BATNEARS, or Batties, a people of the northern part of Hindostan, inhabiting a country which extends about 200 miles in length and 100 in breadth, and of which the capital is Batncar, situated, according to some authorities 170, and according to others 219 miles west-north-west of Delhi. This country comprehends part of the province of Delhi, Lahore, and Ajmeer.

The Batties present many peculiarities in manners and customs, distinguishing them from the other people of Hindostan. They seem to consist of three different races; the chief are Rajpoot Mahommedans; the common people Jauts, who have adopted the same religion; and the cultivators of the soil are called Ryots, a very peaceable and inoffensive class. But in general they are characterized as shepherds; and although principally restricted to the territory whence their name is derived, various tribes of them are to be found in the Punjab, and they are also scattered over the high grounds to the east of the Indus. But great obscurity prevails in every thing regarding them.

The Batties are Mahommedans, and highly venerate the memory of a certain saint, Scheik Fereed, who flourished in the fifteenth century; and it is said that, however adverse to their natural disposition, should any one, in invoking his name, claim their protection, it is never withheld. Yet their customs, in other respects, are at variance with those of the Mahommedans, particularly in the females appearing, without any reserve, unveiled in public, and in their associating promiscuously with the men, as in other countries. The wives of the Rajpoot chiefs form an exception; and it is reported among these Rajpoots, that their ancestors migrated some centuries ago from the district of Jessulmere, and, after various vicissitudes, settled in the Batnear country. Most of the inhabitants under their rule were originally Jauts, dwelling on the western bank of the river Sutledge, in the twenty-ninth degree of north latitude, and who have not been known long in the portion of the peninsula now occupied by them. Having embraced the Mahommedan faith, they were invited by an ancestor of the rajah of the Batties, about a century ago, to cross the river and settle in his country, where their posterity still reside. The Jauts constitute the lower orders of the people, and are treated with great moderation by their superiors.

The whole territory, extending as above described, is apparently under the dominion of a supreme prince or rajah, whose authority is acknowledged by inferior chiefs or rajahs; for the term rajah, in strictness, applies to none [7:4:450] but those invested with a paramount rule. This potentate can bring 20,000 or 30,000 men into the field, but they are quite undisciplined, and despise the necessary principle of subordination. His revenue chiefly arises from the plundering of his troops, for their wars are directed more to predatory purposes than to open contest; and the rajah, instead of repressing the ravages of this immense banditti, willingly participates in the spoils. When strangers observed to him that the soil and agriculture of his country were sufficient to enable his subjects to enjoy plenty, he replied, that the number of Rajpoots in his service was so considerable, compared with the mass of the people, that, should he attempt to restrain the depredations of the latter, the subversion of his own authority might ensue, because it would be interfering with old and established customs. The rajah who made this remark was in every respect a good and humane character.

But the people over whom he rules are by no means entitled to the same repute; they are of a cruel, savage, and ferocious disposition; they entertain an utter abhorrence of the usages of civilized life; they arc thieves from their earliest infancy, and, during their predatory incursions into the neighbouring districts, do not scruple, though unresisted, to add murder to robbery. This systematic plundering produces a revenue of above L.120,000 per annum to their princes; at least that is the conjectural amount, for there are no data whereon to found exact calculations.

Many of the Batties appear to be entirely nomadic, changing their residence from place to place, as subsistence fails. Their exports are horses, camels, bullocks, buffaloes, and ghee; and they sell some surplus grain above what is necessary for their own consumption; but their traffic is very inconsiderable, and what they do carry on is with the petty merchants of Behadra, Nohur, and other towns, through the means of the disciples of the !Scheik Fereed, their favourite saint. A large portion of the country is unproductive; but along the banks of the river Cuggur, from Batnear to the town of Futtahbad, the soil is uncommonly rich, and well adapted for cultivation. The inundations of this river fertilize its banks, and the subsidence of the waters leaves them to a great distance prepared for plentiful crops of wheat, rice, and barley, amply rewarding the labours of the husbandman. It is the scarcity of water which occasions the barrenness of the ground; nevertheless, more is raised than the inhabitants can consume. Their horses are numerous; but it is computed that they lose a fourth of them annually by the sting or bite of a winged insect, the injured part degenerating into an incurable cancerous sore.

We are unacquainted with any river of note in this district, excepting the Cuggur, which is lost in the sands to the westward. According to the tradition of the natives, it changed its course in consequence of its original bed having been choked up by immense quantities of earth forced down from the mountains.

The capital of the Batties is Batnear, which lies in a situation almost inaccessible to an enemy; for no water is to be procured within twelve miles, but what supplies the inhabitants; however, it was taken in 1398 by Timour, and more recently by General Thomas. Their other principal towns are Arroa, Futtahbad, Sirsa, and Ramgah; and there are many forts, which, though defenceless against the skill of European troops, are impregnable to the irregular marauders of Hindostan. Numbers of the Batties have latterly emigrated from their native country, to establish themselves in the western parts of the dominions of Oude; and several families of them are to be met with in Rohilcund. They are practised travellers, and well trained to emigration by the laborious journeys undertaken in crossing the great desert to the west of their territories. These expeditions are frequently made in large parties, for the purpose of a predatory incursion on some peaceable country more remote; and they exemplify both skill and determination in attaining their object. Camels previously laden with provisions are dispatched to different stations in the desert, which is about 130 miles in breadth, and their loads deposited there. The most intelligent of the party about to follow are selected as guides, and receive the most implicit obedience from their companions during the journey, which closes at the frontier of the hostile country, or rather that against which their hostility is directed. The guides, by long experience, become expert without compass or land-mark, and seldom fail to conduct the party to the appointed station where the provisions are deposited, and thence across the remainder of the desert in safety. But should they accidentally miss the points of rendezvous, or those where alone their necessities can be relieved, they are exposed to inevitable destruction; and any of their party heedlessly straying from the rest become the victims of the accumulated evils of hunger, thirst, and fatigue. The adventurers steer their course by the sun in the day-time, and by the polar star at night; and by similar aids they are enabled to retrace the way they have travelled. Should provisions fail, a bullock is killed, roasted, and partitioned on the spot, and, after a hasty meal, the journey is resumed.

The history of the Batties has attracted the notice of few European authors. They seem to carry on frequent wars with neighbouring states, and are the most formidable enemies that oppose the rajah of Beykaneer. The latter invaded their territories in the beginning of the present century, but without success, which is not surprising, considering the comparative smallness of the force which he can bring into the field, and the nature of the country. Temporary advantages were, notwithstanding, obtained over the Batties, and the Beykaneer rajah erected a fortress in Batinda, which, if not within their territory, is on its immediate confines. This contributed to overawe them for a time, and repressed their incursions into his own dominions; as, independently of the garrison, he stationed a large body of cavalry in the fort, whose frequent sallies and captures of cattle annoyed the Batties so much that they contemplated a total emigration from their own country. Buta military adventurer, George Thomas, an Irishman by birth, who, endowed with singular talents and intrepidity, had founded for himself an independent state in the north-west of India, was then at war with the province of Beykaneer. Having reached its frontiers, the Batties solicited his alliance, and, to induce him to espouse their cause the more readily, offered him 40,000 rupees, if he would reduce the obnoxious fort. It appears that the Beykalleer forces were now masters of Batnear, the capital, whither General Thomas, who had accepted the proposals of the Batties, marched to dislodge them. He found a numerous garrison, and, having brought up his artillery, began to batter the place, preparatory to an assault. This, however, the enemy avoided by capitulation, and they were allowed to evacuate the city with the honours of war, while the Batties immediately took possession of it. In further prosecution of the war, several actions ensued, and various fortresses were taken; but it would appear, that one of the Battie chiefs, at variance with General Thomas, commenced hostilities against him, about the period now alluded to; and, in this new warfare with his late allies, his forces were so much reduced by repeated encounters, that, being scarcely able to stand an engagement, he fortified his camps. The Batties, after frequent attacks, withdrew their troops by night, whereupon General Thomas tookan burnt Futtahbad and other places, and might have occupied[7:4:451] the whole country, but a neighbouring chief having concluded an alliance with the Batties, and sent 1000 cavalry to their aid, General Thomas retreated to Jyjur, a town within his own territory.