1879.] or a History of Hamir, prince of Ranthambor. 209 
the truthful Rajptits will be*deterred by adverse circumstances from doing 
what they consider to be their duty ? Do you think that they fear death 
and destruction? Never give place to such a thought. I am a descendant 
of the heroic Chohins. Rather than live to see my words fall to the 
ground, I will die a glorious death with my sword drawn on my bosom. I 
have determined and made it a point in my life never to leave undone 
what Iam resolved upon. I will never go to you and bow down at your 
feet with proposals of peace, it matters not with how many furies you may 
be attended. If the Sesh leave supporting the earth on its broad head, 
if the mountains leave their fixed places and begin to move, if the waters 
of the Ganges flow from her mouth to the source, if the sun rise in the 
West and the polar star move in the sky, if the ocean violate the truth 
by which he his bound to keep confined within his dominions, if the sat who 
burned herself with the body of her husband rise from her ashes and begin 
to live together again in the world, then and yet then I will never break 
through my resolution. The sky may not bear myriads of stars on its 
broad bosom, and the beams of the morning sun hide them from the face 
of the earth, yet Hamir, brave Hamir, will never violate his sacred promise. 
I assure you, I will never let any one, be he the strongest of all mortals— 
a saint or a demon—to pull a hair out of Muhammad Shah’s head as long as 
I am alive. 
“Do not forget, Emperor, the truth I point out to you—that lacs of 
Ala-uddins have been turned to dust on the surface of this frail earth. 
Do you think yourself the only hero? Never for a moment give place 
to such a thought. Nothing has been, and will ever be, stable on earth. 
Do not blow your own trumpet, Ald-uddin. If it has pleased God to make 
you a monarch, you are one, and who calls you a slave? Who knows what 
will be your condition in the fort of Ranthambor ?” 
Cuaprter VII. 
Hamir came to the temple of Mahadeva, worshipped the god in various 
ways, burnt incense and thus prayed :— 
~“T bow down at thy feet, thou Omnipotent, thou wearer of matted 
hair, holder of the pindk spear. O thou, that hast three eyesand fire 
burning and the moon shining on thy forehead ; that hast a garland of human 
heads around thy neck; that hast Bhavani on thy left side, and the Ganges 
murmuring on thy head, hid amidst the knots of thy hair; that hast Gauri 
as apart of the body, and devils and serpents attending thee—O thou 
whose throat is blue with poison, whose son is Ganesa and servant Bir. 
bhadra, O thou mighty lord, have mercy on me, help me in this dire extre- 
mity and make me fearless now, when Ald-uddin has come at the head of 
