Auwa

And then, nothing happened.
The two armies sat and waited – despatches came in to Jodhpur, but there was no news of battle. Anar Singh entrenched his men, and the Jodhpur Legion did the same. Someone would make a first move, but neither side was particularly keen to throw the first stone. The Jodhpur Legion wouldn’t, as they could not be certain that Anar Singh did not have the Disa detachments up his sleeve, and Anar Singh couldn’t, as his men were reluctant to fight in the first place. So he would keep the Legion in check – if they moved, he would move after them, but he would not openly attack a force so completely capable of annihilating his.
While this seemed like a decent strategy, it drove George Lawrence into a frenzy. He considered to delay in attacking the Jodhpur Legion unaccountable, and in a letter to the Maharaja, he “upbraided the king with lukewarmness in his alliance, and taunted the army with their cowardice for not having effected anything, saying they were dancing attendance on the rebels like orderlies.” A copy of this rash and foolish letter was sent to Anar Singh.
Cut to the quick in his pride, his feelings understandably wounded and his honour now at stake, the “brave old chief…determined not to survive to disgrace should he be unable to accomplish the destruction of the enemy.” To make matters worse for Anar Singh, the deputy- assistant-quartermaster-general of the Rajputana Field Force, Lieutenant Heathcote, was deputed by Lawrence to give Anar Singh “the advantage of his advice” and lend the force the confidence the presence of a British officer supposedly inspired.
All Heathcote could do was suggest Anar Singh post pickets who could give the alarm should there be a sudden attack and slow the advance of the enemy until the troops were under arms. The officers promised to do so, but the pickets, when posted, betrayed their trust. One morning on the 8th of September, this became too evident when, just before daybreak, the legion advanced on Anar Singh. The camp was thrown into instant confusion; Heathcote was hardly inspirational, and the men ignored him. Anar Singh called his men to arms and took his position with the guns in the most exposed part of the field. The skirmish would last for three hours, and it cost Anar Singh his life.
“But he was ill-supported; his men, either from cowardice or treachery, fled in confusion, after a show of resistance which neither the example nor persuasion of Anar Sing or Lieutenant Heathcote, who exerted himself in restoring order and trying to induce the men to stand, could turn into an effectual attempt to hold the entrenchment. The rout was complete. Lieutenant Heathcote was forced to mount his horse and gallop from the field. Anar Sing, surrounded by a small, very small band of kindred spirits, sold their lives as dearly as they could and were cut down at the guns, the whole of which, with the camp equipage and military stores, such as they were, fell into the hands of the enemy.” The remaining court troops were dispersed, and those who still could returned to Jodhpur.
Kaushal Singh had made common cause with other disaffected thakurs – Shivnath Singh, Bishan Singh and Ajit Singh – of Asop, Gular and Aluniwas. They had sent their men to stand beside the Jodhpur Legion – it was a battle against such odds that Anar Singh had stood no chance at all. His strategy of waiting and watching had not been wrong – considering the force he was facing, it was the wisest choice to make. But quick tempers and harsh words had brought him to defeat. As disasters go, this was a resounding one and worse was to come.
The news of the defeat threw the Jodhpur Court into confusion. The Maharaja was sickened with grief over the loss of his beloved friend, Monck Mason had his hands full trying to soothe tempers in all camps and assure the courtiers that this defeat by no means meant the British were powerless; at Udaipur, Captain Showers was greeted with jeers as he rode through the streets. George Lawrence apprehended that this defeat would have a damaging effect on the entire province. He had to act, unable to allow the rebellion to continue on the road between Disa and Nasiarabad – so, from Beawar, he organised his force. They would march to Auwa and teach the Jodhpur Legion and the thakurs a lesson.
Or so he thought.
He gathered together five horse artillery guns under Captain Petrie, 195 men of HM’s 83rd under Major Heathy, two squadrons amounting to 200 men of the Bombay Lancers, 250 men of the Mhairwara Battalion under Lieutenant Carnell and a detachment of the 12th Bombay Native Infantry, amounting to no more than 30 men. Then, with heavy rain marring his way, Lawrence had to wait. To assist him in his efforts to subdue the Thakur, Lawrence called on Captain Monck Mason, the gifted negotiator, to join him.
Having already lost Anar Singh and fearful that his own position was in peril, Maharaja Takht Singh did everything in his power to prevent Monck Mason from leaving. He had a strange presentiment, he said, that “some great disaster would ensue” if the captain left Jodhpur; his arguments were nearly successful, and Monck Mason twice changed his mind. However, the letter from Lawrence weighed heavily on his mind, and he finally decided his place was not in Jodhpur but on the field.
Pritchard wrote:
“The king did not lose all hopes of dissuading him till the very last and sent the ministers down to him late in the evening to convey a last remonstrance. I was present at the interview. Mason was inexorable, laughed at the idea of danger, and said that he should be back again in a day or two after witnessing the destruction of the rebel fort and the defeat of the mutineers. The ministers shook their heads as they rose, saying, ‘Awah is not so easily taken.’ The last time I ever saw or spoke to Mason was a little later on the same evening before his departure, when he gave me final instructions, leaving me in charge of the Agency, and adding, as if he felt a presentiment that the advice might be needed, ‘ If anything happens, or you get very bad news, see to the protection of the Agency, and double the guards.’