30 SLKOHI .STATI%
and io in September), while at Sirohi, 23 miles to the north, it is about
21 inches, and at Erinpura, about the same distance still farther north,
it is barely 19 inches. On Abu the rainfall has varied from more than
130 inches in 1893 to less than i i inches in 1899, while in the plains
over 42 inches were registered at Sirohi in 1893 and only 5'ff' inches in
19o1. Earthquakes are i not uncommon on Abu, but as a rule the
shocks are very slight. The people tell of a somewhat severe earth-
quake in 1848, which damaged some of the houses and cracked one or
two of the arches of the''i,Delwara temples; and a succession of severe
shocks is reported to have occurred on October 9, 1875.
The chiefs of Sirohi are Deora Rajputs, a branch of the famous
Chauhan clan which fur' fished the last Hindu king of Delhi, Prithwi
History. Raj. hey claim descent from Lachhman Raj, who
is saidi to have ruled at N9DOL, in the Jodhpur
State, towards the end of ,the tenth century. Driven thence about 200
years later, a date which!; corresponds approximately with the conquest
of Nadol by Kutb-ud-din, the Chauhans migrated to the west and
established themselves al Bhinmal and Sanchor, both now in Jodh-
pur territory, and subsequently took the fort Of JnLOR from the Para-
mara Rajputs. Shortly afterwards their chief was one Deoraj, and
from him the sept is calleld Deora Chauhan. At this time the territory
now known as Sirohi was held by the Paramaras, who had their capital
at Chandravati. Constant fighting went on between the Deoras and
the Paramaras, and, on C~andravati being taken, the latter took refuge
on Mount Abu. This place was too strong to be attacked with success,
so the Deoras resorted to stratagem. They scant a proposal that the
Paramaras should bring welve of their daughters to be married into
the Chauhan tribe and thus establish a friendship. The proposal
being accepted, the story runs that the girls were accompanied to
Vareli, a village north-west of Abu, by nearly all the Paramaras. The
Deoras then fell upon them, massacred the majority, and,_ pursuing the
survivors back to Abu, gained possession of that place. This is said
to have occurred about th,e beginning of the fourteenth century. Rao
Sobha founded the old gown of Sirohi in 1405 ; but as the site was
unhealthy, his son, Sains Mal, abandoned it and built the present
capital, a short distance tc~ the west, in 1425. Shortly afterwards Rana
Kumbha of Mewar is said to have taken refuge on Abu from the army
of the Muhammadan king of Gujarat. When that army retired, the
Rana refused to leave such a place of vantage, and had to be expelled
by force. During the next two centuries very little of importance is
recorded. Rao Surthan, la contemporary of the emperors Akbar and
Jahangir, is described as a valiant and reckless chief 'who, in his
pride, shot his arrows at toe sun for daring to shine upon him'; though
repeatedly defeated by the imperial army, he refused to acknowledge
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