, however, some Kachhis, driven from their own village of Niddrd, removed to this place, where they threw up a sort of entrenchment of stakes and mud near the hut of a Muhammadan faqir named Sayyid Rdj, who promised them his protection. This collection of huts was called Bdri, or " the staked enclo sure." In course of time it grew into a town. A strong masonry fort was built there in A.H. 848 (A.D. 1444) by Muazzam Khan, the governor, on the part of Sayyid Ald-ud-din, then titular emperor at Delhi. The tahsil was then removed to Bdri, where it has since remained. Communications. — The metaUed road from Agra to Bombay runs through the breadth of the State from north to south, passing by Dholpur. It enters this territory 19 mUes from Agra, at the Bdnganga river, and passes out into GwaUor at the Chambdl at the 37th milestone. ,,,-,,., -, ¦ l.^_ cs^ ^ There are at present no other metalled highroads m the State. The kutcha roads with the sUghtest pretension to being any thing beyond village tracks, are : — j. -n., i A road with a main direction to the north-east, from Dholpur to Eajakhera. and thence to Shamshabad and Agra; A road with a main direction to the west from Dholpur to Ban, and thence to Bhartpur on one side and Kerauli on the other ; A road having a main direction to the north-east, from Dholpur to Kolari and Baseri, and thence to Kerauli. ( 266 ) The Sindia State Railway, now in course of construction between Agra and Gwalior, runs through the State, generally paraUel to the grand trunk road, for a distance of 20 miles ; it wiU cross the Chambal over a bridge of 12 spans of 200 feet each, and about 112 feet above the river-bed. Fairs and Holy-places. — A fair in honour of Narsinghji is held at Dholpur in the latter half of October ; it is attended by large numbers of people. Quantities of merchandise of different kinds, as well as cattle, horses, sheep and goats, are bought and sold during the fifteen days that this fair continues. Goods are brought from Delhi, Agra, Cawnpore, and Lucknow. Eeligious fairs for the purpose of bathing are held at Mach Kund, a lake three miles to the west of Dholpur, sacred to Sri Krishnji, in May, and again at the beginning of September. The lake, which covers an area of 41 acres, lies in a natural hollow of great depth ; it is filled in the rains by the drainage of the surrounding country and maintained by the convergence of springs having their source in the sandstone hills by which it is surrounded. The origin of Mach Kund is attributed by local tradition to the era of Sri Krishna. Edjd Mach Kund was a faithful servant of the gods, who, having Uved a holy life, desired to find rest from earthly cares in death. Vishnu refused his request, but permitted him to seek temporary repose, for some centuries, in sleep ; and a decree went forth that anyone disturbing the holy Edjd should be consumed by fire. Sri Krishna, flying from the Edkshas Kdlydmun, chanced to pass by the place where tbe Edjd slept. Without disturbing him, the god threw a cloth over the face of Mach Kund, and concealed himself close by. Soon after arrived Kdlydmun, who, concluding that the sleeping man was the enemy he sought, rudely awoke him, and was instantly consumed by fire. Sri Krishna remained with the Edjd for some days, but finding that no water was to be had nearer than the Chambal, he struck his foot on the ground and caused a depression in the living rock, which immediately filled with water and now forms the lake. The piety of successive generations has erected 114 temples on its banks ; none are of an earUer date than the end of the fifteenth century. A large fair is held on the " Sheorattre " festival, about the end of Pebruary, at the mandir dedicated to Mahddeo at Saepan, 14 miles north-west of Dholpur. This mandir is a large, fine building ; it was erected in 1846 by Maharana Bhagwant Singh, the grandfather of the present chief. ( 267 ) The other fairs and religious assemblages held at holy-places in Dholpur are unimportant. Antiquities and Bemarkable Places. — The oldest building in the State is the dargah and tomb at Bari of Sayyid Eaj Bokhari, the faqir who has been already mentioned as having founded the town, and who is stated to have lived in the middle of the fifteenth century. There is nothing remarkable about the architecture of this building. A mosque with a tomb, surrounded by a handsome perforated stone screen, or pardah, issituated outside the town of Dholpur to the south. It is shown by a perfectly legible inscription to have been built in 944 Hijri (or A.D. 1537) over the remains of Mussunamat Zurina, who died on tbe 14th day of the month of Shabdn 922 A.H. (or 1516 A.D.) : who she was, is not known. The tomb of Shah Sarafabdal, a faqir who is stated to have come to Dholpur about the middle of the sixteenth century, during the interregnum when Sher Shah had usurped the crown of Humayun, is situated on a sandstone hill about a mile to the west of the town of Dholpur. Shah Sarafabdal is stated to have lived on terms of amity with a Hindu ascetic, Munisidh, whose home was in a cave lower down on the same hill. After the death of the Muhammadan saint, Munisidh disap peared ; he is, however, said to be still aUve, but concealed in the secret recesses of the cave. A handsome mausoleum close to Akbdr's sarai, to the north-east of the town of Dholpur, was erected by Abdul Eashid Khan to the memory of his father Sadik Muhammad Khan, one of Akbdr's most distinguished generals who died at Dholpur in A.D. 1588. The chronograph on the headstone gives the date of his death as A.H. 997 ; but the tomb was not built until A.H. 1006. In style and ornament it resembles roughly, though on a much smaller scale, the mausoleums of Akbar and of Ithmad-u-daulah in Agra. A range of palaces was buUt about 1617 by Prince Shahjahdn, as a shooting-lodge, on the bund of a lake at Kanpur, five mUes to the south-east of the town of Bdri. They are now to a great extent in ruins, all the iron- work and a great deal of the carved stone having been carried off by the inhabitants of the adjacent villages. The construction of the fine buildings must have cost from five to six lakhs of rupees. They are excellent specimens of the architecture of their epoch. cultivator in each. Kha tal tal tal ital ital Eabi . )tal )tal 3tal otal otal ESTIMATED OUTTURN OF CROPS AND VALUE. M. S. C. 10 0 0 6 12 0 5 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 4 10 0 0 8 0 0 18 0 0 40 20 0 20 0 0 2 20 0 20 0 0 24 0 2 20 24 0 0 00 12 0 2 0 12 0 0 17 0 3 0 16 0 000 ... 0 0 0 0 32 0 0 8 5 0 Rates. 35 seers per rupee 12 seers per rupee 35 seers per rupee 30 seers per rupee 1 maund per rupee 4 maunds per rupee 26 seers per rupee 13 srs. 8 ch. per rupee 25 seers per rupee 20 seers per rupee 5 maunds per rupee ... 1 maund per rupee 20 seers per rupee 5 maunds per rupee 1 maund per rupee 27 seers per rupee 4 maunds per rupee 1 raaund per rupee 27 seers per rupee 4 maunds per rupee 6 seers per rupee 7 seers per rupee Rs. 2-12 per seer Es. A. : 11 7 6 15 1 10 11 7 6 15 1 2 0 19 8 0 26 10 7 6 1 4 99 0 36 6 6 9 2 3 0 1 i 30 0 Rs. A.P, 13 6 310 0 10 0 2 0 12 0 0 24 0 0 7 24 7 0 120 0 32 0 6 0 4 0 33 12 0 24 0 6 0 4 13 12 0 3 0 3 0 18 0 0 17 0 4 8 4 0 25 8 32 0 34 4 88 0 18 6 27 11 6 19 0 6 22 3 0 27 9 6 61 14 6 Rs.A.P. 2 3 3 7 7 0 87 0 0 7 4 0 6 7 6 9 13 0 6 11 0 Rehakzs. With Binaula. Crops ordinarily grown in the kharif and rabi. Season in which grown. Kharif or rain crop.., - Eabi or cold-weather crop. Nature of crops. Bajra, mixed with til, lirid and othe: grains .M6t^ Jowar, mixed with other grains Cotton Sugarcane ... EiceTobaccoOther crops ... Total kharff .. Gram ... .. Wheat Barley mixed saraOD,&o, Barley, unmixed ArharPoppy Zira Other crops Total rabi ... Total area taken up of crops in both seasons Total area in acres taken up for the crop. 69,00040,000 27,500 23,000 2,6903,456 532 21,004 187,182 65,13024,240 15,800 13,700 2,648 420606 665 123,209 310,391 Parganas in which largest areas are taken up for the crop. Bari, Gird. Bari. Eajakhera, Bari, Kolari. Bari, Eajakhera, Baseri. Bari, Baseri. Sir Muttra (Bari). Bari ... ... Bari, Eajakhera. Gird, Bari. Gird, Eajakhera. Bari, Gird, Kolari. Kolari Baseri, Sir Muttra. Gird, Kolari Eemabks. The Dholpur tobacco is of good average quality. Arhfr is a precarious crop. Owing to the sandy nature of the soil, the roots are left dry, and the plant is more easily affected by^ irost. A precarious crop : hut, if successful, pays well. Zirfi is cummin- seed, a spice commanding a ready sale. Administrative Sub- Division, —Land Revenue. ISamt of Tshsil. Geographical position in the State. Taluqas, Number of villages in each taluqa. Total number of villages in the taluqas. 'RvTtL-B.ina. Gird Includes the villages immediately about the town of Dholpur, the tract of country along the road towai'ds Agra. Includes the south-west portion of the State . . . To the north-west of the town of Dholpur North of the town of Dholpur North-eastern portion of the State Total number of villages . . . — * 1- Gird 2. Chao-ni 3. Dang 4. Munnia 5. M angrol 44 29 15 38 13 139 177 50 6797 Bdri 1. Sir Muttra 2. Kijouni 3. Bari 4. Sikarra 5. Umreh 6. Dang 7. Bilouni 32 7 71 17 28 13 9 B4ri 1. Baseri 2. Angai 2624 Kolari 1. Kolari 2. Bussai 3. Sepao 42 14 11 Eajakhera 1. Eajakhera 2. Eehna 60 37 ... 630 GAZETTEER OF DUNGARPUR. General Topography, — Dungarpur is bounded on the north by Mewar, on the east by Mewar and the river Mahi, which sepa- rates it from the State of Banswara, on the south by the river Mahi, and on the west by Rewa and Mahi Kanta. Its area is about 962 square miles. It is situated between latitude 23° 35' and 24° 3', and longitude 73° 40' and 74° 18'. Length east to west forty miles. Breadth north to south thirty-five miles. The country is for the most part covered with stony hUls, on which grows a low jungle of cacti, jujube trees, and a gum- producing tree called salar by the natives, together with several other varieties of shrubs and trees not requiring a deep soil or moisture. In the summer the jungles are generally leafless, but during and after the rains the luxuriant and varied vegetation, and the graceful outlines of the numerous hills, form scenes of great beauty. Towards Mewar and Partabgarh the landscape is wild and rugged ; but in the direction of the Rewa Kanta border the harsher features are much softened, and for several square miles the country has much the character and appearance of Guzerat. Here there are two or three large forest tracts on which grow blackwood, ebony, and several other valuable timber trees. Of pasture-land, properly so-called, there is scarcely any, and during the hot season of the year, the numerous cattle kept by the Bhils are reduced to a miserable state of leanness by the want of grass. With the exception of the patches of Walra* cultivation on the hillsides, the cultivated area is confined to the valleys and low grounds between hills, where the soil is of a rich alluvial nature, and can be irrigated from numerous wells and tanks. Though the country is broken and hilly, none of the hills are of any great size. Near the capital there is a hill about 700 feet high, and five miles in circumference at base, which overlooks the town, and with the Maharawal's palace on its summit, and a lake at its foot, forms a striking picture. At Sagwara there is another hill, somewhat higher and larger than the one near the city. * This is the local word for the practice of burning down thc forest on a hillside, and scattering seed in the ashes. ( 274 ) Geology and Minerals, — The country is very stony, and con sists for the most part of decomposed trap, and, in the greater number of the valleys, of an alluvial deposit of loam, &c. Geolo gically the rocks are of the granitic and primitive or metamorphic order of formation, and their chief constituents are gneiss, horn- blend, argillaceous schist, or clay slate, mica, calcareous sandstone, quartz, &c. The last of these ingredients appears in large quan tities, either in veins or lying in detached particles on the surface of the ground. No traces of gold have been discovered: the strata are at every inclination to the horizon, evidently caused by volca nic agency. A good durable stone fit for building purposes of a granitic class is quarried from a hill near the village of Kakra Durra, about six miles south of the capital. A soft greenish-grey stone (serpentine) is found near the village of Matugamra, about six miles east of the capital. This is manufactured extensively at Dungarpur, and elsewhere, into idols, drinking-cups, effigies of men and women and animals. Another hard species of stone (bas altic), of which grinding-stones and such like articles are manu factured, is mined near the town of Sagwarra. Lime is found in tolerable abundance about the country, but it is not of a very pure description. No attempt ever appears to have been made to work an iron mine in the province ; there is little doubt, how ever, that if this were done, it would meet with success, for the presence of this ore in the form of iron pyrites is sufficiently manifest in fragments of granitic rock and stone which lie pretty thickly in many parts of the country. Bivers and Lakes, — The only rivers are the Mahi and Som, which meet near the sacred temple of Baneshar, where a large fair is held every year. The Mahi divides the State from Banswdra, and the Som from the estate of Salumbar in Mewar. Both these streams are perennial, although in several places the water of the Som runs in a subterraneous channel, suddenly dis appearing and emerging again, apparently little affected by its temporary subsidence. The bed of the MaM is on an average about 300 or 400 feet in breadth, and is for the most part very stony. Its banks are in many parts steep, but never very high, and lined thickly in many places with Vitex frifolia (chaste tree), called by the natives Bena, whicli affords cover in the hot weather to tigers and other wild beast. The Som is a smaller river, but otherwise presents the same natural features as the Mahi. There are no natural lakes in Dungarpur, but there are some five or six fair-sized artificial ones. Climate and Bainfall. — The climate of Dungarpur is temperate and dry. The mean temperature is about 75° and the annual range about 25°. The average rainfall is about 24 inches. It ( 275 ) may be considered a healthy country, as cholera and other epide mics rarely show themselves, and excepting ague and fever of a mild type prevalent towards the end of the rains, and guinea- worm throughout the year, there are few noticeable diseases. The province is not, as a rule, subject to drought or floods. In 1868 and 1875, however, a great deal of damage was done to the crops by the heavy rains, and there is on record a partial drought in the year 1838, which caused much distress and misery among the lower classes. History. — The Maharawal of Dungarpur is of the Sesodia clan of Bajputs, and claims descent from an elder branch of the family which now rules at Udaipur. In Tod's Bdjdsthaa it is said that the emigration of this branch from Mewar to Dungarpur took place at the end of the twelfth century, but that the manner in which the elder was supplanted by the younger brother at Chitur is unknown or uncertain. Sir John Malcolm's account is that not the elder brother himself, but one of his descendants, left Mewar about " three centuries ago," and having ob tained possession of Gawalkot, then held by a Muhammadan, gra dually overcame or drove back the Bhil chiefs who held this country until he became master of the whole province called Bagar. This must have been not later than the fifteenth century ; for Udai Singh, a Eawal of Dungarpur, was certainly killed fighting under the standard of Bana Sanga, at the great battle of Kanwa against the Emperor Babar in 1528 A.D. After his death his terri tory split up into two divisions, of which one went to his elder son, the ancestor of the Dungarpur chiefs, and the other to the younger son, from whom descend the Banswara chiefs. When the Mughal empire had been fairly consolidated, the Dungarpur chief opened communication with the court, and appears to have attended upon the emperor, to have offered alle giance, and to have received protection. His successors paid tri bute and did military service ; maintaining relations with the impe rial governor in Guzerat. Upon the fall of the empire, Dun garpur, like other petty States similarly situated, became tributary to the Marathas ; and it was arranged to divide the tribute of Rs. 35,000 at which it was assessed, among Sindia, Holkar, and the Dhdr chief ; but the chief of Dhar ultimately succeeded in establishing his exclusive right. After being wasted by Marathas the territory became a prey to Pindaris and freebooting companies ; also to the bands of mercenary Arabs and Afghans which the chief himself had retained for his defence. They were at last driven off by a strong detachment of British troops ; the British Government having taken the State under its protection by the Treaty of 1818. The tribute was transferred to the British Government. ( 276 ) Great disorders continued, however, to prevail for some years, as the Rajpiit chiefs were either unable to control the turbu lent Bhil tribes within their borders, or were in league with them for plunder and the annexation of lands. A force under British officers was therefore sent through the country ; which had very partial success, though the Bhil chiefs were brought to terms, and the disorders gradually subsided. The Rawal Jeswant Singh was incompetent as a ruler, and .his private life was disorderly. He was accordingly deposed in 1825, and his adopted son Dalpat Singh, grandson of Sawant Singh, chief of Partabgarh, was installed as Regent. In 1844 the suc cession to the rulership of Partabgarh devolved on Dalpat Singh, and he was permitted to adopt TJdai Singh as his successor in Dungarpur, but while chief of Partabgarh, and during the boy's minority, to continue as Regent of Dungarpur. At this period Jes want Singh made an unsuccessful attempt to recover his authority. He was consequently removed to Muttra, and kept under surveil lance. But the arrangement by which Dalpat Singh was left in charge of Dungarpur, while he resided in Partabgarh, did not suc ceed ; and therefore, in 1852, he resigned all power in the former State, which was put under a native Agent till the present ruler tJdai Singh attained his majority. The chief of Dungarpur has been guaranteed the right of adoption, and receives a salute of 15 guns. The language spoken in Dungarpur is a mixture of Guzerathi and Hindustani, and is called Bagar. Form of Government and Administration. — The Maharawal is the chief^authority in the State. All criminal cases are settled in the city by a court of officials called kamdars, presided over by the Maharawal's minister ; and the Indian Penal Code, though not very rigorously adhered to, is their guide in the investigation and punishment of offences. In aU cases appeal to the Maharawal is permissible. The divisions of the territory are now, as formerly, called " Tappah," and are similar to the parganas of other quarters, but they have no hereditary officers like the "kanungos" of Malwa. In those in which the khalsa or crown villages are numerous, a petty officer of Government is stationed, but generally the communications between the minister of the State and the patels or headmen of the villages are direct, or maintained through the medi um of the minister's deputies. In a country where there are so many feudal chiefs, one might be led to expect a multiplicity of petty districts, and to suppose that the lands of each noble would be comprised within a compact circle of territory, forming one of . the smaller divisions of the province in which it is situated. ( 277 ) But in Dungarpur no such arrangement is found. The prin cipal nobles have lands in separate districts, though the majority of their possessions may be confined to one. The country is divided into six great divisions which will be noticed hereafter. Patels of villages do not hold office hereditarily, and are liable to be displaced at the will of the chief. When a patel dies, his son is not considered as possessing any right to succeed to his office. On any occasion of vacancy, some one of the other inhabitants is gene rally nominated, and in his nomination regard is had both to the wealth and to the capacity of the individual. This officer is allowed 1^ seers in every maund of grain delivered to the State, and in such villages as are not called upon for grain, he receives a small cash percentage which is nowhere defined. His duty is to arrange proportions of payment, to collect the money from the villagers, and to decide in trifling cases of dispute. No other judi ciary powers are conferred on him ; he has not even authority to punish the cultivators, and if the latter misbehave, he must refer their conduct to the chief. When he cannot himself settle a petty dispute among the vil lagers, it is referred to a punchayet, or small council composed of the most respectable inhabitants of the place, from whose decision, however, the contending parties may appeal to the chief. Disputes between persons residing in separate villages are brought before the representatives of each. The nobles or Thakurs have the power of exacting fines in their own villages, but they cannot pass sentences of death, or even of corporal punishment, except on Bhils detected in theft. They may settle differences, but in all cases the litigants have the right of appeal to the Mahardwal or chief, who is the paramount authority in the land. He alone has the power of awarding capital punishment. The Bhils actu ally within the limits of Dungarpur are neither so numerous nor troublesome as those on the frontier, and are kept in subjection and order without difficulty. As the position of the village patels have already been detailed it is necessary only to refer to the divisions of the territory. There are six provinces : — Bdrah, Chowrassi, Barel, Tirpod, Kitarah, Ohusat, in each of which are several villages, which may be divided into— (1) Khalsa or crown lands, (2) Jdgirs, or those held by nobles, (3) Khairat,* or religious grants. The khalsa are those which belong exclusively to the State, and are under the superintendence of the minister, or any person ( 278 ) he may depute. Pew have been granted in lease, not because of any prejudice or objection to that system, but because there are few persons in the country possessing the means to enter on such speculations. The next class are held by the Rajpiit Thakurs or nobles, and by others to whom lands have been given, either as favours or in reward for services. In some of these villages or estates the Thakur receives the whole revenue and pays nothing to the State, while in others he pays a certain amount to the State. All the Thakurs' lands are held on these terms. The right of the ruler to resume these possessions has always been asserted, though, as a matter of fact, no such resumption could be made except for rebellion or refusal of the customary dues or services. Grants to the religious orders, shrines, or temples are usually perpetual. They are bestowed in the form of engraved plates of copper, bearing the formula that the possession shall not be alienated so long as the sun and moon endure. The boundaries of the lands attached to the villages are well known, though not marked by artificial objects. They remain as they were established long ago, and are not only the boundaries of villages, but of districts also. Sometimes a tree, sometimes the bed of a stream, sometimes a particular field is the land-mark, but in all cases they are too well defined to occasion contention. Within the limits of the viUages are comprised all the lands of the districts, except the higher and more inaccessible hills which are the haunts of the Bhils. The natural productions of the province are of the ordinary sort — wheat, barley, gram, millet, Indian- corn, rice, and a few inferior sorts of grain ; also cotton, opium, oil-plants, ginger, chil lies, turmeric, and sugarcane. Vegetables are grown considerably, and consist of onions, yams, sweet-potatoes, egg plants, and radishes. Pruit is not abundant, little else being seen but inferior melons, limes, mangoes, and plantains. Mohwa trees are very numerous, and from their fruit a strong fermented liquor is distilled. Agriculture. — The greater portion of the land is irrigated by wells ; some parts are supplied with water raised and conveyed by artificial channels from a river, or an excavation made in the bed of a river close to the bank. A still smaller portion of ground receives water from tanks. The tract irrigated by water from wells is, however, far greater in extent than the united area of all the land watered from tanks or streams. ( 279 ) The fields are manured by means of a log of wood (yoked at both ends to bullocks), which spreads the manure over the ground. This is done immediately after the first heavy rain of the monsoon. The ground is then ploughed, and seed sown. Weeding takes place a fortnight or so afterwards. Before sowing rice, the beds are banked up to retain the water, and after the young plants have attained a growth of about six inches, they are transplanted and kept in water about four inches deep, until they are two months old, after which the water is allowed to subside. On its subsidence, or in about a fortnight, the crop is cut. Wheat is usually grown unirrigated. The methods of cultivating opium and sugarcane do not differ from those of other districts, and are too well known to require notice here. If the latter is not thoroughly eradicated from the soU, it will renew itself four years consecutively. Turmeric, yams, ginger, and Bweet-potatoes are sown in June, and propagated from tubers. They are irrigated three or four times and rooted up in October. Yams, when sprouting, are covered with layers of leaves to protect them from the sun. Land Bevenue and Tenures. — There appears to be no fixed rule for determining the amount of collection to be paid by each town or village in this territory. The land is not measured, nor rented at a fixed sum for each bigha, as is practised in some parts of Malwa : great irregularity exists, but the following have been detailed as the usual methods of adjusting the payments, which, though simple, are liable to many objections :— At the spring and autumn harvests, a Government officer is detached, who, after inspection of the crops, settles with the patel the sum to be paid to the State. It is often made a matter of interest to the individuals so employed to rate the produce below its iust value. Another method that now obtains, and which has for some years past prevailed, is also faulty, from a tendency which it must have to create suspicion and unjust oppression on the part of the Government, and anxiety and alarm on the part of the landed proprietors. Once a year the officers of Govern ment call in the patels, and, having ascertained from them the sum each village is capable of yielding, fix the amount of the several heads of coUection. In order to guard against false state ments and to deter the patel from underrating the produce of his vUlao-e he is not only threatened with the severest treatment, but made to enter into engagements by which he stipulates, in the event of being found guUty of imposition, to pay eleven rupees for everv one in the deficiency between the sum stated and the actual value The State holds the vUlage headman responsible for the punctual payment of revenue, and m the event of a ( 280 ) cultivator failing to pay at the proper time, he becomes indebted to the headman, who can claim interest on the amount thus unadjusted till the claim be cleared. These headmen are in some places paid by a grant of land, in some by a portion of the revenue, and in others by a fixed annual sum of money. The evils that such a process must occasion are obvious. Formerly, a greater degree of regularity seems to have been prevalent. In the time of Punjab Rdwal, who Uved about 190 years ago, the lands were measured, the rates fixed, and the various heads into which the collections are divided, were estabUshed. The standard of payment thus fixed continued till the State feU into decay some years ago, and by it, in prosperous times, the Govern ment could judge with tolerable accuracy of the value of all its possessions. It must, however, have ceased to be a guide when the country was laid waste and the inhabitants began to fly from their houses, at which period it may be conjectured the system of exaction had its rise. The heads of collection established by Punjab Rdwal were 21 in number, the chief of which were " barrar " or ground-rent ; various cesses for the payment of the salaries of Government officials ; the chief's family ; foreign mercenaries, and other miscel laneous imposts : all these assessments were not charged on every place, but they were all fixed sums. The system, as then estab Ushed, although it has been subjected at various times to much modification, remains in vogue to the present day ; but one important alteration has been made, and that is that the cultivator has now, in addition to the money payments, to yield a portioH of his crop. Prom some villages a third of all the grain produced is taken, and from others a fourth, whilst the remaining charges are raised or lowered according to the quantity the cultivator is permitted to retain. Sometimes the proportion of grain claimed by the State is delivered in kind, and sometimes the cultivator pays its price in cash, according to the rates prevaiUng at the time. Every village is not subjected to this demand ; but those that are exempt are cessed in a higher degree under other heads, whilst such places as are in an impoverished or desolate state pay the grain charge, but no other. Some years ago, carefully, prepared statistics showed that the total land-revenues of Dungarpur amounted to about Rs. 1,83,350, of which Rs. 79,688 went to the State, Rs. 91,967 to the Thakurs, and the balance to the reUgious orders. The rayats, who are mostly of the Kurmi caste, cultivate the portions of ground tiUed by their forefathers. These portions are called bantah. It contains two or three or more fields, and its extent is known by the number of ploughs employed on it : a ( 281 ) bantah of one plough wiU contain from 20 to 25 bighas. If a raydt dies without children, or flies from the country, the patel or headman of the viUage wUl provide for the cultivation of his ground in whatever way he may deem fit ; but if he return, after long absence even, his piece of land wUl be restored. StiU these bantahs are not altogether inaUenable, for the ruler may deprive a cultivator of his land for misconduct, although it is considered a very severe punishment, and instances of its infliction rarely occur. No raydt has the power of selUng his land, either in whole or part, but he may mortgage it, and the person to whom it is thus transferred becomes responsible for all charges to which it is liable. ^ The Thakurs maintain at present a much smaller body of retainers than formerly, but the means to which recourse is had for their maintenance is the same. SmaU allotments of land are assigned to some, to others orders for money payments from the villages are given, and others receive food and a percentage on making collections for their masters. Population and Social Sub-divisions. — The number of the entire Hindu population is estimated at 175,000. Three-fourths of the whole inhabitants are Hindus, one-eighth Jains, and one-eighth Musalmdns. The Bhils aggregate some 10,000. Dominant Classes. — As in the case of Mewar, there are said to be sixteen first-class nobles, and thirty-two of inferior rank, who compose the aristocracy of the State. The first-class Thakurs are entitled to" tdzim," namely, to be received standing by their chief. AU the Thdkurs are Rdjpiits who hold their land nominaUy by grant from the ruUng chief, but reaUy by right of kiaship or alUance with his family ; their united estates comprise lands containing some 170 viUages. In addition to performing active service when called upon by their Uege-lord, they are bound to attend upon him during certain festivals, on the occasion of his receiving visits from, or paying visits to, other ruUng chiefs, when a pUgrimage is undertaken, or when a marriage or other high ceremony takes place in the ruling f amUy. The following is a Ust of the first class nobles, and of their estates, number of viUages, and amount of revenue : — Clan of Eajputs. Names. Estates. Numher of villages. Eevenue in Salum suri Eupees. Chohdn Kesru Singh Bankora . . . 271 14,025 „ Rattan Singh Chitri 7 5,405 „ ... Deep Singh Peet 37 5,715 ( 282 ) Clan of liajpiits. Names- Estates. Numher of villages. Revenue in Salumsuri Eupees. Chohan tJdai Singh Tlidkurda ... 12 6,444 )> •'• Dungar Singh Madone . . . m 5,375 » Bhowan Singh Bumasa ¦2 1,605 }> Dhurat Singh Bachiwara . . . H 2,710 „ Kesru Singh Todawal ... 2i 1,450 Sesodia timed Singh Nandli ... H 1,632 ,, Gulab Singh Sabli H 704 Rathor iJdai Singh Kooa 35^ 6,484 Sef^odia — T Chondawat J Partab Singh Ramghar ... 2 2,465 » Pahar Sin