AJMEER, or Rajpootana, a large province situated in the centre of Hindostan, between the 24th and 31st degrees of N. lat. It is bounded on the north by the provinces of Moultan, Lahore, and Delhi; on the south by Gujerat and Malwah; on the east by Delhi and Agra, and on the west by Moultan and the principality of Sinde. From north to south it extends 350 miles, and is 200 in average breadth. The following are the modern divisions of this province :—

1. The Bhatty country.

2. Bicanere.

3. The Great Sandy Desert

4. Jesselmere.

5. Joudpoor.

6. Marwar.

7. Nagore.

8. Shekawutty.

9. Jeypoor.

10. Ajmeer district

11. Harowty.

12. Odeypoor.

13. Mewar.

14. Sarowy.

This province is generally of a barren and sandy soil, in many parts a good deal covered by thorny trees and thickets of the cactus. The province of Marwar has a superior soil, and is in a better state of cultivation than the eastern provinces of Jeypoor and Ajmeer, or the southwestern tract of Mewar, including Odeypoor. This part of the country was laid waste to such a degree by the ravages of the Pindarees, that it has yet scarcely recovered. The soil, naturally arid, is in some of the southern provinces rendered productive by streams which descend from the mountains. The Chumbul, Calysina, and Banass are the most considerable streams; and where they afford supplies of moisture, the country presents something like the appearance of verdure. The soil of the whole province is remarkably saline, containing many salt springs and lakes, and producing salt and saltpetre spontaneously. In other parts, in order to procure a supply of water, deep wells are sunk, from which the country being partially irrigated, yields wheat, barley, and other sorts of grain and pulse common in India. In Marwar, where they derive their supplies of water from these deep wells, Bishop Heber mentions that he saw cotton growing of the finest quality, and oxen and sheep which bore evidence, by their size and fatness, of the luxuriance of the pasture. Other parts, again, of the southern provinces are strangely desolate, though the ruins with which they are covered, and the numerous tombs, show that they have been inhabited at no distant period, and that their present desolation has been the work of violence.

Towards the east, and in the north, there is an extensive tract, which is a continued desert of the most dismal appearance. Towards the south mountainous tracts occur, and between Marwar and Mewar they rise to 2000 feet above the level of the sea. The mountains of Aboo, towards the western boundary, rise, it is supposed, to the height of 6000 feet. Except in the mountains, trees are seldom seen; and the consequence is, that timber for building and other purposes is extremely scarce, and proportionably dear. Such is the scarcity of wooden furniture, that at dinner parties it is the practice among the British residents for ladies and gentlemen to send their own chairs to the house where the entertainment is to take place; and they have nothing better for their doors and windows than pieces of matting. The Shekawultz country on the west is sandy, badly watered and cultivated, scattered over with rocky hills, and sprinkled with tufts of long grass and bushes. Yet it contains several large towns; and it seems to lose its title to be included in the desert, when compared with the tract which extends north-east as far as Bahawulpoor, a distance of 280 miles; and even this tract is only for the last hundred miles absolutely destitute of inhabitants, water, or vegetation. For 180 miles the country presents the appearance of hills and valleys of loose and heavy sand from 20 to 100 feet in height. These hills shift their positions; and the passage of the desert is rendered dangerous in summer by clouds of moving sand. Among these sandy deserts villages are occasionally met with, which consist merely of a few round huts of straw, with low conical roofs like stooks of corn. They are surrounded by hedges of dry thorny branches, stuck in the sand. Around these miserable abodes are to be seen a few fields, which depend for water on the rains and dews, and which bear thin crops of the poorest kinds of pulse, and a species of the holcus spi [7:2:366]catus, which, though it flourishes in the most sterile countries, grows here with difficulty, each stalk several feet from its neighbour. In this arid waste is found in profusion the most juicy of all fruits, the water-melon. Some of these grow to the size of three or four feet in circumference, from a stalk as slender as that of the common melon. Agriculture depends on supplies of water procured from wells thinly scattered over the country, and sunk to the enormous depth of 300 and 345 feet, while some of them are only three feet in diameter. The water is drawn from these wells by water-wheels worked by bullocks, in small quantities, and is brackish and unwholesome. The wells are lined with masonry, and the natives frequently cover them with boards heaped with sand, which effectually conceals them from an enemy. The rest of the desert for 100 miles, from Poogul to Bahawulpoor, is a flat hard clay, which sounds under the horses’ hoofs like a board. In some places small sand-hills are formed over the clay, on which a few plants shoot up. But the clay is destitute of all appearance of vegetation; and, excepting at the fort and pool of Monjgur, and two wells about sixteen miles from Bahawulpoor, the country is wholly destitute both of inhabitants and of water. In approaching the town of Bahawulpoor the desert and the cultivated country are separated as if by a marked line. The edge of the desert is skirted by a long row of trees; and beyond it are to be seen clumps of trees, green fields, and wells of abundant and clear water, with houses and every sign of fertility and cultivation. This great desert is 400 miles in breadth, and extends far beyond the limits of Ajmeer. Several tracts are within the limits of the periodical rains, and might be recovered from desolation by industry; but at present these rains are absorbed by the thirsty soil, without any benefit whatever to the inhabitants.

The domestic animals are bullocks and camels. The animals of the desert are, the antelope; the wild ass, remarkable for its shyness and for its speed; the fox; and a curious species of rat, which is found in such numbers that the ground is undermined by it in many parts, and is rendered dangerous to horsemen. The lower classes of the people are Jauts. They are of small stature, ill-looking, and have every appearance of poverty and wretchedness. The upper classes are Rhatore Rajpoots. They are a stout and handsome race, with hooked noses and Jewish features; of haughty manners, indolent in their habits, and almost continually drunk with opium. The inhabitants are estimated at 3,000,000, the Mahometans being to the Hindoos as one to eight. The principal towns are Jeypoor, Joudpoor, Odeypoor, Ajmeer, Kotah, Bondee, Rantampoor, Chitore, Shahpoorah, Bicanere, and Jesselmere. The three grand modern divisions of Raj-pootana are, Isí, Odeypoor, named also Mewar and the Rana of Chitore; 2d, Joudpoor, named also Marwar, and its sovereign occasionally described as the Rhatore Rajah, being of that tribe; 3rd , Jeypoor, Jynagur, or Ambeer, three names of one state. From the dismemberment of these, the original Rajpoot states, others have been formed, and in later times the rajahs of Jesselmere and Bicanere, and the petty chiefs of Kotah, Boondee, and Banswara.

The country is governed by numerous chiefs, who owe allegiance and pay tribute to their liege lords; and who occasionally, as opportunities occur, have thrown off their dependence, and have set up as independent sovereigns within their own territories. During the scenes of confusion and trouble which took place in Central India, previously to the last war, and general pacification in 1818, Rajpootana was frequently laid waste by the inroads of the Pindarees and other freebooters, who were in many cases abetted by the native chiefs. At that time no title was secure; power was the only rule of right; and various portions of the province were possessed and held by powerful invaders, such as Scindia and Holkar. Such was the anarchy that prevailed in this province, as well as generally in Central India, that every freebooter who could collect a sufficient force extorted contributions from the peaceable inhabitants. The petty chiefs were also frequently involved in war with each other; and the destruction inseparable from such contests added to the mass of misery which already pressed on the country. When the war undertaken by the British in 1817, against the bands of plunderers who infested the country, and spread confusion and misery wherever they appeared, was brought to a successful termination, Ajmeer was finally rescued from the Mahratta influence, and placed under Sir D. Ochterlony, as resident and commander; and a large body of troops was cantoned near the city of Ajmeer, by whose presence the turbulent were overawed, and the public peace preserved. Since this period tranquillity and good order have arisen out of confusion; and the peaceable inhabitants, delivered from rapine, and from the miseries of continued pillage and oppression, have resumed their former occupations of commerce and agriculture. The different chiefs are allowed to regulate their own internal policy; but they are no longer permitted to go to war with each other, all their differences being now referred to the supreme tribunal of British authority. (p.)

Ajmeer, a city of Hindostan, in the province of Ajmeer. It is situated on the slope of a hill, and was nearly ruined in the long period of anarchy and misgovernment which prevailed in Central India prior to 1819. It was acquired by the British from Scindia in 1818, when it was in a state of the utmost desolation and decay. After this period it rapidly improved; and in 1823 commerce had revived, and the population had been more than tripled. Bishop Fieber, who visited it in 1825, mentions, that it is a well-built town, of moderate size. The buildings are chiefly white-washed; and the surrounding rocks have some thorny trees and brush-wood on them, which hide their barrenness, and make a good back-ground to the little ruinous mosques and Mussulman tombs which are scattered round the circuit of this holy city. Above, on the mountain top, is a very remarkable fortress, called Taraghur, nearly two miles in circuit, but, from its irregular shape and surface, not capable of containing more than 1200 men. It consists of a plain stone-wall along the edge of a mountain, strengthened with a few round bastions; and it has an abundant supply of good water in all seasons, from cisterns cut in the rock. The works of this fortress are now going fast to decay, as it is not the policy of the British government to rely, for their security, on fortresses. The old palace and garden of Shah Jehan still exist, and the former contains several habitable rooms. Ajmeer is renowned as a place of pilgrimage, the great attraction being the tomb of Khoja Mögen ud Deen, famed as a great Mahometan saint, whose miracles are celebrated all over India. The tomb is of white marble, but remarkable neither for style nor beauty of architecture. To this place the emperor Acbar made a pilgrimage on foot, to implore at the sainted tomb the blessing of male offspring. The emperors of Delhi formed a fine fresh-water lake just above the city, which during the rains is six miles in circumference. It supplies the means of irrigation to a large district on its banks, is full of fish, and affords excellent water to the inhabitants of the town. Ajmeer is 80 miles W. S. W. from Jeypoor. Travelling distance from Delhi 230 miles; from Bombay, 650; and from Calcutta, 1030 miles. Long. 74. 28. E. Lat. 26.31. N. (Bishop Heber’s Journey through the Upper Provinces of India; Hamil[7:2:367]ton’s Description of Hindostan ; Elphinstone’s Journey into Afghanistan.) (f.)