Page:The People of India — a series of photographic illustrations, with descriptive letterpress, of the races and tribes of Hindustan Vol 7.djvu/157

 OOMUTS OF NURSINGRUR. (374)

CCORDING to Lieut. Waterhouse's report, the Oomuts are divided into two chieftainships; one of Rajgurh, the other of Nursinghur, in Oomutwarra, and he gives the following account of them:—

"Oomutwarra takes its name from a class of inferior Rajpoots who, some centuries ago, emigrated from Oodeypoor, and who, during the prosperity of the Mogul empire, were proprietors of 1age herds of camels, from which fact their name of Ooinut is derived. Originally they were an inferior tribe; but subsequently on the acquisition of territory by the Oomuts, one of their chiefs, Achil Singh, Dewan of Nursinghur, after making much interest, and at considerable expense, succeeded in obtaining in marriage for his son the daughter of a near relation of the Rana of Oodeypoor, and the Oomuts were admitted to the 'tazim' (ceremony of obeisance) by that Prince and the Rajah of Jeypoor, at the instance of the Kychee Rajpoots of Ragoogurb, in whose suite they attended.

"There is a tradition current regarding them that they had tamed the nilgae and stag, and that in default of horses they used them on their predatory excursions. On the decline of the Mogul empire after the death of Aurungzeeb, when petty chiefs were rising into power on every side, the Oomuts began to acquire dominion, and obtained possession of several villages in the Pergunnas of Fullain, Akbarpoor, Biawur, &c., and finally, about a century ago, under the direction of two brothers, Mohun Singh and Pureshram, possessed themselves of the whole of those districts, comprising a territory of 1,500 villages, and named the whole tract Oomutwarra.

"Mohun Singh and Puresliram assumed the titles of Rawul and Dewan, and made an equal division of their possessions, the Rawul reserving five villages in excess of his brother as a mark of his seniority. Though they were styled Rawul and Dewan, these names do not at all indicate the relative position of the two brothers, for each was ruler, and exercised distinct authority within his allotted domain. The mode of division was not less remarkable than the assignment of