Bir Singh and Jhujhar of Urchha.
The Bundela power reached its zenith under Bir Singh Dev, the agent employed by Jahangir in murdering his father’s beloved minister Abul Fazl. There was hardly any favour which the Emperor could refuse to this Rajah. Bir Singh grew in wealth and power, and towards the close of his patron’s reign, when the imperial ad- ministration grew slack, he freely levied contributions from the neighbouring princes, for none durst complain against the favourite. As a still higher mark of his master’s favour he was permitted to build grand temples at Mathura, Urchha, and other places;—a fact which the Muhammadan historian can explain only by sup- posing that the Islamic Emperor was then sinking into dotage! With all his lavish expenditure on temples and ghats, gifts to Brahmans, and construction of palaces, forts and lakes, Bir Singh died in 1627, the master of fabulous wealth, fully two krores of Rupees,— which in Bundela fashion was buried in wells and other safe places tn the pathless jungles, and their secret confided only to a few.*
His eldest son Jhujhar Singh had given offence to Shah Jahan by leaving the capital for his home without permission, soon after the Emperor’s accession. But an army of 34,500 soldiers—cavalry, foot musketeers, and sappers, penetrated into his country from three directions, stormed the fort of Irich, slaughtered 2000 of the garrison including “‘many young and old,” and quickly forced the Rajah to make submission. He secured pardon only by promising a large tribute and sending a contingent of his clansmen to fight in the Emperor’s wars in the South.#
To this race of primitive warriors a peaceful life was impossible. War was their sole occupation, their sole means of earning glory and riches, and their only amusement. This restless spirit made the Bundelas, when not usefully occupied in war, a bye-word for robbery and disturbance throughout the seventeenth century.
Jhujhar could not long remain quiet. He led an army to Chauragarh, an old Gond capital, beyond the Narmada, captured it, and, in violation of his plighted word, slew the Rajah Prem Narayan and seized his ancestral hoard, amounting to 10 lakhse of Rupees The victim’s son appealed to Shah Jahan, but strangely enough, the Mughal Emperor’s righteous indignation was not roused by this act of spoliation, he only demanded a share of the booty@ and offered to leave Jhujhar in possession of his conquest if he ceded an equivalent territory to the Mughals! This the Bundela was most unwilling to do. Deciding on a policy of resistance, he secretly recalled his son Yograj (surnamed Vikramajit), whom he had left in charge of his contingent in Balaghat. The youth slipped away unperceived. But an energetic Mughal officer, Khan-i-Dauran, was soon at his heels, reached Ashta from Burhanpur by forced marches in five days, and overtook Vikramajit, who fled defeated and wounded to his father at Dhamuni.$
* Blochmann’s Ain-i-Akbari, i. 488 and xxv-xxvi; M.U. ii, 197—199, Pad. I.A, 293, LB. 117.
# Pad. 1.A. 240—242, 246—248. Jhujhar’s life is given in M.U. ii. 214—217. The cause of his flight is stated to have been his fear lest the stricter adminis- tration of Shah Jahan should make him disgorge his father’s unauthroised annex- ations of territory. Khafi Khan, i. 406. [rich is situated on a bend of the Betwa river, 40 miles n.e. of Jhansi (Ind. Atlas, sheet 69 N.W.)
@ A bdul Hamid, I.B. 95, gives the Gond king’s name as Bim (= Bhim) Narayan. The Imp. Gaz. xviii. 387, has Prem Narayan. Shah Jahan’s message to Jhujhar ran thus: ‘As you have shed the blood of Bhim Narayan and his family and seized the country of Garha without my permission, it is best for you to present the country to my officers. But if you wish to be confirmed in that country you must give up your jagirs near you home, in exchange of it, and send to me 10 lakhs of Rupees out of the cash taken from Bhim Narayan.” This is the official account revised by Shah Jahan himself. Not a word is said here about making restitution to the murdered Rajah’s son.
$ Pad. 1.B. 95-96. Chauragarh is in the Narsinghpur district, C.P., about 10 miles s.e. of the Gadarwara Station. Dhamuni is near the Dhasan river 24 m. north of Saugor in C.P. Und. Atlas, 70 S. W.).
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