King Mansingh of Sirohi was a very brave Rajput; but he had one fault. He was greatly addicted to opium, of which he used to drink daily vast quantities from the hand of his favourite queen. Now it so happened that the Emperor of Delhi came to Rajputana and camped outside the walls of Sirohi. All night long the emperor and his nobles drank deep and revelled, while beautiful dancing girls sang to them lascivious songs. The noise of the music and the dancing could be heard from king Mansing’s palace; and all one night, as the king slept, his favourite queen sat up and listened to it.
When Mansing awoke, his queen gave him his opium. As he drank it, she talked about the wonderful revels of the emperor and the noise of his music and the lights that blazed all night in his camp. At first Mansing paid no heed to his queen’s chatter; but at last he got cross and told her not to mention in his presence the name of the Mleccha emperor. The queen was so infatuated with what she had seen and heard that she would not stop, but began to compare the gaiety of the emperor’s camp with the dulness of life in Sirohi. At last the king lost all patience and boxing his wife’s ears told her that if she thought so much of the emperor’s camp, she had better go there.
The queen left the room in a rage and all that day brooded over the king’s words. That night she took her maid with her and stole out of the palace and through the city walls into the emperor’s camp. When she reached his tent, she sent her maid to tell the emperor. He was listening to the singing of his dancing girls and the music of his players; but as soon as he learnt that the queen was outside, he stopped the music and the singing and had the queen brought before him with the greatest respect.
As she entered the tent the whole company rose and greeted her. The emperor asked her why she had come. She replied, “Grant me a boon, shelter of the world, and I shall tell you.” The emperor replied, “The boon is yours; you have but to name it.” The queen told the emperor all that had happened and claimed as a boon that the emperor should marry her. After she had spoken, she took the emperor’s cup in her hands and drank from it, thus breaking her caste in the sight of all. The emperor had no wish to quarrel with king Mansing of Sirohi, but having made the queen a promise, he had to keep it. He called the kazi and married the queen. The same night he left Sirohi and marched back to Delhi.
The king had seen the queen leave his room in a rage, but he thought no more of the matter until next morning, when she did not come with his opium. He sent for her; but as she did not come he called her maids and forced from their trembling lips the truth. The king said nothing, but swallowing a prodigious quantity of opium, he put on his armour and summoned his chiefs and nobles. When they had assembled, he told them that the emperor had seduced his queen and then like a coward had run away to Delhi. The chiefs and nobles all vowed vengeance and bade the king call out his troops. At noon the king held a great parade; but when he came to count his warriors, he found that they barely numbered 6,000. On hearing this, the king’s minister Motishah told him that he could do nothing with only 6,000 men against the 120,000 men led by the emperor. “What then can I do?” cried the king. “Let us go to Delhi in disguise,” said Motishah. “There we shall be able to hit on some plan to win back the queen.”
The king agreed; and disguising themselves as two Rajput soldiers, he and Motishah rode from Sirohi to Delhi. At Delhi they put up with a mali woman, who worked in the imperial gardens. From her they learnt that the emperor, fearing a rescue, had dug round the queen’s palace no less than seven trenches. Of these six were filled with water and the inner one with fire. Outside the trenches he had built a mighty wall.
That night the king and Motishah, disguised as mendicants, but with swords and shields hidden beneath their yellow robes, sallied forth to the queen’s palace. On coming to the wall, Motishah climbed on to the king’s shoulders and thence on to the wall. He let down his turban and by its means hauled the king after him.
As both could swim, they easily crossed the six water trenches. They had hoped to find the fire-trench burning low at night. But the king’s guards before going home had filled it with fresh wood and it was burning fiercely. Motishah threw his shield into the middle and jumped on to it. But so great was the heat that he soon felt that his legs would be burnt off. So keeping his right leg on the shield, he kept his left leg as high as he could, to save it from the flames. He supported himself on his spear while the king sprang on his shoulders and leapt to the far side of the trench. Near the palace was a tall palm tree. Mansing climbed it and reaching the top, tied his turban to one of the branches. He then swung on his turban to and fro until he was able to swing into one of the windows of the upper storey of the palace. He tied his turban to the window sill and went inside. In a room close by he saw his queen sleeping with the emperor. At first he felt so angry that he would have killed them both, as they slept. Then he remembered that he was a Rajput and that it was wrong to kill a helpless enemy. So he woke the queen and with the point of his sword at her throat, he made her get up without waking the emperor.
Tying a rope round her arms and legs and throwing her like a bundle across his back, he swung back to the palm tree by his turban and slid to the ground.
Poor Motishah’s right leg was by this time all but burnt off; but when he saw the king coming back he put his left leg on the shield and over his shoulders the king climbed across the fire trench. But he could not save his minister. No sooner had Mansing reached safety than poor Motishah fainted and falling into the trench was burnt to ashes.
Mansing swam with his queen on his back across the six water trenches. By the aid of Motishah’s turban, which still hung from the wall, he climbed over it and pulled his wife after him. He seated her on his horse and mounting Motishah’s mare, galloped off towards Sirohi. When they had ridden some fifty miles, Mansing stopped to have his morning dose of opium. He then discovered for the first time that he had dropped his opium box inside the emperor’s palace. Addicted as he was to the drug, he could do without food, but he could not do without his opium. It would have been useless for him to ride further, for he would have fallen off the saddle. After stamping on the ground several times with rage, he tied his queen to a tree. Then he lay down on the ground and covering his head with a sheet fell asleep.
In the meantime the emperor had awakened and had missed the Sirohi queen. He asked his guards and his servants and searched everywhere for her but in vain. Then his eyes fell on Mansing’s gold opium box. He picked it up and saw engraved on it the name “Mansing.” He summoned to him his nobles and called for a volunteer to chase Mansing and bring him back alive. A Musulman noble famed for his courage rose, saluted the emperor and promised to bring the king back alive.
He galloped towards Sirohi and after riding fifty miles overtook the king and queen. Mansing still lay asleep. The Musulman noble untied the queen but he refused to kill Mansing, although she begged him to. He must bring him back alive, the Musulman said. He would give the king opium and then take him back to Delhi. “If you give him opium,” said the queen, “you will never take him alive, he will kill you.” The Musulman did not heed her, but mixing opium with water he poured it down Mansing’s throat.
Directly Mansing recovered his senses, he refused to go back to Delhi. He sprang on his horse and fought the Musulman. But Mansing was still faint from his long privation and the Musulman disarmed him and tied him to a tree. Leaving the queen to guard her husband the Musulman went down the steps of a well to wash his face and hands.
The queen seeing her chance, picked up Mansing’s sword as it lay on the ground and struck a blow at his head. Mansing jerked his head aside. The blade missed his head and grazing his side cut through the rope which bound him. In a moment he was free. Rushing at the queen, he twisted the sword from her hand and tied her to the tree.
He mixed himself some more opium. Then arming himself with sword and shield, he went to the mouth of the well and challenged the Musulman to a second fight. The Musulman came out of the well, but now that Mansing had had his full dose of opium, no one in the world could have beaten him. With a single sweep of his sword he severed the Musulman’s head from his body.
Then tying his wife’s hands and feet to her horse, he rode back with her in triumph to Sirohi. There all the nobles and common people rejoiced at the king’s feat of arms and were very angry with the queen, who had first left him and then had tried to kill him. Mansing had her tied to a pillar in the market place. There everyone threw bricks and stones at her or hit her head with their shoes. She soon died and her body was burnt outside the city walls.
The emperor was very angry when he heard that Mansing had killed the brave Musulman noble. He raised a great army and marched against Sirohi. Yet small though the Sirohi army was, it won repeated victories over the Moghul troops. At last the emperor challenged the king to a duel, but the emperor was no match for the Rajput king. He was soon wounded and disarmed. As the price of his life, he agreed to make a treaty by which he gave great wealth and wide lands to the king of Sirohi.
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