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[edit] Mewar 03: Birth of Goha

[edit] 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

1 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.']

2 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.

3 [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 ? "

[edit] 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 the depths 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].

[edit] The Marriage of Eappa

Tradition has preserved numerous 3 Or Nagda, still a place of religious resort, 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.

1 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.