1
The Second Life of Devldas Jaitavat
A Sixteenth-century Rathor Rajput Warrior
In the 1550s, Devldas Jaitavat emerged as an outstanding military
commander in the service of the ruler of Jodhpur, Rav Malde Gangavat (1532-62).
After the death of his brother, Prithlraj Jaitavat, in 1554, Devldas had assumed the
leadership of the Jaitavat family of Rathor Rajputs. He soon became a favorite of
Rav Malde's, particularly after his brilliant leadership of a Jodhpur contingent
during the battle of Harmaro in 1557. 1 Shortly afterward he assumed command of
the Rajput garrison at Merto, in the face of attacks by the Mughals in Ajmer. In
1562 the Mughals besieged Merto, and Devldas, after conducting a long, heroic
defense, died in a final battle a few miles from the town on March 20.
Or so it was presumed. Nearly ten years later a man appeared in Marvar 2
dressed in the garb of a sannyast and calling himself Devldas Jaitavat. He had a
convincing story to explain his long absence. The resemblance of this man to the
Devldas who had died in 1562 was close enough that many accepted his claim.
But some did not, among them the Mughal Emperor Akbar, who met him in 1574.
This "second Devldas" proved to be a competent soldier. He began to organize
resistance to the Mughal occupation of Marvar. He took control of VagrI, the
1 Harmaro (26°41'0"N, 74°55'0"E) is northeast of Ajmer. See "The First Life of Devidas Jaitavat" (Part I) for
details.
2 By Marvar I mean the area included within the boundaries of the old Jodhpur Princely State. Marvar, or Marudesa,
as it was called in ancient sources, traditionally meant a region delineated by nine forts or fortified towns, the Nav
Kot Marvar ra , including Lodravo, Jalor, Pugaj, Ajmer, Abu, Mandor, Parkar, Umarkot, and Baharmer. Of these,
only three were inside the Jodhpur Princely State (Mandor, Jalor, and Baharmer) and only one, Mandor, was located
within the seven districts ( parganos) of Marvar discussed in the seventeenth-century Marvar ra Parganam rl Vigat
(Account of the Districts of Marvar) by Mumhato Nainsl. Two (Parkar and Umarkot) are now in Pakistan. For a
more detailed discussion and a map, see R. D. Saran, Conquest and Colonization: Rajputs and Vasis in Middle
Period Marvar (Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. The University of Michigan. 1978), pp. 21-25.

2
principal seat of the Jaitavat family, displacing Askaran Devldasot, his own son, if,
in fact, he was Devldas. His presence became a burden to the Jaitavat family and
to the Mughals, and so he was killed. The second life of Devldas Jaitavat thus
ended.
In the following pages I attempt to reconstruct Devldas's second life
according to the Persian and Middle Marvarl 3 sources that discuss him. His story
is important, I believe, because it sheds some light on topics that recently have
been of growing interest to many scholars of pre-modern India. Devldas was both
a soldier and an ascetic, perhaps for awhile an armed one. His disappearance and
return, although unusual, were not unique. What sort of ascetic he was, why he
became one, what might have happened during and after the battle in which he was
thought to have died, what the Rajput perception of battle was, what the Rajput
relationship with ascetics was, all these are the sorts of questions one might ask of
the sources. A second set of questions revolves around Devldas's activities in
Marvar after he returned. He was an important player in local politics and in the
struggle between the Mughals and the Rathor Rajputs. What was his role? Why
was he killed? To anser these various questions, I have consulted four primary
sources, three in Middle Marvan and one in Persian, which are of particular
importance:
1. "Aitihasik Batam." In Parampard , pt. 11, pp. 17-109. Ed. by N. S.
Bhatl. Caupasnl: RajasthanI Sodh Samsthan, 1961. (AB).
This collection of prose accounts of the rulers of Jodhpur, 1459-1619, was copied
in 1649, and it is this copy which comprises the published version. The accounts
of the reigns of Rav Malde (1532-62) and Rav Candrasen (1562-81) most likely
were first written down at the ends of the reigns of these two rulers. Thus they
would be contemporary with the Akbar Ndma of Abu-l-Fazl. Both these two
Middle Marvan is a broad name for the language of the majority of prose stories and chronicles written in western
Rajasthan between ca. 1590-1850.

3
narratives have information about Devldas, but the Story of Rav Candrasen (pp.
79-90) contains a detailed description of events concerning the politics of Sojhat
Pargano (in eastern Marvar) from 1574-76, when Devldas was heavily involved
there.
2. Rao Udaibhan Champawat ri Khyat. Ed. by Raghubir Sinh. 2 vols, in
4. New Delhi: Indian Council of Historical Research, 1984. (UCRK).
This khyat is an extensive, annotated genealogy of the Rathor Rajput clan (yams,
kul) compiled in large part during the reign of Raja Gajsingh Surajsinghot (1619-
38) of Jodhpur, with some additions made during the reign of Raja Jasvantsingh
(1638-78, Raja Gajsihgh's son and heir. About 13,000 Rathors are listed, of which
perhaps 4,000 have some sort of biography attached. Most are short, but a few are
fairly long, including Devldas's. It is likely that the account concerning Devldas's
second life was copied from an older work, probably one written down just after
the death of Rav Candrasen in 1581.
y
3. Aitihasik Tavartkhvar Varta. MS 1234. Rajasthan! Sodh Samsthan,
Caupasnl. (ATV)
This nineteenth-century manuscript copy of mostly a number of older stories about
prominent Rajputs contains a slightly altered version of the account mentioned
above (no. 2) concerning Devldas's second life. Certain details are added, others
dropped.
4. Abu-l-Fazl. The Akbar Ndma of Abu-l-Fazl: History of the Reign of
Akbar including an Account of his Predecessors. Translated from the
Persian by H. Beveridge. 3 vols. Delhi: Rare Books, 1972 [1907-39].
The Akbar Ndma has the only detailed information in Persian sources about
Devldas's becoming an ascetic and his return to Sojhat. It differs in important
ways from the Middle Marvar! accounts, but it also confirms and adds to them.

4
1. The Battle of Satalvas, March 20,1562, and its Aftermath
Middle MarvarT chronicles seldom pay much attention to the intimate details
of Rajput warfare. Usually it is enough for them to say that a battle occurred, the
following died fighting (itra kam aya ), the following were wounded (itra loharci
laga ), and, rarely, the following left the field of battle (itra ntsariyo). Very seldom
do these texts give anything like a complete account of a military action. And so,
describing what happened when the Mughals caught to Devldas and killed him
along with all of his companions, the seventeenth-century chronicler NainsI merely
states that "Devldas turned around [to face the Mughals] near Satalvas and stood
firm. Then the battle occurred there, on March 20, 1562. The following retainers
died fighting [list]." 4 The later (eighteenth century) Mundiydr rt Khydt adds that a
total of 165 men on Devldas's side were killed, while 135 Mughals also died." 1 The
Akbar Ndma also has only a short passage about the battle itself. 6 One may
surmise that a large force of Mughals (7,000 had been involved in the preceding
siege) followed Devldas after he abandoned Merto, caught up to him after a few
miles, and massacred him and his badly outnumbered companions. It would have
been a short, brutal, bloody encounter.
The Akbar Ndma , which provides two accounts of what happened to
Devldas, includes his own version of events during and after this battle. Devldas
told the Mughals that he was wounded and "had lain on the ground nearly dead."
A "hermit" had conveyed him from the field and taken him to his "cell," where he
4 Mumhaio NainsI, Marvar ra Parganam ri Vigat. cd. by Narayansimh BhaiT, 3 vols. (Jodhpur: Rajasthan
Pracyavidya Pratisthan, 1968-74), 1:61.
5 Mundiyar rTKhyat: Jodhpur Rajya kd Itihas (Jhotra, Saficor: Tha. Arjunsimh Sonagara, 2005), p. 42.
6 ''When he |DcvTdas| became aware of the advance ol" Ihc victorious [Mughal] army he out of utter daring turned
his rein and fell upon the centre. A great fight took place." AN, 2:250.

5
applied plasters to his wounds and healed them. He "had then gone in attendance
on the hermit to visit holy shrines." 7 The other account in the Akbar Ndma notes
that "some say" Devldas came out of the battle wounded. Ten to twelve years later
a person calling himself Devldas "appeared in a yogi's dress and assumed this
name." 8 But both accounts indicate that the general opinion was that Devldas had
been killed in March, 1562, by the Mughals, who "cut him to pieces."
The two Middle Marvarl accounts of Devldas's life, the earliest of which
was probably written slightly before or just after the Akbar Nama was compiled,
are more specific. They relate that Devldas was struck in the head by a blow from
a mace (guraj) during the battle and became senseless. The other Rajputs were all
cut down, but Devldas's horse took him to a nearby village, KhakharkI, where a
svamt , Megh (Svami Megh BharatI in the later account) was seated by a tank. The
svamt assisted him and, again according to the later version of the story, kept him
hidden from the Mughal horsemen looking for him. The svamt bound warm bread
(baft) to the wound on Devldas's forehead, by which treatment the blood of what
must have been a subdural hematoma was dispersed. In about a week Devldas
regained consciousness, and, upon being asked to identify himself, told the svamt
he was in fact Devldas Jaitavat. Then they asked for the latest news from
Devldas's home and family. They found out that at least one wife (earlier version)
and maybe more (later version) had become satis. Then Devldas became a
sannydst and remained one for ten years. 9
And so it appears from these three sources that indeed Devldas did escape
death on that day, despite desperate odds. A "sva/wi," i.e., an ascetic, rescued him
7 AN, 3:224.
* AN, 2:250.
9 ATV, p. 7;UCRK, 1:265.

6
and nursed him back to health after he had been seriously wounded. Can one trust
the accounts of Devldas's rescue?
Devldas's Wounds
Accorded to Devldas's own account, as recorded byAbu-l-Fazl, he was
wounded in the battle and had been on the ground near death when a hermit
rescued him, carried him away, and tended to his wounds with plasters. The
Middle Marvarl narratives say he was hit on the head with a mace and became
senseless. Then his horse took him to a village a few miles away where,
fortunately, a svamt was seated, one with enough skill to save Devldas by applying
a plaster of warm bread. One can imagine that if he were struck in the head with a
mace, he would have been knocked unconscious. Since the Akbar Nama does not
specify the nature of Devldas's wound or wounds, it is certainly conceivable that
the two Middle Marvarl accounts are correct and he suffered a mace blow to the
head. But one must question the details involving the horse in these two stories. A
faithful horse is a possibility, but the horse's convenient deposition of Devldas at
the feet of a svamt miles from the battle is less likely than a battlefield rescue by an
ascetic who was nearby or involved somehow in the fight. What sort of ascetic
was he?
SvamI Megh BharatI
The Middle Marvarl accounts refer to him as SvamI Megh and (in the later
account) SvamI Megh BharatI. 10 It is significant that the title svami> which means
"master," and the name BharatI both are connected with the DasnamI Saivite
ascetic order. According to Ramdas Lamb, svaml is the primary honorific hame
within the order, while BharatI is one of the ten named subdivisions of the
10 ATV, p. 71;UCRK, 1:265

7
Dasnamls ("those having ten names")-" Reinforcing the identification of this
SvamT Megh as a DasnamT, or, perhaps more correctly, a member of an ascetic
lineage, BharatI, that was later included among the Dasnamls, is the statement in
the two Middle Marvari narratives that Devldas became a sannyasi , a term usually
reserved for DasnamT ascetics. Sannyasi is just one of the terms used in
seventeenth-century Middle Marvari texts for ascetics, others being bairagl /
vairagi (for Vaisnavite ascetics), 12 kapalik (for Saivite Kapalika ascetics, 13 atit (see
below), and yogi (usually for Raval or Nath yogis). 14 And sannyasi was a term
applied to both Kurs (Giris) and Purs, ascetics belonging to two subsequent
DasnamI subdivisions, by the Mughal historian Abu al-Fazl. 15 One can say with
some certainty that Devldas did not become a bairagl or a Kapalika. Later
anonymous sources from the eighteenth century say he became an atit. 16 It may be
" Ramdas Lamb. "Sadhus, Samyasls, and Yogis," in Brill's Encyclopedia of Hinduism, cd. by Knui A. Jacobscn,
Hclcnc Basil, Angclika Malinar, Vasudha Narayanan ( Brill Online , 2014; first appeared online 2012). For the
Dasnamls, sec Matthew Clark, The Dasanaml Samnyasls: The Integration of Ascetic lineages into an Order
(Leiden: Brill, 2006); Wade Dazey, "Dasanamls," in Brill's Encyclopedia of Hinduism (Brill Online, 2014: first
appeared online 2012), William R. Pinch, Warrior Ascetics and Indian Empires (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2006), pp. 37-44.
12 RSK, 4:2:5047-48 provides some examples of usages ol bairagl in poetry by MIra Bal (sixteenth century) and the
DadubanI of Dadu Dayal (seventeenth century).
13 NK. 1:322.
14 See AB, p. 81 (Nath yogi) and NK, 3:26-27 (Raval yogi).
1? As both Matthew Clark and William Pinch have indicated, the DasnamT order itself was probably formed no
earlier than the late sixteenth century, so the term DasnamI might not have been current when Abu al-Fazl wrote his
account of the battling sannyasls at Thancsar in 1567. Even if so, the names of several of the major subdivisions of
the Dasnamls, e.g. BharatI, Giri, and Puri, were known at that time. Clark, The Dasanaml Samnyasls, pp. 173-176;
Pinch, Warrior Ascetics and Indian Empires , pp. 37-44.
10 JRKK, p. 81; MRK, p. 38. Atit: "passed away." Atit indicates someone has "passed away from or become
liberated from world cares .... Atit is applied only to [Saivas]." Among the Dasnamls, Atit is used for the Vanas,
Aranyas. Purls, Girls. Parvatas. Sagaras. and half the Bharatls." George A. Gricrson, "Allis," in Encyclopaedia of
Religion and Ethics, ed. by James Hastings (New York: Charles Scribncr's Sons, 1910). 2:194-195.

8
that the authors of these sources assumed Devldas was an attt, or DasnamI
ascetic, 17 because he was called a sannyasi in earlier sources. Similarly, the
addition of BharatI to SvamI Megh's name in the later version of Devldas's story
might have been an attempt to fit him more securely into a category, DasnamI, that
was inferred from the earlier narrative according to contemporary eighteen-century
usage.
It is also of some interest that Devldas was simply identified as a " yogi
(jogl)" in both the Persian Akbar Nama and in a short Middle Marvarl biography
of his son, Askaran Devldasot, contained in UCRK. 18 But yogi in the late sixteenth
century was not always a precise term; it might have meant anyone who practiced
yoga, including a sannydst? 9 Pinch has suggested that yogi (i.e., Nath) ascetic
lineages were incorporated into the Dasnamls as this order formed its identity
sometime between 1550 and 1600. 20 If so, then one cannot rule out completely the
17 But see NK, 3:26-27, where atit is used to describe a Rava] yogi.
1S AN. 2:250; UCRK. 1 :269.
10 Abu al-Fazl mentions that a Mughal commander, Shah QulT Khan Mahram, left Akbar's service in 1558-59 in
disgrace and became a yogi. He apparently did not give up his Muslim faith, and later was forgiven for his
indiscretion by Akbar (AN, 2:121). Also, Abu al-Fazl calls the fighting ascetics at Thanesvar in 1567 "sannyasls"
(AN, 2:422), while BadaonI and Nizamuddln Ahmad, the other two major chroniclers of Akbar's reign, refer to
them as "jogTs" and "sannyasls" (MT, 2:95; TA, 2:331. B. De, in a note to his translation of the Tabaqat-I Akbarl,
remarks that the terms sannyasi and yogi were used indiscriminately in his day (TA, 2:330, n. 2). The same
judgment evidently would apply to the Mughal chronicles of the sixteenth century. Cf. James Mallinson, "Yogis in
Mughal India," in Deborah Diamond, ed., Yoga: The Art of Transformation (Washington, DC: Arthur M. Sackler
Gallery. Smithsonian Institution, 2013, p. 81, n. 1: "|Yogij refers lo an ascclic—someone who has renounced the
norms of conventional society in order to live a life devoted to religious ends—who may or may not practice the
techniques commonly understood to constitute yoga. While not all these yogis practice yoga as such, it is among
their number that practitioners of yoga par excellence can be found."
2(1 Pinch, Warrior Ascetics and Indian Empires , pp. 40-44. Pinch's arguments for yogis, being absorbed into the
DasnamI order receive some support from the Middle Marvari sources in that, as mentioned, one source indicates
Devldas was rescued by SvamT Megh, a BharatT, and became a sannyasi, while another source states that yogis had
"picked up" Devldas after he was wounded. But it is quite unlikely that Abu-1-Fazl meant Kur lo be "Gor" as Pinch
suggests (p. 43), could be a mistake for S but these words cannot be transliterated as kor /gor. Kor /gor would

9
possibility that when Svami Megh met Devidas he was a Nath yogi in an ascetic
lineage that later would be included among the Dasnamls.
With some confidence, then, one may identify Svami Megh as probably a
Saivite ascetic, 21 possibly a BharatI, and therefore his disciple, Devidas, as one
also. But what were ascetics, whether Bharatls or yogis, doing on or near a
battlefield?
The Aftermath of Battle (1)
Thanks to the labors of historians, we now know that bands of fighting
ascetics were fairly common in North India after 1700. 22 What is not known is to
what degree and where warrior ascetics were involved in warfare from 1500 to
1700. Middle Marvar! documents from Marvar composed in this period listing
types of soldiers, men killed in battle, etc. do not mention ascetic contingents or
(with very few exceptions) individuals identifiable as ascetics engaging in combat.
However, a story in Nainsl's Khyat (seventeenth-century) about the Jhalo Rajputs
be written jf- / Thus neither of these can be shorthand for Gorakh (or Gorakhnath). Nor can I accept his
proposal that Kurkhet might be a misreading of or a mistake for Gorakhkhet.
21 Mallinson has suggested in a reecnl essay that several of the DasnamT aseelie lineages were not Saivite. but more
likely Vaisnavite, in the sixteenth century. He uses as his main source for this view certain detailed paintings of
ascetics done during Akbar's reign, one of which shows the supposed "Saivite" ascetics fight at Thanesar actually
bearing Vaisnavite markings. I am not quite as certain as he is that these pictures, which he describes as "very
accurate," are entirely convincing: they may be completely accurate in other ways, but it is hard to determine their
accuracy with regard to the ascetics' markings at Thancsvar, since the artists were not there and painted the pictures
twenty-five years after the events recorded. Mallinson, "Yogis in Mughal India," pp. 77-78. Sec also his "Yoga &
Yogis." Namarupa , 15:3 (2012), p. 17.
22 F.g.. Matthew Clark, "Akharas: Warrior Ascetics," Brill's Encyclopedia of Hinduism (Brill Online , accessed
2014, first online 2012); J. N. Farquhar, "The Fighting Ascetics of India," Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 9
(1925), pp. 421-452; Dirk H. A. Kolff. "The Rajput of Ancient and Medieval North India: A Warrior-ascetic." in
M. K. Singh, Rajcndra Joshi. cds.. Folk, Faith & Feudalism: Rajasthan Studies (Jaipur and New Delhi: Rawat
Publications, 1995), pp. 257-294; David Lorenzen, "Warrior Ascetics in Indian History," Journal of the American
Oriental Society, 98 (1978), pp. 61-75; W. G. Orr, "Armed Religious Ascetics in Northern India," The Bulletin of
the John Rylands Library, 25 (1940), pp. 81-100; Pinch, Warrior Ascetics and Indian Empires.

10
of Halvad and the Jareco Rajputs of Dholhar does depict yogis taking part in one
particular battle. 23 According to this story, Jhalo Raysingh Mansirighot, who
ascended the throne of Halvad in 1564, decided four months after his ascension to
undertake a pilgrimage to Sri Rinchorjl. 24 He assembled a contingent of 2,000
horse and 2,000 foot, "all the excellent Rajputs," in Nainsl's words. After visiting
Sr! Rinchorjl, Raysingh went near his brother-in-law's village, Dholhar, on his
return. He had a previous quarrel with this man, Jareco Jaso Dhavalot, and so,
against the advice of his advisors, he issued a challenge to him by having a drum
struck within Jaso's territory. A battle ensued; Jaso was killed. As a result, the
Jarecos appealed to the Jam ruler of Navnagar, 2:i who dispatched Sahib Hamlrot 26
with a contingent of 20,000 against Raysingh in Halvad. They camped twenty
miles from Halvad. During the night, Sahib Hamlrot visited his father-in-law's
nearby home with 500 men. Raysingh received the information, took his own
contingent, approached the village during the night, and waited. NainsI relates that
When it was morning, Sahib took opium and went to a tank for
defecation. Sahib himself was mounted on a horse. Before his
face were 501 men, footsoldiers, swordsmen, and Giris (Saivite
ascetics), [who were] in [his] contingent. They reached the edge of
the water at the embankment of the tank. Meanwhile they saw the
flashing of a lance belonging to a contingent arriving on the side
[of the tank] opposite them .... Raysingh came and joined [this
opposing contingent] .... A very fierce battle occurred here.
Rajputs faced Rajputs. Raysingh and Sahib clashed with one
23 NK, 2:244-252. Both towns, Halvad (23.02N 71.I8E) and Dholhar (modern Dhrol, 22.33N 70.30E) are in
Kathiawar, a name Tor the peninsular portion of Gujarat State.
24 Sri Rinehorji or Ranachoda is "the name commonly given to Visnu-Krsna in Gujarat/' Helene Basu, "Gujarat," in
Brill's Encyclopedia of Hinduism (Brill Online, accessed 2014; first appeared online in 2012). The pilgrimage
undertaken was probably to Dvarka on the western tip of the Saurashtra Peninsula where an important temple, the
Jagat Mandir, contains the image of Krsna-Ranachoda / Sri Rinchorjl.
23 Modern Jamnagar (22.28N 70.06E) in Kathiawar. The Jam at this time was VibhojT (1562-69).
20 Sahib HamTrot was a Jareco Rajput and the son of HamTr BhTmot (d. 1535).

11
another. Raysiiigh killed Sahib. Raysingh was also struck heavy
blows by the hands of Sahib. Many Rajputs from both [sides] died
fighting. Not [even] a boy came back. Jha]o Raysiiigh had fallen
into a clay mine; the yogis picked him up. They bandaged [him].
Raysingh lived. 27
In this story, ascetics are part of the contingents on both sides. Sahib
Hamlrot has Giri ascetics in his; Raysiiigh evidently has a troop of yogis who
rescued him and bandaged him when he was badly injured. Perhaps it was not so
unusual that an ascetic (either a BharatI or a yogi) took care of Devldas after he
was severely wounded at Satalvas. Such persons may have had valuable medical
knowledge concerning the treatment of wounds. 28 Perhaps they accompanied or
followed Rajput and Mughal armies for this reason. 29
27 NK. 2:252.
28 An interesting story if much exaggerated story about treatment on a battlefield involves that master Nath himself,
Gorakhnath, and a Rathor hero, Gogade, who fell in battle in ca. 1390 CE against the BhatI Rajputs of Pugal, a town
in the former Blkaner State:
The Bhalls and JoTyo [Rajputs] clashed with the Rathors. Gogade fell,
wounded. Both [his] thighs were cut [off]. [His] son, Udo, also fell nearby ....
Meanwhile Yogi Gorakhnath passed by. He saw Gogade sitting [there]. Then
Gorakhnath, observing [Gogade's missing thighs, attached [two]. He cut of one
of Udo's thighs and one of [Gogade's]. Then Gorakhnathjl made Gogadeji a
disciple. Gogadeji is alive to this day. NK. 2:32
29 In this context one should note a short biography of Bhojraj Jaitmalot, founder of the junior (choto) Bhojrajot
branch of the Rathor Rajputs:
Bhojraj Jaitmalot. He became a great Rajput. Rav Jodho had given Palasnl
[village] to Bhojraj. He place of rule [was] Palasnl. Bhojraj had a yogi's seat
(iasan ) built above the tank in Palasnl. Afterward, when the STndhals took a she-
camel. Bhojraj caught up to |ihcm] in pursuit and fell with wounds. Afterward
the yogis picked [him] up. He turned around and came [home]. UCRK, 1:550-
551.
This story suggests that some Rathors may have patronized yogis for their abilities in caring for men wounded in
battle as early as the reign of Rav Jodho (ca. 1453-89), the founder of Jodhpur (1459).

12
Another story recorded by NainsI gives a different version of the same
events:
Sahib died fighting. The yogis picked up Raysingh along with
sixty [other] men. Back [in Halvad] Candrasen sat on Raysingh's
throne. 30 He was ten years old ....
At that time 100 yogis took Raysingh, went to the tank of
Halvad, and camped. Two days passed. News reached
[Raysingh's son] Rano Candrasen Raysinghot: "Some great
master yogi ( jogesvar ) has arrived [in Halvad]. Then Candrasen
sat in a sukhpal (a type of palanquin), had various boys, young
ones, sit in the sukhpal , and taking with him ten to twelve
horsemen [and] five to seven foot soldiers, went to touch the feet
of the yogi s. He touched [their] feet. Then ten bubnos 31 among
them rose up, approached Candrasen, and sat. They began to
speak to Candrasen: "Who is this ayas?' n Then Candrasen began
to speak: "He is some great siddha ." 33 They they said: "He is not
a siddha. He is your [own] father." The bubnos seized
[Candrasen]. And they killed five to seven of those with [him].
The biibno s bound Candrasen, threw him into the sukhpal, and
30 Candrasen had succeeded Raysingh in Halvad because it was assumed Raysingh had died of his wounds
31 Biibno , or biimno, defined by Lalas under bumno as " faki ir" (RSK, 3:2:3160) and by Sakariya as " sadhu, fakir"
(RHSK, 2:913), is an odd term, not very common in Middle MarvarT and not mentioned in Hindi or Gujarali
dictionaries. An online Devanagarl search for biibno / bumno turned up nothing. There is a RajasthanI verb,
bubno , "to shout, scream,"' and a noun, bum, "shout, scream." Possibly biibno is related to these two words.
32 Ayas: RSK, 1:300: a Lille used by important Naths: head of a religious establishment (math); RHSK, 1:107: 1.
A title used by Naths. 2. A sannyasi. 3. A yogi.
33 Siddha. "a semi-divine being of great perfection, said to possess eight supernatural faculties or siddhis.": "an
ascetic of great powers and saintliness." Cf. OHED, p. 1014 for these and other definitions. See also James
Mallinson. "Nalh Sampradaya," in Brill's Encyclopedia of Hinduism (Brill Online, accessed 2014: first appeared
online in 2012). In Rajasihan, siddha was also part of common compound phrases used to describe Rajputs, e.g.,
akharasiddha, "one who is accomplished in battle." avsansiddha, "one who is accomplished in dying a good death
in battle."

13
had Raysingh mount Candrasen's horse. The other yogis mounted
horses, came suddenly into the fort of Halvad, and killed seven
more Rajputs who were prepared to die. The others fled away.
Raysingh's yogis [reestablished [his] authority [in Halvad].
[Raysingh] let Candrasen go, provided [him] with men, gave [him]
the village Malaniyal, and gave him leave. With him were fifty-
seven [previously wounded] yogis who had been picked up [from
the battlefield], whose ascetic status (fog) was changed [to that of
householder]. 34 [Raysingh] provided each one with a village and
sent [them] home. 35
According to this second version of the story, the yogis take part in both the
fighting and the care of the wounded afterward. They are responsible for the
welfare of their employer, Raysingh. Their contingent is one of considerable
size—at least 100. Many of them were wounded in the fighting. These injured
yogi 's are given villages for their maintenance, a practice usually limited to Rajputs.
Thus SvamI Megh might have had good reason to be on the battlefield with
Devldas, as Devldas's own recollection of events indicates. Nothing implies the
SvamI engaged in combat, but he certainly knew how to take care of Devldas's
wound or wounds. But were there other reasons why ascetics would be present on
a battlefield either during or after the fighting?
The Aftermath of Battle (2)
- ,4 Tinam ro jog utray. Jog utrano: to have the ascetic status of a yogi changed to that of a householder.
35 NK, 2:254-255. See also H. Wilberforce-Bell, The History of Kathiawad: From the Earliest Times (London:
William Hcincmann, 1916), pp. 102-104. AN, 3:699-700, has an interesting variant version of Raysingh's story,
which will be discussed below.

14
As Norman Zieger pointed out so well some years ago in his dissertation
chapter discussing Rajput dharma , 36 the duties of a warrior included fighting and
dying before the face one's master (samt / svamt ) and avenging one's father's
murder. It is also apparent that a perceived function, if not a specific duty, of a
Rajput warrior was the provision of heads, skulls, flesh, and corpses for yogints,
dakints, sdkints, bhairav s, and other "flesh-eating beings" {palaccar) who were
thought to follow Rajputs onto the battlefield. Rajput martial poetry and, to a
lesser extent, Rajput chronicles make it clear that the connection between the
ancient cult of the sixty-four yogints , their fearful companions, and Rajputs was
significant in Rajasthan during the period 1500-1750. Yogints, dakints, etc. were
closely connected with what with what Alexis Sanderson has called the "[tantric]
culture of the cremation ground," 38 but it seems evident that they also were
considered participants of a sort in Rajput warfare. 39
36 Norman P. Zicglcr, "Action. Power and Service in Rajasthani Culture: A Soeial History of the Rajputs of Middle
Period Rajasthan." ehapler 3. "Rajput Dharma" (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. The University of Chicago, 1973).
pp. 67-83.
37 In an article and subsequent dissertation. Janet Kamphorsl consistently translates palacar (i.e., palaccar) as
"vulture," when its more common meanings are simply "flesh-eating," or "flesh-eating being." Her work is of
considerable interest and value, but unfortunately it is too frequently marred by errors of identification and
translation. See Janet Kamphorst, "Rajasthani Battle Language," in Voices from South Asia: Ixmguage in South
Asian Literature and Film (Zagreb: Filozofski fakultet Sveneilista u Zagrebu, 2006), pp. 50-51; idem, In Praise of
Death: History and Poetry in Medieval Marwar (South Asia) (Leiden: Leiden University Press, 2008), p. 131.
" 8 Alexis Sanderson, "Purity and Power among the Brahmins of Kashmir," in The Category of the Person:
Anthropology, Philosophy, History, ed. by Michael Carrithers, Steven Collins, and Steven Lukes (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1985), p. 200.
- ,0 Kamphorst, "Rajasthani Battle Language," pp. 50-51.

15
Consider for example a short sixteenth-century Dingal 40 poem describing an
Udavat Rathor, Khlmvo Udavat, who died in 1544 in the great battle with Sher
Shah Sur at Samel (near Ajmer):
Girrl upara vasai gadha, Khlmvo sala khalamha.
Kamadhaja keva ka dhiya, dakana dhravT dalamha.
Dwelling in the fort above Girfi [was] Khlmvo, a thorn to [his]
enemies.
He satisfied the dakints (witches) with offerings [of human
flesh]. 41
At first reading I thought the offerings mentioned might be the balls of flesh,
blood, and soil fashioned by a wounded, dying warrior on the battlefield as a
sacrifice to preserve his lands for his ancestors. The Udaibhan Campavat rl Khyat
states that Khlmvo did in fact make such offerings ( lohl sum pind ) just before his
death. Tod has given an excellent short description of this custom:
As Udai Singh reluctantly obeyed, while the swords rang around
him, Kesari made a hasty sacrifice to Avanimata (mother earth), of
which flesh, blood, and earth are the ingredients. He cut pieces
from his own body, but as scarcely any blood flowed, his own
uncle, Mohkam Singh of Aloda, parted with some of his, for so
grand an obligation as the retention of Khandela. Mixing his own
flesh, and his uncle's blood, with a portion of his own sandy soil,
he formed small balls in dan (gift), for the maintentance of the
land to his posterity. The Dom (bard), who repeated the
incantations, pronounced the sacrifice accepted, and that seven
4(1 Diiigal is defined by Smith as "an archaizing derivaiivc of Middle Marvari." Cf. John D. Smilh. "An Introduction
to the Language of the Historical Documents from Rajasthan," Modern Asian Studies , 9, 4 (1975), p. 375.
41 AB, pp. 58-59; MRMR, 2:401.

16
generations of his line should rule in Khandela. The brave Kesari
was slain ,... 42
In the poem about Khlmvo, however, the offering is not to mother earth, but to
dakinTs , and it is not his own flesh and blood, but the flesh and blood of his slain
opponents. 43 The dakinTs are those female demons or witches who in Hinduism 44
feed on human flesh, particularly that of warriors killed in battles. This much
becomes apparent from many other Dingal poems from the period 1500-1750.
On April 16, 1658, Raja Jasvantsingh of Jodhpur (1638-78), at the head of
his own contingent of 3,000, led a large Mughal army into battle at Dharmat and
suffered one of the worst defeats in the history of the Rathor Rajputs. Nearly
1,000 of Jasvantsingh's men were wounded or killed. His distant cousin, Rav
Ratansingh Mahesdasot, the ruler of Ratlam (in Malwa), also died fighting along
with some of his men, and a Caran poet, Jago Khiriyo, was inspired to write a
vacanikd (a mixed prose and verse composition of moderate length) in Dingal
shortly afterward to commemorate Ratansingh. This vacanikd rapidly became
well-known in Rajasthan and was copied many times by scribes. Near the end of
the vacanikd the poet describes a strange scene:
Piles of bones were made into necklaces for Sankar (Siva).
And the yogints have begun to cry "victory, victory!"
42 James Tod, Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or The Central and Western Rajput States of India, ed. with
an introduction and notes by William Crooke, 3 vols. (London, New York: H. Milford, Oxford University Press,
1920), 3:1392.
43 Kamphorst has confused these two types of offerings in her recent article, "Rajasthani Battle Language," pp. 53-
55.
44 In Buddhism ihcy have a more positive image. See Judith Simmer-Brown, Dakini's Warm Breath: the Feminine
Principle in Tibetan Buddhism (Boston: Shambhala : Distributed in the U.S. by Random House, 2001).

17
Hungry, flesh-eating beings (palacarr)— sakinis, dakints, [and]
prets— are taking their meal from the battlefield. 45
The dakints thus comprised but one of several types of flesh-eaters who were
believed present during and after battles. 46 The sixty-four yogints 41 or khecarts,
as they are sometimes referred to in Dingal verse, descend from the sky; others
arrive without flight. 48 Later verse compositions from Rajasthan are even more
explicit. In the following passage, the early eighteenth-century poet, Jodhraj,
describes the aftermath of another battle:
The body of the brave Chohan lay on the field like a tall palm, with
blood gushing out the neck. The Joginis (she-devils) regaled
themselves with his blood, filled their cups, drained them, and
danced. 49
Jago Khiriyo, Vacanika Rathor Ratansihghjl ri Mahesdasaut ri, sampadak KasTram Sarma. RaghubTrsimha
(Dilll" Rajkamal Prakas, 1960), pp. 90-91. The Dingal original is on the first page and the Hindi translation (upon
which I have depended heavily) on the second.
40 For more on sakinis, dakinls, etc., see Adelheid Herrmann-Pfandt, "The Good Woman's Shadow: Some Aspects
of the Dark Nature of DakinTs and SakinTs in Hinduism," in A. Michael, C. Vogelsanger & A. Wilke, eds., Wild
Goddesses in India and Nepal: Proceedings of an International Symposium, Berne and Zurich, November, 1994
(Bern; New York: P. Lang, 1996), p. 43; David Gordon While, "DakinT, YoginT, Pairika. Slrix: Adventures in
Comparative Demonology," Southeast Review of Asian Studies, 35 (2013), 7-31. In modern Rajasthan, dakinl
(idakan, dain, or dayan in Rajasthani) is the common name for witch. Many women unfortunately are stigmatized
as witches with devastating consequences for them. See Kanchan Mathur, labelled for Life? A Study on Witches
and Witchcraft in Rajasthan, India (India: Institute of Development Studies, 2009); G. M. Carstairs, Death of a
Witch: A Village in North India, 1950-1981 (London: Hutchinson, 1983).
47 The Vacanika explicitly mentions the sixty-four yogints (causathi jognT) on pp. 58-59: "The nine Naths, eighty-
four siddhas, many carnivorous birds, vultures, etc., sixty-four yoginls, fifty-two vfrs, female vampires ( vaitalm) ...
came [for the battle| together with Rsi Narad."
48 White, Kiss of the YoginT, pp. 132-133.
40 Brajanatha Bandyopadhyaya, "Hamir Rasa, or a History of Hamir, prince of Ranthambhor, translated from the
Hindi." Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 48:3 (1879), p. 221. The original text has been published:
Jodhraj, Hammiraraso, sampadak Syamsundardas (KasT: NagaripracarinT Sabha, [ 1949|).

18
And more:
The bowels of the slain were scattered all around and drawn hither
and thither by the greedy vultures. The wounded, made desperate
by the deep scars on their bodies, began to rave. The Joginis filled
their cups with blood and feasted on flesh, and the Bhairavs danced
with mirth, eating the hearts of the fallen. 50
Finally:
Many warriors were struck dead, and their heads dropped down on
the ground .... Heaps upon heaps of the slain lay scattered on the
field—a dreadful spectacle!—on which vultures sat and feasted.
The jackals licked the blood, and the she-devils filled their vessels,
danced and sang with merriment. They wished for another such
battle. They took pieces of flesh and bone into their bloody
mouths, drained their cups, sucked their clothes steeped in blood
and searched for more flesh. 51
This sort of battle imagery also pervades the Sikh Dasam Granth , compiled
around 1700. 52 But in this text new elements are introduced:
The Yoginis with the bowls were drinking blood and the kites were
eating flesh .... The broken limbs were falling down, the waves of
the desire of victory are rising and the chopped flesh is falling ....
The Aghori (Sadhus) seem pleased in eating the chopped limbs and
50 Ibid., p. 234.
51 Ibid., pp. 234-235.
52 See Robin Rinehart, Debating the Dasam Granth, chapter 1, "The Life of Guru Gobindh Singh (1666-1708) and
the History of the Dasam Granth" (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), pp. 17-49, for a discussion of the
dating of the Dasam Granth and its authorship.

19
the Siddhas and Rawalpanthis, the devourers of flesh and blood,
haven taken seats ,... 53
Thus Aghoris, siddhas , and Ravalpanthi yogis have arrived on the battlefield with the yogints
and other flesh-eaters.
The belief that female demons or witches of some sort visited battlefield to consume the
flesh and drink the blood of fallen warriors is an old one in South Asia. According to one tenth-
century Ka]achuri inscription
[Keyuravarsa] strew the battle fields all over with the heads of his
proud enemies who, exasperated with rage attacked him—their
heads, with skull bones falling off, being pressed by the machine-
like hands of the exulting female ghouls ( vetalis ), eager for the
blood dripping from the parts struck by his vibrating swift arrows
54
According to this inscription vetalTs are performing the tasks that are the business
of yoginTs and dakinis in sixteenth and seventeenth century Middle MarvarT prose
and Dirigal verse.
David Lorenzen has found a reference to dakims and tantric practices in an
even older inscription dated 423 CE, but this epigraph does not mention a
battlefield. 55 Lorenzen elsewhere has noted a reference to the presence of Saivite
Kapalika ascetics, forerunners of the Aghoris, seemingly gathering the severed
heads of the defeated enemy on a tenth-century battlefield:
53 Sri Dasama Garantha Sahiba - Sri Dasam Granth Sahib, http//www.sridasam.org/dasam, pp. 560-561, vv. 310-
312.
54 Quoted by Ronald M. Davidson, Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social History of the Tantric Movement (New
York: Columbia University Press, 2002), p. 87.
55 David N. Lorenzen, "Early Evidence for Tantric Religion," in The Roots ofTantra, ed. by Katherine Anne Harper
and Robert L. Brown (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2002), pp. 28-29.

20
Famous was the glory of Mandalika-Trinetra (a Trinetra of Siva
among the mandalikas or chieftains) as if to make the ...
Kapalikas arrange in a string all the newly cut off heads of the
Pallavas .... %
Lorenzen remarked that the Kapalikas "seem to be either religious mercenaries or
battlefield scavengers." He believed that the Kapalikas had virtually disappeared
by 1400, 57 but seventeenth-century Middle Marvarl sources mention Rajput
Kapalikas 58 and kapal mdnas ("skull men"). 59 I have found no references to
Aghorls in these sources, 60 but Raval yogis were well-known and considered to
have great powers. 61 It is possible, then, that ascetics or yogis were on battlefields
56 Lorenzen, The Kapalikas and Kalamukhas (Berkeley and Los Angeles: The University of California Press,
1972), p. 24.
57 Ibid., p. 53.
58 NK, 1:322 mentions a Kaehvaho RajpOt Kapalika named Todarmal Bhojrajot: "A great kapdlik. He lives in
Udaipur near Khandclo. He left |Mughal | imperial service. [His] nose became damaged and was lost ( nak haith go
cho)."
50 UCRK, 1:85 describes the Maheco Rathor JogTdas BhairOndasot as follows: "He was a great skull man ( vado
kapal mdnas tho). In 1610-11 [he received] GomlTyavas [village| as it was held previously |by his father
Bhairundas]. Afterward, in 1612-13, he was given Mehdavas [village] of Merto [Pargano] along with several
[other| villages. Afterward, in 1619-20, he was given Pur ]village] of Bahclvo |Tapho|. In 1621-22 he died
peacefully in TimirnT [village]. He had become weak ( murchlhut). He had eaten at the feast of Dasravo and gone
|homc|: afterward, during the night, he passed away." Another Rathor, Jasunt Samvaldasol. has the following
biography: "He was a skull man ( kapal mdnas tho). In 1613-14 [he received from the Jodhpur State Avo [village]
of Mokalo PatT of Merto [Pargano]. In 1619-20 he left [military service]." ibid., 1:173-174. One may say that the
name JogTdas BhairOndasot would well suit a Kapalika, but perhaps kapal manas referred only to someone who
carried a skull, not necessarily a Kapalika ascetic.
6(1 The earliest usage of the term AghorT I have seen is in the Dahistan al Madhahih: "The sect of Yogis know no
prohibited food; they eat, pork as the Hindu ... and cow-flesh, like the Muselmans .... They also kill and eat men ...
There are some of this sect, who, having mixed their excretions and filtered them through a piece of cloth, drink
them and say, that such an act renders a man capable of great affairs, and they pretend to know strange things. They
call a performer of this act AtTlfa and also AkhorT." See The Dabistan, or School of Manners, translated from the
Original Persian, with notes and illus., by David Shea and Anthony Troycr: edited with a preliminary discourse, by
the later (Paris: Oriental Translation Lund of Great Britain and Ireland. 1843), 2:129.
61 NK, 3:24-26 has the following:

21
for purposes other than tending to the wounded or fighting alongside the Rajputs.
Aghorls in particular collected skulls and claimed to devour human flesh. 62 It is
not likely that Devldas was rescued by one of these men, but it cannot be ruled out.
Becoming a SannyasI
After Devldas regained consciousness, he and his rescuer, SvamI Megh, sent
for information from Devldas's home in Vagrl. They found out that at least one of
his wives had become a sati. In other words, he had been presumed dead.
Probably he was separated from his turban by the mace blow to his head during the
battle near Merto. His face may have been covered with blood and damaged
Then when |SalkhojT| looked again, smoke was emerging in one plaee. He went
there. When he looked there, an ascetic ( tapasvi ), a yogi, a Ravaj, was seated
.... ISalkhojT said 1: "I have become thirsty so you should serve |mc| water."
.... Then the yogi said: "There is water in this earthern pot (kamandal). You
drink; then, if the horse is thirsty, you water the horse too." After [that],
SalkhojT himself drank, and he watered the horse as well. But the earthen pot
did not become empty. Then SalkhojT perceived: "He is an atit. a siddha."
Thus the Raval yogi in this story is also called a tapasvl, an atit, and a siddha. He had the ability to foretell future
events, and he correctly predicted SalkhojT would have five sons.
62 The question of whether AghorTs and others actually practiced cannibalism on battlefields or anywhere else is
complicated. Certainly they have not denied that at some time in the past such events have occurred (see Ron
Barrett, Aghor Medicine: Pollution, Death, and Healing in Northern India (Berkeley: University of California,
2008), pp. 155-157; Jonathan Parry, "Sacrificial Death and the Necrophagous Ascetic," in Death and the
Regeneration of Life, ed. by Maurice Bloch and Jonathan Parry (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982),
pp. 89-91. Earlier British observers would agree (e.g., W. Crooke, "Aghori," Encylopedia of Religion and Ethics,
1:210-213). However, the events described in Diiigal poetry noted above might be merely poetic conventions or,
with regard to the human participants such as AghorTs, Raval yogis, and ddkinis, as opposed to the divine (e.g.,
yoginis ), very rare events. There are parallels elsewhere: battlefield cannibalism was known to have occurred
during the Crusades in the eleventh century and also during the wars of the first Safavid ruler of Iran, Shah Tsmahl,
in the early sixteenth century. See Jay Rubenstein, "Cannibals and Crusaders," French Historical Studies, vol. 31,
no. 4 (Fall, 2008), pp. 525-552; Lewis A. M. Sumberg, "The "Tafurs" and the First Crusade," Medieval Studies, 21
(1959), pp. 222-246; Shahad Bashir, "Shah Isma'il and the Qizilbash: Cannibalism in the Religious History of Farly
Safavid Iran, History of Religions, vol. 45, no. 3 (February, 2006), pp. 234-256. If indeed the AghorTs and Raval
yogis killed and ate men, as the Dabistan says some yogis did, they might have participated in battles as warriors,
similar to the Tafurs of the First Crusade.