Dudia

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Dudia ia an ancient clan included in Thirty Six Royal Races.[1]

Mention by Tod

Dudia is mentioned by James Tod: Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, Volume III, Publisher: Humphrey Milford Oxford University Press 1920, pp.1637-1642, as under:

[p.1637]: Sangram Singh, the eldest son of Lalji, with his infant nephews, Jai Singh and Nahar (who was absent), escaped the avenger's sword, under which perished his father, mother, both brothers, and all his own children, at one fell swoop ! Sangram succeeded to the possession of Sheogarh, and to the feuds of his family. His nephew, young Nahar, joined in all his enterprises, from the defence of Kheroda to the escalade and capture of the castle of Lawa, in which he maintained himself until the Rana not only pardoned him, but gave him precedence above his enemies in his own councils.

Lawa was wrested by Sangram Singh Saktawat from Sangrani Singh the Dudia, an ancient tribe, but like many others little known, until the incident we are about to relate gave it a momentary gleam of splendour, and afforded the bard an opportunity to emblazon its fame upon his page. Even in these regions, so full of strange vicissitudes, the sudden rise of the Dudia is a favourite topic of the traditional muse of Mewar.


The Dudia Clan

[p.1638]: Chandrabhan was the father of this meteor of the day ; his sole wealth consisted of a team of oxen, with which he tilled a few bighas of land at the base of Naharamagra, the ' tiger mount,' where the Rana had a ramna or preserve, for the royal sport of tiger-hunting. It was during the autumnal harvest, when the Dudia had finished his day's work, having put up the last rick of makkai (Indian corn), as he was driving home the companions of his toil, a voice hailed him from the wood. He answered, and advanced to the spot whence it issued, where he found a stranger, evidently of rank, with his horse panting for breath.

After inquiring his tribe, and being told " Rajput," the stranger begged a little water, which was supplied, along with two coarse cakes of makkai, and a little 'chana-ka-dal, pulse cooked with ghi, or clarified butter, which the honest Dudia took out of a cloth not over clean. Having performed all the other duties which hospitality requires, the Dudia made his salaam, and was about to depart, when a train of horsemen coming in sight, he paused to look at them. All went up to the stranger ; and, from the profound respect paid to him, he found that he had entertained no common guest.

It was in fact his sovereign, the Rana Jagat Singh, who delighted in the chase, and having that day been bewildered in the intricacies of Naharamagra, had stumbled on the Dudia carle. The latter expressed neither surprise nor delight when introduced to the Rana, and replied to all his questions with the frankness that grows out of the sentiment of honest pride and independence, which never abandons a Rajput, whatever be his condition. 1

The Rana was so much pleased with his rustic host, that he commanded a led horse to be brought forth, and desired the Dudia would accompany him to Udaipur, only ten miles distant. ' The rocket of the moon ' - (Chandrabhan), in his peasant's garb, bestrode the noble charger with as much ease as if it were habitual to him. The next day the Dudia was conducted to the Presence, and invested with a dress which had been worn by his


1. In my days of inexperience, when travelling through countries unknown, and desirous to take the first peasant I found as a guide, I have been amused by his announcing to me, before a question was put, "I am a Rajput," as if in anticipation of the demand and a passport to respect ; literally, " I am of royal descent " : a reflection which lends an air of dignity to all his actions, and distinguishes him from every other class.

2.Light of the Moon ' : a rocket is bān.


[p.1639]: sovereign (a distinguished mark of royal favour), accompanied with the more solid reward of the grant of Kuwaria and its lands in perpetuity.

Chandrabhan and his benefactor died about the same time. Rana Raj had succeeded to the throne of Mewar, and Sardar Singh, son of Chandrabhan, did personal service for the lands of Kuwaria. It was a source of daily amusement for the prince and his youthful associates to plunge into the fountain at the Saheli-ki-bari,1 a villa about two miles from the capital, on which occasions reserve was banished, and they gave themselves up to unrestrained mirth.

The young Dudia had some peculiarities, which made him a butt for their wit. The following incident will show the character of these princely pastimes. It was one day remarked, that when refreshing in the kund, or reservoir, Sardar Singh did not lay aside his turban, which provoked a suspicion that he had no hair. The Rana, impatient to get a peep at the bare head of [608] the son of Chandrabhan, proposed that they should push each other into the water. The sport began, and the Dudia's turban falling off, disclosed the sad truth. The jest, however, was not relished by Sardar ; and he tartly replied, in answer to his sovereign's question, " what had become of his hair ? " that " he had lost it in his service, in a former birth, as Chela,2 by carrying wood upon his head to feed the flame, when his sovereign, as a jogi, or ascetic, performed penance (tapasya) in the hills of Badarinath." The prince felt that he had violated decorum ; but the reply was pregnant with sarcasm, and his dignity must be maintained. " Sardar must bring proof of his assertion, or punishment awaits him," was the rejoinder. The young chief, in the same lofty tone, offered the evidence of the Deota (divinity) of the temple of Kuwaria. This was a witness whose testimony could not be impugned, and he had leave to bring it forward.

At the village of Gopalpur, attached to his estate of Kuwaria, was a temple of the Bagrawats, a tribe little known, having a shrine of their divinity, who was personified by an image


1 ' The nymphs' parterre ' ; for the bari is more a flower-garden than one of indiscriminate culture.

2 Chela is a phrase which includes servitude or domestic slavery : but implies, at the same time, treatment as a child of the family. Here it denotes that of a servant or disciple.


[p.1640]: with a tiger's (bagh) head.1 He invoked his support on this occasion, when the Deota threw him the flower2 in his hand, and desired him to carry it to his sovereign." lie did so, and the Rana's faith was too great to dispute the miracle. What honours could suffice for the man who had performed the most meritorious service to his prince in former transmigrations ! Mang, ' ask,' was the sign of grace and favour. Sangram's request was governed by moderation ; it was for Lawa and its lands, which adjoined his estate at Kuwaria.

The Rana being yet a minor, and the queen-mother at the head of affairs, he hastened to her to be released from the debt of gratitude. But Lawa, unluckily, was held by herself ; and although she was not heretic enough to doubt the miraculous tale, she thought the Dudia might have selected any other land but hers, and testily replied to her son's request, that " he might give him Mewar if he chose." Displeased at this unaccommodating tone, the prince quickly rejoined, " Mewar shall be his, then." The word of a prince is sacred ; he sent for Sangram, and thus addressed him: "I give you Mewar for the space of three days ; make the best use of your time ; my arsenals, my armouries, my treasury, my stables, my throne and its ministers, are at your command." 3 The temporary Rana availed himself of this large power, and conveyed to his estate whatever he had a mind to. During the abdication Sardar held his court, though he had too much tact actually to press the cushion of his master ; but seated himself on one side of the vacant throne, attended by all the nobles, fully impressed with the sanctity of the individual who had attained such distinction. On the third day the queen-mother sent her son the patent for Lawa; and on the fourth the Dudia surrendered the sceptre.

With the wealth thus acquired, he erected a castle in his domain of Lawa, on which he expended nine lakhs of rupees, about £100,000. He formed a lake ; and a single baori or reservoir, in the fort, cost another lakh. He built a splendid palace, whose


1. [The true form of the clan name is Bagrawat {Census Report, Rajputana, 1911, i. 256) which can have no connexion with bagh, 'a tiger.' It is probably derived from the Bagar waste in Hissar District.]

2. That sculptured from the stone is meant.

3 [For temporary kings see Frazer, Golden Bough, 3rd ed. Part ix. 151, 403 f.l


[p. 1641]:

china and mirror-halls are still the theme of encomium. These were greatly defaced by an explosion of a powder-magazine, which threw down half the fortress that had taken twenty years to complete ; and though it underwent considerable repairs, it lost much of its splendour, which the guns of Holkar aided to diminish : but the castle of Lawa is still one of the finest in Mewar. Sardar Singh had also a grant of one of the royal mahalls or palaces of Udaipur, erected on the margin of the lake, after the model of the Jagmandir.1 Although it now belongs to the chief of Amet, it is only recognized as the Dudia-ka-mahall ; but its halls are the dwelling of the bat and the owl ; the bar2 has taken root in its light, airy porticoes, and its walls have every direction but the perpendicular. Sardar lived twenty years after the erection of Lawa ; he died in S. 1838 (A.D. 1782), leaving one son, the heir of his honours and estates. Throughout his long life he lost no portion of the respect paid to his early years ; but with him the name of Dudia again sunk into obscurity, or lived but as a memento of the instability of fortune. It was this son who, when driven from Lawa by Sangram Singh Saktawat, had no place of shelter, and died in indigence and obscurity.

His son (grandson of Sardar, and great-grandson of the ' rocket of the moon ') is now patronized by the heir-apparent. Prince Jawan Singh, and receives a daily allowance, but has not a foot of land. Sangram, the Saktawat, had a regular sanad for the fief of Lawa, which was rated at twenty-three thousand rupees of annual rent, while Kuwaria has reverted to the fisc. The lake of Lawa, which irrigates some thousand acres of rice-land, alone renders it one of the most desirable of the secondary estates of Mewar, Sangram's children being all murdered in the feud of Sheogarh, he was succeeded by Jai Singh (son of Sheo Singh, his second brother), who was received as kaula, or son of adoption, by all the retainers of Lawa. While Sangram Singh lived, no subdivision of allotments took place ; all, to use the words of Man Singh, " ate out of one dish " ; and his own father Nahar, who had aided in the enterprise, having by a similar coup de main secured the estate of Banwal for himself, no necessity for such partition existed. But Banwal belonging to the fisc, to which it reverted on the restoration of order in a.d. 1818, young Man


1 [One of the island palaces, built by Rana Jagat Singh (a.d. 1628-52).]

2 [The banyan, ficus indica.]


[p.1642]: had no alternative but to turn round on Jai Singh, the adopted heir of Sangram, and demand his bat, or share of the lands of Lawa, in virtue of the right of joint acquisition, and as a younger brother. Jai Singh refused ; but custom prevailed, and the village of Jethpura, of fifteen hundred rupees' annual revenue, was bestowed upon the son of Nahar Singh. So long as Man Singh performed his duties to his chief, his share of Lawa was irresumable and inalienable : hence the stubborn tenacity of the chiefs of their share in the patrimonial acres, even when holding largely, but separately, of the crown, since of the latter, caprice or intrigue may deprive them ; but their own misconduct alone can forfeit their bapota. The simple deed of conveyance will better establish this point !

" Maharao Sri Jai Singh, plighting liis faith (bachanaita).
" At this time. Brother Man Singh, I bestow upon thee, of my

own free will, the village and lands of Jethpura. This donative shall not look to ranrkas : suput, kuput :1 your issue shall enjoy them. Of this intention I call the four-armed divinity (Chaturbhuj) 2 as witness. You are my own child (chhora) : wherever and whenever I order, you will do my service : if you fail, the fault be on your own head."


1. Ranrka is a phrase embracing mental or physical infirmity [meaning ' a blockhead,' ' a ninny,' from rānd, rānr, ' a widow,' a term of contempt] ; here strengthened by the words which follow. Suput means ' worthy,' or ' good issue ' (putra), as kuput, the reverse, ' bad or incompetent issue.'

2 [Vishnu.]

References


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