Mewar 03: Birth of Goha - Revision history

Pdewan: /* The Marriage of Eappa */

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‎The Marriage of Eappa

Pdewan: /* The Marriage of Eappa */

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‎The Marriage of Eappa

Pdewan: /* The Legend Of Goha */

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‎The Legend Of Goha

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ANNALS AND ANTIQUITIES
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This page is an extract from <br/>
ANNALS AND ANTIQUITIES <br/>
OF <br/>
'''RAJASTHAN '''<br/>

OR THE CENTRAL AND WESTERN <br/>
RAJPUT STATES OF INDIA <br/>

By <br/>
LIEUT.-COL. JAMES TOD <br/>
Late Political Agent to the Western Rajput States <br/>

Edited with an Introduction and Notes by <br/>
WILLIAM CROOKE, CIE. <br/>
Hon. D.Sc. Oxon., B.A., F.R.A.l. <br/>
Late of the Indian Civil Service <br/>

In Three Volumes <br/>
VOL. IV: ANNALS OF MEWAR<br/>
[The Annals were completed in 1829]<br/>

HUMPHREY MILFORD <br/>
Oxford University Press <br/>
London Edinburgh Glasgow New York <br/>
Toronto Melbourne Bombay <br/>
1920 [The edition scanned] <br/>
</div>
|}
Note: This article is likely to contain several spelling mistakes that occurred during scanning. If these errors are reported as messages to the Facebook page, [http://www.facebook.com/Indpaedia Indpaedia.com] your help will be gratefully acknowledged.

=Mewar 03: Birth of Goha=

==The Refugee Queen==

Of the prince's family, the queen Pushpavati alone escaped the sack of Valabhi, as well as the funeral
pyre, upon which, on the death of Siladitya, his other wives were
sacrificed. She was a daughter of the Pramara prince of Chan
dravati [221], and had visited the shrine of the universal mother,
Amba-Bhavani, in her native land, to deposit upon the altar of
the goddess a votive offering consequent to her expectation of
offspring. She was on her return, when the intelligence arrived
which blasted all her future hopes, by depriving her of her lord,
and robbing him, whom the goddess had just granted to her
prayers, of a crown. Excessive grief closed her pilgrimage.
Taking refuge in a cave in the mountains of Malia, she was de
livered of a son. Having confided the infant to a Brahmani of
Birnagar named Kamlavati, enjoining her to educate the young
prince as a Brahman, but to marry him to a Rajputni,^ she

^ The Baldan, or sacrifice of the bull to Balnath, is on record, though now
discontinued amongst the Hindus. [Baldan = balidana, ' a general offering
to the gods.']

* Pinkerton, who is most happy to strengthen his aversion for the Celt,
seizes on a passage in Strabo, who describes him as having recourse to the
same mode of purification as the Guebre. Unconscious that it may have
had a religious origin, he adduces it as a strong proof of the uncleanliness of
their habits.

^ [This corroborates Bhandarkar's theory that the Guhilots sprang from
Nagar Brahmans.]

mounted the funeral pile to join her lord. Kamlavati, the
daughter of the priest of the temple, was herself a mother, and
she performed the tender offices of one to the orphan prince, whom
she designated Goha, or ' cave-born.' ^ The child was a source
of perpetual uneasiness to its protectors : he associated with
Rajput children, killing birds, hunting wild animals, and at the
age of eleven was totally unmanageable : to use the words of the
legend, " How should they hide the ray of the sun ? "

The Legend Of Goha.— At this period Idar was governed by a
chief of the savage race of Bhil ; his name, Mandalika.^ The
young Goha frequented the forests in company with the Bhils,
whose habits better assimilated with his daring nature than those
of the Brahmans. He became a favourite with the Vanaputras,
or ' children of the forest,' who resigned to him Idar with its
woods and mountains. The fact is mentioned by Abu-1 Fazl,'
and is still repeated by the bards, with a characteristic version of
the incident, of which doubtless there were many. The Bhils
having determined in sport to elect a king, the choice fell on
Goha ; and one of the young savages, cutting his finger, applied
the blood as the tika of sovereignty to his forehead. What was
done in sport was confirmed by the old forest chief. The sequel
fixes on Goha the stain of ingratitude, for he slew his benefactor,
and no motive is assigned in the legend for the deed. Goha's
name became the patronymic of his descendants, who were
styled Guhilot, classically Grahilot, in time softened to Gehlot.

We know very little concerning these early princes but that
they dwelt in this mountainous region for eight generations ;
when the Bhils, tired of a foreign rule, assailed Nagaditya, the
eighth prince, while hunting, and deprived him of life and Idar.
The descendants of Kamlavati (the Birnagar Brahmani), who
retained the office of priest in the family, Avere again the pre
servers of the line of Valabhi. The infant Bappa, son of Naga
ditya [222], then only three years old, was conveyed to the fortress
of Bhander,* where he was protected by a Bhil of Yadu descent.

1 [This is a folk-etymology to explain the name Guhilot, probably derived
from Guha or Guhasena (a.d. 559-67), the fourth and apparently the first
great Valabhi monarch {BG. i. Part i. 85).]

2 [Mandalika seems to mean ' ruler of a district ' (mandal), (Bayley,
Dynasties of Gujarat, 183).] ^ [Ain, ii. 268.]

3 Fifteen miles south-west of Jharol, in the wildest region in India. [In
Gwalior State, IQI, viii. 72.]

Thence he was removed for greater security to the wilds of Parasar.
Within its impervious recesses rose the three-peaked (trikuta)
mountain, at whose base was the town of Nagindra,^ the abode
of Brahmans, who performed the rites of the ' great god.' In this
retreat passed the early years of Bappa, wandering through these
Alpine valleys, amidst the groves of Bal and the shrines of the
brazen calf. within in thedepths of the forest, and at the sources of streams, where sites of
seclusion, beauty, and sublimity alternately exalt the mind's
devotion. In these regions the creative power appears to have
been the earliest, and at one time the sole, object of adoration,
whose symbols, the serpent-wreathed phallus (lingam), and its
companion, the bull, were held sacred even by the ' children of
the forest.' In these silent retreats Mahadeva continued to rule
triumphant, and the most brilliant festivities of Udaipur were
those where his rites are celebrated in the nine days sacred to
him, when the Jains and Vaishnavas mix with the most zealous
of his votaries ; but the strange gods from the plains of the
Yamvma and Ganges have withdrawn a portion of the zeal of the
Guhilots from their patron divinity Eklinga, whose diwan," or
viceregent, is the Rana. The temple of Eklinga, situated in one
of the narrow defiles leading to the capital, is an immense struc
ture, though more sumptuous than elegant. It is built entirely
of white marble, most elaborately carved and embellished ; but
lying in the route of a bigoted foe, it has undergone many dilapi
dations. The brazen bull, placed under his own dome, facing the
sanctuary of the phallus, is nearly of the natural size, in a recum
bent posture. It is cast (hollow)^of good shape, highly polished
and without flaw, except where the hammer of the Tatar had
opened a passage in the hollow flank in search of treasure^ [223].

==The Marriage of Eappa ==

Tradition has preserved numerous

3 Or Nagda, still a place of religious r.esort, about ten miles north of
Udaipur. Here I found several very old inscriptions relative to the family,
which preserve the ancient denomination Gohil instead of Gehlot. One of
these is about nine centuries old. [The ancient name was Nagahrida (Erskine
ii. A. 106).] 4 Ekling-ka-Diwan is the common title of the Rana.

5 Amongst the many temples where the brazen calf forms part of the
establishment of BaUcesar, there is one sacred to Nandi alone, at Nain in
the valley. This lordly bull has his shrine attended as devoutly as was that
details of Bappa's 6 infancy, which resembles the adventures of
every' hero or founder of a race. The young prince attended the
sacred kine, an occupation which was honourable even to the
children of the sun,' and which they still pursue : possibly a
remnant of their primitive Scythic habits. The pranks of the
royal shepherd are the theme of many a tale. On the Jhal
Jhulni, when swinging is the amusement of the youth of both
sexes, the daughter of the Solanki chief of Nagda and the village
maidens had gone to the groves to enjoy this festivity, but they
were unprovided with ropes. Bappa happened to be at hand,
and was called by the Rajput damsels to forward their sport.
He promised to procure a rope if they would first have a game at
marriage. One frolic was as good as another, and the scarf of
the Solankini was miited to the garment of Bappa, the whole of
the village lasses joining hands with his as the connecting link ;
and thus they performed the mystical number of revolutions
round an aged tree. This frolic caused his flight from Nagda,
and originated his greatness, but at the same time burthened him
with all these damsels ; and hence a heterogeneous issue, whose
descendants still ascribe their origin to the prank of Bappa round
the old mango-tree of Nagda. A suitable offer being shortly
after made for the young Solankini's hand, the family priests of
the bridegroom, whose duty it was, by his knowledge of palmistry,
to investigate the fortunes of the bride, discovered that she was
already married : intelligence which threw the family into the
greatest consternation.^ Though Bappa's power over his brother
shepherds was too strong to create any dread of disclosure as to
his being the principal in this affair, yet was it too much to expect
that a secret, in which no less than six hundred of the daughters
of Eve were concerned, could long remain such ? Bappa's mode
of swearing his companions to secrecy is preserved. Digging a
small pit, and taking a pebble in his hand, " Swear," cried he,

of Apis at Memphis ; nor will Eklinga yield to his brother Serapis. The
changes of position of the Apis at Nain are received as indications of the
fruitfuhiess of the seasons, though it is not apparent how such are contrived.

^ Bappa is not a proper name, it signifies merely a ' child.' [This is wrong :
it is the old Prakrit form of bap, ' father ' {I A, xv. 275 f. ; BQ, i. Part i.
84).] He is frequently styled Saila, and in inscriptions Sailadlsa, ' the
mountain lord.'

2 [The legend imphes that Bapa, from association with Bhils, was regarded
to be of doubtful origin.]

"secrecy and obedience to me in good and in evil ; that you will
reveal to me all that you hear, and failing, desire that the good
deeds of your forefathers may, like this pebble (dropping it into
the pit) fall mto the Washerman's well." ^ They took the oath.
The Solanki chief, however, heard that [224] Bappa was the
offender, who, receiving from his faithful scouts intimation of his
danger, sought refuge in one of the retreats which abound in these
mountains, and which in after-times proved the preservation of
his race. The companions of His flight were tv/o Bhils : one of
Undri, in the valley of the present capital ; the other of Solanki
descent, from Oghna Panarwa, in the western wilds. Their
names, Baleo and Dewa, have been handed down with Bappa's ;
and the former had the honour of drawing the tika of sovereignty
with his own blood on the forehead of the prince, on the occasion
of his taking the crown from the Mori.^ It is pleasing to trace,
through a series of ages, the knowledge of a custom still ' honoured
in the observance.' The descendants of Baleo of Oghna and the
Undri Bhil still claim the privilege of performing the tika on the
inauguration of the descendants of Bappa.