महाराणा कुम्भा (हरविलास सारदा - मेवाड़ साम्राज्य के अद्वितीय विजेता, निर्माता व विद्वान्)

Maharana Kumbha.
wara. The second is called the Hulla Pol;
the third is the Hanumán Pol, between which
and the summit there are four more gates,
viz., tha Gate of Victory, the Sanguinary
Gate, the Gate of Ráma and the Chaugán Pol.
Colonel James Tod says: "It would be
vain to attempt describing the intricacies of
approach to this far-famed abode, whose
exterior is delineated by the pencil. A massive
wall, with numerous towers and pierced
battlements, having a strong resemblance to
the Etruscan, encloses a space of some miles
extent below, while the pinnacle or Sikra
rises like the crown of the Hindu Cybele, tier
above tier of battlements, to the summit,¹
which is crowned with the Badal Mahal or
'Cloud Palace' of the Rana. Thence the
eye ranges over the sandy deserts and the
chaotic mass of mountains which are on all
sides, covered with the cactus, which luxu-
riates amidst the rocks of the Aravalli."
As one ascends the fort hill, there is on
¹ Tod's Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan (original
edition), Vol. I., page 670.
132

Maharana Kumbha.
the left, Tārā burj called after Tara, the
heroic consort of prince Prithviraj, son of
Rana Rai Mal and grandson of Maharana
Kumbha. Before we reach the Chaugan Pol
we come to Nārchhālī, a small empty reservoir,
from where, it is said, the tiger (nār) and the
goat (chhālī) used to drink water together
before the fort was built. After crossing the
Chaugan Pol, the visitor has to his right the
Topkhānā, where a cannon is pointed out
as a trophy brought from Nagor. Further
onwards is Nava-choki, which is really a
temple dedicated to Navadurga. Here is a
small fragmentary inscription stone in the
pavement of the hall floor. Therein only two
names can be traced, viz., those of Mokal,
father of Kumbha, and Prayāga, i.e., Allahabad.
The last gate, as stated above, is the Pāgdā
Pol, so called because the Mahārānā here
dismounts from his horse before entering the
palace.
Just inside the Hanumān Pol on the
ridge below the palace is situated the Vedi, or
the place where the Yajna in consecration of
the fort was performed by Kumbhā when it
133

Maharana Kumbha.
was completed. It is a beautiful three-storied
building of great architectural merit; each tier
is decorated with numerous massive low
columns, resting on a sculptured paneled
parapet and sustaining the roof of each storey,
which being very low, admits but a broken
light to break the pervading gloom.
A memorable structure built by Maharana
Kumbha, in A.D. 1458, in the gorge below the
fort on the brow of the mountain overlooking
the pass, is the Mámádeva Temple. The
court of the temple is formed by a strong wall
enclosing a large area. The interior of this
wall was covered with immense slabs of
black marble, on which was inscribed the
history of Mewar from the time of Guhil,
the founder of the royal family, to Maharana
Kumbha.
Col. Tod thus describes the state of these
tablets when he visited this place on 19
October, 1819 A.D. “What a sight for the
antiquary! not one of the many tablets was
entire; the fragments were strewn about, or
placed in position to receive the flesh-pots of
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Maharana Kumbha.
the sons of Ishmael, the mercenary Rohilla
Afghan.”¹
“The tablets and most of the images of
the divinities referred to by Tod, which were
for long lying utterly uncared for, were
removed by Pandit Gaurishankar Ojhá to the
Museum at Udaipur. The fragments of the
tablets, so far as a through search could
bring to light, were picked up and pieced
together by him, and can now be easily
deciphered there. The importance of these
inscriptions can never be overrated. They set
forth the history of Mewar from the time of
Guhila, the founder of the Udaipur family,
to Rana Kumbha.”²
Behind the temple of Mamadeva is an
odi, or raised dais where Tārā, wife of Prince
Prithviraj, elder brother of Maharana Sāngā,
used to shoot tigers
On quitting the temple of Mamadeva,
attention is attracted by a simple monumental
¹ Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, Vol. I., p. 672.
² Progress Report of the Archæological Survey of India,
Western Circle, for 1908-9, by Dr. D. R. Bhandarkar.
135

Maharana Kumbha.
shrine on the opposite side of the valley, and
almost in the gorge of the pass. “It was most
happily situated, being quite isolated, over-
looking the road leading to Marwar, and
consisted of a simple dome of very moderate
dimensions supported by columns, without
any intervening object to obstruct the view
of the little monumental alter arising out of
the centre of the platform. It was the
Sybilline temple of Tivoli in miniature. To
it, over rock and ruin, I descended. Here
repose the ashes of the Troubadour of Mewar,
the gallant Prithviraj, and his heroine wife,
Tara Bai,¹ whose lives and exploits fill many
a page of the legendary romances of Mewar.”²
In the shrine is a memorial stone on which
various small figures are sculptured on each
one of its four sides, with small inscriptions
above, descriptive of them. Thus e. g, on
the east side it bears five figures, the central
one of which rides a horse. He is called
¹ This fair 'star' (Tara) was the daughter of Rao
Soortan, the chieftain of Badnor. For some account of Tarabai
and Prince Prithviraj see my monograph on "Maharana Sanga",
Chapter IV. Prithviraj was one of the most heroic Rajputs
that adorn the history of Rajputana.
² Tod's Rajasthan, Vol. I, p. 673.
136

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Chitorgarh.

Maharana Kumbha.
Prithirājaji, i. e., Prithviraj, and the horse,
Sāhanadivā. Immediately on his right is Tárádê
(Tara Devi) and further Bai Pāmāde. On his
left also there are two figures, the names of
which are, however, gone. Memorial stones
mark the places where ladies became Sati
on the funeral pyres of their husbands,
and this particular stone commemorates the
fact that Taradé (Tara Devi) and Pamade be-
came Sati on the death of prince Prithviraj.
Near the Māmādeva Temple, Maharana
Kumbha built a large Kunda (reservoir of
water), at the edge of which Kumbha was
saying his prayers when he was treacherously
stabbed by his son, Udá the Hatiáro
(parricide). Kumbhá built the Kumbhaswami
Temple in the fort and constructed a lake
by it, and laid out a garden.¹
CHITORGARH.
Kumbha strengthened the defences² of
¹ Kumbhalgarh Inscription, verses 130, 131 and 143,
² The Chitorgarh Kīrtisthambha Inscription, verse 26.
Verse 183 says that in Kartik S. 1507 (A.D. 1450) Kumbha
built a new bastion with battlements. The architect employed
by Maharana Kumbha in Chitor was Nātha, brother of
Mandana, who had built Kumbhalgarh, vide, p. 38.—S. R.
Bhandarkar's Report of a Tour in Rajputana etc. 1907.
137

Maharana Kumbha.
Chitor and built seven¹ of its gates—the
Rampol with circular bastions, after Ráma
the great hero of the Solar dynasty, the Surya
Vamsa, of which the Maharana of Mewar is
the head. This Pol was partly dismantled
by Emperor Shah Jahan. The remains of its
plinth are handsomely carved with figure
friezes; the Hanumánpol, called after the
temple of this god; the Bhairavapol, since
associated with the name of Bhairavadas
Solanki, who fought bravely and was killed
at that spot in the battle against Sultan
Bahadur Shah of Gujrat in A D. 1534-35 ;
Lakshmipol, Chámundápol, Tarapol and
Rajpol.²
Maharana Kumbha built the present road³
up the hill by which carriages can go up to
the fort. Before his time there was only a
foot-path.
Maharana Kumbha also built a Rama
Kund at Chitor⁴ and several stepped wells
and reservoirs for storing water.
¹ Kirtisthambha Inscription, verses 36-42 and 125.
² The last four pols are now called Lakshmanpol, Jorla-
pol, Ganeshpol and Pádalpol.
³ The Chitorgarh Kirtisthambha Inscription, verses
34-35.
⁴ Chitor Kirtisthambha Inscription, verse 33.
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Tower of Victory, Chitor.
(Kirtisthambha.)

Maharana Kumbha.
TOWER OF VICTORY.
Kumbha's Jaya Sthambha (Tower of Vic-
tory), also called the Kīrtisthambha (Tower of
Fame) in Chitorgarh is another monument of
his genius and a great ornament to that far-
famed fortress.
This celebrated Tower of Victory was
erected to commemorate the victory which
Maharana Kumbha had obtained over Sultan
Mahmud Khilji I of Mandu in 1438 A.D., when
Mandu was conquered, and its Sultan brought
captive, and kept a prisoner in Chitor for 6
months.
An inscription¹ in the perforated window
in the second storey of the Tower of Victory
offering the obeisance of the architect Jaitra
and his two sons, Nāpā and Puñjā, to god
Samaddhishwar dated Phālgun Sud 5th, V. S.
1499 (A.D. 1442) shows that the second storey
was completed in that year. The Tower was
completed in A.D. 1449 ; for the consecration
ceremony of the Tower of Victory, as recorded
¹ Report for 1921 A. D. of the Rajputana Museum,
Ajmer, p. 4.
139

Maharana Kumbha.
in the 186th verse of the Prasasti of the Jaya
Sthambha took place on Magh Sud, 10th,
Pushya Nakshatra V. S. 1505 (A.D. 1449).¹
As it took 6 years to complete the building
from the third to the topmost storey it may
fairly be inferred that the foundations of the
Jaya Sthambha must have been laid 2 years
before the completion of the second storey i.e.
in 1440 A.D.
Describing it, Mr. Fergusson says : “A
pillar of victory like that of Trajan at Rome,
but in infinitely better taste as an architec-
tural object than the Roman example.”²
Colonel James Tod³ thus describes it :
“The only thing in India to compare with
this is the Kootab Minar at Delhi, but though
much higher, it is of a very inferior character.
This column is one hundred and twenty feet
in height; the breadth of each face at the base
is thirty-five feet, and at the summit, immedi-
ately under the cupola, seventeen feet and a
half. It stands on an ample terrace, forty-
¹ Kirtisthambha (Tower of Victory) Inscription, V. 185,
² History of Indian and Eastern Architecture, page 253.
³ Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, Vol. II., page 761.
140

Maharana Kumbha.
two feet square. It has nine distinct storeys,
with openings at every face of each storey,
and all these doors have colonnaded porticos."
Each storey is lighted by trellis windows,
and the angles and recesses not intersected by
steps are utilised for statues and ornaments.
The exterior surface is broken up into nine
principal divisions each furnished with its
windows, balustrades, eaves or Chhajjas
and emphasized by columns, pilasters and
numberless horizontal bands and cornices. A
stair passes up the tower though its nine
storeys but the peculiarity consists in its
winding alternately through a central well and
a gallery formed round it. The two upper
storeys are open and more ornamental than those
below. The whole of the lower is covered with
architectural ornaments and sculptures to such
an extent as to leave no plain parts, while at
the same time, this mass of decoration is kept
so subdued that it in no way interferes either
with the outline or the general effect of the
pillar. It is built chiefly of compact lime-
stone and the quartz rock on which it stands,
which takes the highest polish : indeed there
are portions possessing the hardness, and ex-
141

Maharana Kumbha.

hibiting the fracture, of Jasper. It is one
mass of sculpture; of which a better idea can-
not be conveyed than in the remark of those
who dwell about it, that it contains every
object known to their mythology.
The ninth khand or 'storey' which, as I have
stated, is seventeen feet and a half square, has
numerous columns supporting a vault in which
is sculptured Kanaya (Krishna) in the Rasman-
dala (celestial sphere), surrounded by the
gopis, or muses, each, holding a musical
instrument, and in a dancing attitude. Be-
neath this is a richly-carved scroll fringed
with the sarus, the phenicopteros of ornitho-
logy. Around this chamber had been arrang-
ed, on black marble tablets,¹ the whole

¹ A copy of this and the Kumbhalgarh Inscription of
Rana Kumbha was taken by a pandit on Phagun Vadi 7th,
S 1735 (A.D. 1679), when five tablets of this, and one of the
Kumbhalgarh Inscriptions were in existence. Unfortunately
only two tablets of this former inscription are now to be
found, but two more tablets and a fragment of the third of
the Kumbhalgarh Inscription have been recovered. The
Kumbhalgarh Inscription originally consisted of five tablets
and the Chitorgarh of seven or more. The Chitorgarh In-
scription states that it was completed on Monday the Margshir
Vadi 5th, S 1517 and Saka year 1382 (A.D. 1460). The author
of the inscription was a Brahman named Atri, who was well
versed in Logic, Vedanta, Veda, Mimansa and Sahitya. He
was the son of Keshava, called Jhoting, and grandson of
Narahari and great grandson of Somanath of the Bhrigu
family. Atri having died, the inscription was completed by his
son Mahesh, a poet. The Maharana gave him as reward, two
elephants, two chanwars with gold handles, and a white
umbrella (छत्र).

142

Maharana Kumbha.
genealogy of the Ranas of Chitor; but the
Goths have broken or defaced all save one slab.
"I gazed," says Colonel Tod,¹ until the
sun's last beam fell upon this ringlet of
Chitor illuminating its glory and griefworn
aspect, like a lambent gleam lighting up the
face of sorrow. Who could look, on this love-
ly, this majestic column, which tells in
language more easy of interpretation than the
tablets within, of
'...........deeds which should not pass away,
And names which must not wither,'
and withold a sigh for its departed glories ? "
Colonel Tod further says : "The view
from this elevated spot was superb, extend-
ing far into the plains of Malwa. The light-
ning struck and injured the dome² some years
ago, but generally there is no semblance of
decay, though some shoots of peepul have
rooted themselves.where the bolt of Indra fell.
It is said to have cost ninety lakhs of
¹ Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, Vol. II, p. 756.
² The old injured dome was removed and the present
bulbous dome constructed by Maharana Swarup Singh after
A.D. 1839.
*
143

Maharana Kumbha.
rupees, or near a million sterling, and this is
only one of the many magnificent works of
Maharana Kumbha within Chitor, the temples
to Krishna, the lake called Cooram Sagar, the
temple¹ and fountain to Kookgreoo (Kukresh-
war), Mahadeva having been erected by
him."
TEMPLES.
Maharana Kumbha built many grand
temples in Mewar. In each of the two
celebrated forts of Mewar,—Chitor and
Kumbhalgarh—as also in Abu, Maharana
Kumbha built a Kumbhaswami temple.
KUMBHASWAMI TEMPLE.
Of the three, the magnificent Kumbha-
swami temple at Chitor "which was like the
crown of the world,²" appears to have been
built in V. S. 1505 (A.D. 1448); for we find
inscriptions dated the V. S. 1505 (A.D. 1448)
¹ This temple was originally built by Raja Kukreshwar,
who excavated the fountain in A.D. 755 (Magh Sud 5th, S. 811
(Thursday).—Archæological Survey Report, Vol. XXIII,
p. 113.
² Kumbha's Commentary on Gita Govind, Sloka 63.
144

Maharana Kumbha.
of Maharana Kumbha on the pedestals of
some of the images in the niches of the
Sabhāmandap (domed hall) in front of the
temple proper. This temple of Kumbhaswami
dedicated to Lord Krishna, is said to have been
constructed with the materials brought from
the ruins of the ancient shrines at Nagari,¹
situated 7 miles from Chitor. It consists of
a large square porch supporting a low pyrami-
dal roof on massive pillars in front of a
sanctuary with a stately Sikra, majestic both
in outline and size. Over the front entrance
is a sculptured stone figure of a man wearing
ornaments which may be intended for
Maharana Kumbha himself.
To the west of the temple are two
reservoirs, 125 feet long, 50 feet wide,
and 50 feet deep, of large blocks of stone
built it is said early in the fifteenth century
A. D. to commemorate the marriage of
the daughter of Rana Mokul called the
¹ For a full account of this city of remote antiquity, see
Archæological Survey of India, Vol. VI, for 1872-73 A.D.
pp. 196-226 and Col. Erskine's Gazetteer of Udaipur. Some
very ancient coins were found at Nagara or Nagari which are
unique in type and many date several centuries B.C.,
145

Maharana Kumbha.
"Lal Bai (or Ruby of Mewar) with Achil
Singh Kheechi of Gagroon. These reservoirs,
which were filled with ghi and oil for
distribution to the guests at the wedding, are
still known by the names of "Ghi Baori"
and "Tel Baori."
This temple has carvings in parts of its
exterior walls and roofs which are generally
found in "Buddhist buildings."
This temple stands to the south of Badal
Mahal and is described as the temple of
Govind Shyama by Abul Fazal in his
Akbarnama. It was built by Maharana Kumbha
in Sambat 1505 (A.D. 1448). By its side,
Maharana Kumbha built the temple of Adi
Varāh¹ which is now wrongly called Miran-
bai's temple.
RANPUR TEMPLE.
Though the temple of Kumbha Shyām at
Chitorgarh is a noteworthy one, yet of all the
temples erected or resuscitated in Kumbha's
¹ Chitor Kirtisthambha Inscription, V. 31.
146

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