Above the mosque towers " the fortress of the goatherd." " Aja Pal 2 was, as his name implies, a goatherd," says Tod, " whose piety in supplying one of the saints with daily liba tions of goat's milk procured him a territory. Satisfied with the scene of his early days, he commenced his castle on the serpent-mount in his own province ; but his evil genius knocking down in the night what he erected in the day, he sought out another site on the opposite side of the range, hence arose the far-famed Aja-mer. The towers and battle ments built by Aja-Pal still remain, but the palaces of the Cohans have long since fallen into ruin. It is, however, good to ascend the mountain and see the green valley, the wide sheet of silver men call Ana Saugur,` the splintered pinnacles and granite hills in the golden morning sunshine. Beyond the red hills stretches the yellow desert, " The Kingdom of Death." Nine centuries have rolled on since Ana Raja constructed Ana Saugur, one of the most perfect of lakes. Jehangir, " The Conqueror of the World," adorned its bank with the Doulat Bagh (The Garden of Splendour), filled with fruit and flowers, where he with his consort, Nur Jehan (The Light of the World), might find repose away from the cares of State. Shah Jehan (Lord of the World), his son, erected the marble pavilions reflected in its seductive water. The Garden of Splendour was a pleasant retreat for the luxurious Emperor from the fortified palace erected by the Great Akbar, when Ajmer became, after the fall of Chittore, an integral portion of the Moghul Empire, and gave its name to a Subah or province which included the whole of Rajpootana. Though Chittore, "The Rock of their Strength," had been despoiled and bereft of all symbols of regality, the Rajpoot warriors maintained a gallant and long protracted struggle. But they had to yield to the hosts of Delhi, and " the crimson banner," which for more than eight hundred years had waved in proud independence over the head of the Gehloles, was now to be abased to the son of Jehangir. Jehangir, in his auto biography, which deserves to rank with the immortal diary of Pepys, writes : " Pleasing intelligence arrived of the intention of Rana Umra Sing to repair and make his obedi ence to me. My fortunate son Khoorum had established my authority and garrisons in divers strongholds of the country of the Ranas." The noble Umra, who had so long and sig nally foiled the Imperial armies, is one of the Paladins of Rajpoot chivalry. " He was beloved of his chiefs for the qualities they most esteem, generosity and valour, and by his subjects for his justice and kindness, of which we can judge from his edicts, many of which yet live in the columns or the rock." Umra informed Prince Khoorum that he would " send his eldest son to attend and serve the Emperor, as did other Hindu princes," but the proud Rajpoot chief added, " on account of his years he would hold himself excused from attending in person." Jehangir, delighted at the submission of so formidable an enemy, writes : " I for gave the Rana, and sent a friendly firmaun that he might rest assured of my protection and care, and imprinted thereon, as a solemn testimony of my sincerity, my ' five fingers' (punja) ; I also wrote my son, by any means by which it could be brought about, to treat this illustrious one ac cording to my wishes." Khoorum offered to withdraw every Muhammadan from Mewar if the Rana would but receive the Emperor's firman outside his capital. " This his proud soul rejected ; and though he visited Prince Khoorum as a friend he spurned the proposition of acknowledging a superior or receiving the rank and titles awaiting such an admission." Umra determined to abdicate the throne. Assembling his chiefs and disclosing his determination, he made the teeka 2 on his son's forehead, and observing that the honour of Mewar was now in his hands, forthwith left the capital and secluded himself in a palace on a cluster of hills, " nor did he from that hour cross its threshold, but to have his ashes deposited with those of his fathers." Umra's son proceeded to Ajmer, " paid his respect, and his rank was commanded to be at the request of my son immediately on my right hand, and I rewarded him with suitable khelats." Sir Thomas Roe, who was present at the Durbar, states that " the son of Ranna, his new Tributary, was brought within the little rayle, the King embracing him by the head. . . . His guilt was an Indian vyder (broad dish) full of silver, upon yt a carved silver dish full of gould. Soe he was led towards the Prince." The gallant races which by the wise policy of Akbar and Jehangir became the strongest supporters of the Moghul Empire, were hopelessly alienated by the fanatical persecutions of Aurangzeb. He made Ajmer his headquarters during the war with Mewar and Marwar, brought about by his own bigotry. The Rajpoots in their mountain fastnesses defied for many a month and many a year the armies of the Moghuls. On the death of Aurangzeb the three great Rajpoot chiefs, the Rana of Oudepoor, the Raja of Marwar, Ajit Sing, and the Raja of Jeypore, Jey Sing II., obtained from his successor an acknowledgment of virtual indepen dence. The daughter of Ajit Sing married the Moghul Em peror Farukshir, whom Hamilton, the English doctor, cured of a troublesome disease, and obtained from the grateful monarch the first grant of land to the East India Company. Farukshir was thrown into a dungeon, his eyes being put out, and he was strangled by command of the Barha Seiads (that is, descendants of the prophets), the \Varwicks of Delhi. The King-makers put two other puppets on the throne, but the third puppet, Muhammad Shah, proved too strong for them, and the power of the Seiads went for ever. When Ajit Sing heard of the overthrow of the vigorous and able Seiads and the disorder of the Moghul government, he struck a blow for sovereignty. He advanced against Aj mer, and drove the Muslims from the city. " He slew the King's governor, and seized on Tarragurh. Once more the bell of prayers was heard in the temple while the bang of the Mesjid was silent.' Where the Koran was read the Puran was now heard, and the mindra 3 took the place of the mosque. The Kazi made way for the Brahman, and the pit of burnt sacrifice (homa) was dug, when the sacred kine was slain." The enthusiastic chronicler adds, " The records were always moist with inserting fresh conquests." Ajit Sing assumed every emblem of sovereign rule. " He coined in his own name, established his own guz (measure) and seer (weight), his own courts of justice, and a new scale of rank for his chiefs." But Ajit's independence was of short duration. According to the chronicle, in the following year (1721) the Moghul Emperor (Muhammad Shah) prepared a formidable army and the contingents of the twenty-two Satraps of the Empire. " In the month of Sawun (July) Tarragurh was invested. . . . It had held out four months, when through the prince of Amber (Jey Sing) Ajit listened to terms, which were sworn to on the Koran by the nobles and the king ; and he agreed to surrender Ajmer." In 1721 the Rajpoot bard states " Ajit went to heaven." In plain prose, he was murdered by his two elder sons, Abhe Sing and Bukht Sing, who were by the same mother, a prin cess of Boondi. " To Bukht Sing, who was with his father, the eldest brother wrote promising him the independent sovereignty of Nagore (where they then were), with its five hundred and fifty-five townships, as the price of murdering their common sire. Bukht crept one night to his father's bed, and from a pallet on which were placed the arms of Ajit he took his sword and slew him. The mother was awakened by the blood of her lord moistening her bosom. Hor cries awoke the faithful Rajpoots who lay in the ad jacent apartments, and who, bursting into the chamber, discovered their prince dead. " The assassin fled to the roof of the palace, barring the gates behind him, which resisted all attempts to force them until morning, when he threw into the court below the letter of his brother, ex claiming, This put the Mahraja to death, not I.' " " On Asar the 13, the dark half of the moon of 178o (173o)," says the chronicle, seventeen hundred warriors for the last time marched before their lord. " They placed his body in a boat,' and carried him to the pyre made of sandal wood and perfumes, with heaps of cotton, oil, and camphor. The Nazir (Head of the Harem) went to the Queen's Palace, and as he pronounced the words ' Rao Sidaoe,' 2 the Chohani queen with sixteen damsels in her suite came forth. This day,' said she, is one of joy ; my race shall be illustrated ; our lives have passed together, how then can I leave him ? Of noble race was the Bhattiani queen. She put up a prayer to the Lord who wields the discus (Krishna). With joy I accompany my lord ; that my fealty (sati) may be ac cepted rests with Thee.' In like manner did the Gazelle (Mirgavati) of Derawul, and the Tuar queen of pure blood, the Chaora Rani and her of Shekhavati invoke the name of Hen as they determined to join their lord. For these six queens death had no terror, but they were the affianced wives of their lord ; the curtain wives of affection, to the number of fifty-eight, determined to offer themselves a sacrifice to Agni (the fire). Such an opportunity,' said they, can never occur.' While thus each spoke Nathoo the Nazir thus addressed them ' This is no amusement : the sandal wood you now anoint with is cool ; but will your resolution abide, when you remove it with the flames of Agni ? When this scorches your tender frames, your hearts may fail, and the desire to recede will disgrace your lord's memory. Reflect and remain where you are. You have lived like Indrani (the Queen of Heaven), nursed in softness amidst flowers and perfumes ; the winds of heaven never offended you, far less the flames of fire.' But to all his arguments they re plied ; ' The world we will abandon, but never our lord.' They performed their ablutions, decked themselves in their gayest attire, and for the last time made obeisance to their lord in his car. The drum sounded ; the funeral train moved on ; all invoked the name of Hai.' The countenances of the Queens were as radiant as the sun. They mounted
the pyre and as the smoke emitted from the house of flame, ascended to the sky, the assembled multitudes shouted Khaman, Khaman (well done, well done). The pile flamed like a volcano ; the faithful queens laved their bodies in the flames, as do the celestials in the lake They sacrificed their bodies to their lord, and illustrated the race whence they sprang." As one of the queens ascended the pyre she pronounced the anathema so terrific to the ears of the patriotic Rajpoot " May the bones of his murderer be consumed out of Maroo." Abhe Sing became sovereign, and he bestowed on his brother, Bukht Sing, not only Nagore, but also J halore. Abhe was appointed by the Emperor Viceroy of Ahmedabad, and Ajmer became a part of Marwar. It was during his reign that Nadir Shah invaded India, but the summons to the Rajpoot princes to put forth their strength in support of the tottering throne. of Timour was received with in difference. Not a chief of note led his myrmidons to the plains of Kurnal, and Delhi was invested, plundered, and its monarch dethroned without exciting a sigh. Abhe Sing died in 1750 (seven years before Plassey), and was succeeded by his son, Ram Sing, who had more than his share of the pride and impetuosity of his race. He demanded the instant surrender of Jhalore. The request insolently made was courteously refused. "War was decided on ; the challenge was given and accepted, and the plains of Mairta were fixed upon to determine this mortal strife in which brother was to meet brother and all the ties of kin were to be severed by the sword." All lovers of Tod know how the heir of Mehtri, with his father and brothers, sealed his fealty with his blood on the fatal field of Mairta. " He had long en gaged the hand of a daughter of a chief of the Nirookas, and was occupied with the marriage rites, when tidings reached him of the approach of the rebels to Mairta. In the bridal vestments, with the nuptial coronet (mor) encircling his fore head he took his station with his clan on the second day's fight, and obtained a bride in Indra's abode." After a desperate struggle Ram Sing was defeated, and flying south he joined the Mahratta leader Jey Appa Sindia, with whom he concerted measures for the invasion of his country. Rajpoots of every rank rose to oppose this first attempt of the Mahrattas to interfere in their national quarrels, and led by Bukht in person advanced to meet them. Bukht en camped in the passes near Ajmer. Hither one of the queens of the Prince of Amber, a niece of Bukht, repaired, and to her was entrusted by her husband the task of murdering her uncle, who had demanded his assistance against Ram Sing. The mode in which the deed was effected is told by Tod : " A poisoned robe was the medium of revenge. Raja Bukht, soon after the arrival of his niece, was declared in a fever ; the physician was summoned : but the man of secrets, the vedya, declared he was beyond the reach of medicine, and bade him prepare for other scenes. The intrepid Rahtore, yet undismayed, received the tidings even with a jest. ' What ! Sooja,' said he, no cure ? Why do you take my lands and eat my produce, if you cannot combat my maladies ? What is your art good for ?' The vedya excavated a small trench in the tent, which he filled with water ; throwing into it some ingredient, the water became gelid. ' This,' said he, can be effected by human skill ; but your case is beyond it ; haste, perform the offices which religion demands.' With perfect composure he ordered the chiefs to assemble in his tent ; and having recommended to their protec tion, and received their promise of defending the rights of his son, he summoned the ministers of religion into his presence. The last gifts to the church and these, her organs, were prepared ; but with all his firmness, the anathema of the Satis, as they ascended the funeral pyre on which his hand had stretched his father, came into his mind ; and as he repeated the ejaculation, ' may your corpse be consumed in a foreign land ! ' he remem bered he was then on the border. The images which crossed his mental vision it is vain to surmise : he expired as he uttered these words : and over his remains, which were burnt on the spot, a cenotaph was erected, and is still called Booro Dewul, the Shrine of Evil.' " The feudal chiefs of Marwar recognized, and swore to main tain the rights of Beejy Sing, the son of Bukht. He led them to the plains of Mairta, but the cohorts of the Rajpoot clans were unable to withstand the well-served artillery of the Mahrattas. After a desperate contest " The Lord of Marwar, who on that morning commanded the lives of one hundred thousand Rajpoots, was indebted for his safety to the mean conveyance of a cart and pair of oxen." After this victory the cause of Rain Sing was triumphing, and the Mahrattas were spreading over the land of Maroo when the assassination of their chief checked their progress.
" A Rajpoot and an Afghan, both foot soldiers on a small monthly pay, offered, if their families were provided for, to sacrifice themselves for his safety by the assassination of the Mahratta commander. Assuming the garb of camp-suttlers, they approached the headquarters, feigning a violent quarrel. The simple Mahratta chief was performing his ablutions at the door of his tent, which as they approached they became more vociferous, and throwing a bundle of statements of account on the ground, begged he would decide between them. In this manner they came nearer and nearer, and as he listened to their story, one plunged his dagger in his side, exclaiming ' this for Nagore ! ' and ' this for Jodpoor ! ' said his companion, as he repeated the mortal blow. The alarm was given ; the Afghan was slain ; but the Rajpoot called out ' thief,' and mingling with the throng escaped by a drain into the town of Nagore." The siege lasted for six months after the murder, when a treaty was made under which the Mahrattas abandoned Ram Sing to " his evil star " on the condition of receiving a fixed triennial tribute. The fortress and district of Ajmer was surrendered in full sovereignty to the Mahrattas, in tnoondkati, or compensation, for the blood of Jey Appa. " The monsoon was then approaching ; they broke up and took possession of this important conquest, which, placed in the very heart of these regions, may be called the key of Rajpootana." For sixty-two years the Mahrattas remained masters of the key of Rajpootana. The Rajpoot chiefs were too weak and divided by intestine feuds to be able to oppose the extortions and indignities of the Mahratta predatory rulers, and when the power of the Mahrattas decayed, their provinces were harassed by the Pindaree freebooters and the Afghan mercenaries of Amir Khan. Central India, including Rajpootana, was laid waste, villages burnt, the ryots tortured in order to extort the discovery of their scanty store, because the Power to whom the sovereignty of India had passed would not realize that an Imperial position entails Imperial obligations. The Imperial policy of Wellesley which es tablished a close bond of connexion between the British Government and the principal States of India was aban doned by his successors, Cornwallis and Barlow, acting under the orders of their masters at home. The doctrine of non interference was introduced, a policy which under the specious guise of moderation was a policy of weakness and a cruel dereliction of duty. The Rajpoot chiefs claimed the protection and interference of the British power on the grounds of justice. Sir Charles Metcalfe, Resident for Rajpootana, wrote : " They say that there always has existed some power in India to which peaceable States sub mitted and in return obtained its protection. . . . The British Government now occupies the place of the great protecting Power, and is the natural guardian of the peace able and weak ; but, owing to its refusal to use its influence for their protection, the peaceable and weak States are continually exposed to the oppressions and cruelties of robbers and plunderers, the most licentious and abandoned of mankind." The robbers and plunderers now ventured to extend their depredations into British territory. The Marquis of Hastings, who when in Parliament attacked the policy of Wellesley, saw, soon after he assumed the office of Governor-General, that it was the only practicable policy. The British authority must be supreme throughout India. The British Government must be lord paramount over all the sovereigns and princes of the continent. After having brought to a successful issue his war with the Nepalese . the Governor-General determined to make effective prepara tions for the crushing of the Pindarees. The freebooters looked for support to Daulat Rao Sindia as the most power ful of the Mahratta princes. But the measures of Lord Hastings were so speedy and effective that Sindia was com pelled to associate with the Company against the Pindarees, and lie had to consent to the abrogation of a clause in a former treaty which restrained the British Government from forming engagements with the Rajpoot States. In 1818 a treaty was made with Sindia by which the British Govern ment received Ajmer and other districts and ceded lands of equal value. The history of Ajmer is no longer a romantic tale of sieges and battles or chivalrous deeds of valour, neither is it a tale of wrong and robbery. It is the prosaic story of a people advancing in prosperity and civilization under a settled government, and it would be impossible to exaggerate the good that has been effected in the Protected States of Rajpootana by our influence and example. When a mighty famine arose in extensive and populous provinces of our Indian Empire the chiefs of Rajpootana vied with the British Government in alleviating the sufferings of the people. Following the example set them by noble English ladies, consorts in the burdens of Empire, chiefs in whose kingdoms infanticide and suttee had prevailed for ages are building hospitals for native women, and are securing the services of lady doctors to alleviate the sufferings of the inmates of the harem.