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

Maharana Kumbha.
disappeared. It was composed by Kaviraj
Vanikdas Yogeshwar. A summary of it is
published in the Rajputana Museum Report
for 1925 A.D. The third inscription which
is dated the Magh Sud 3rd, S. 1485 (1429
A.D.) exists in the Samiddheshwar temple at
Chitor. It was composed by Bhatta Vishnu's
son Aiknath, a dashora brahmin. It is
published in the Bhavanagar Inscriptions,
p. 96.
The fourth inscription, which has come
to light only in March this year, is engraved
on a stone which has recently been removed
from the Hinglu Vāva (Hinglu stepped well)
near the village of Amberi, 6 miles from
Udaipur between that place and Eklingji.
It is dated Thursday the Jeth Sud 5th,
S. 1487,¹ corresponding with 16th May 1431
A.D. It records the construction of the
Vāva (well) by a Brahmin in Maharana
Mokal's reign.

¹ Indian Ephemeris by L.D.S. Pallai Vol. V. According
to current Vikarma era, the year of the inscription must be
S. 1487.
34

CHAPTER IV.
Kumbha ascends the throne.
Maharana Kumbha ascended the throne of
Mewar at Chitor in 1433 A.D. His first care
was to punish the traitors Chacha and Maira
and their fellow conspirators. This involved
military operations and a war with Mandu.
When the news of the tragedy of Mokal’s
death reached Rao Ran Mal, the brother of
Mokal’s mother Hans Bai, this valiant Rathod
king, remembering the debt of gratitude
he owed to Mokal, with whose help he had
recovered the throne of Marwar, threw off the
turban he was wearing, put on a phenta
(a piece of cloth generally worn when in
mourning) and swore that he would put the
turban on his head only when he had avenged
Mokal by slaying his murderers. Leaving
Mandor he came to Chitor, showed Nazar to the
Maharana and with 500 horsemen started in
pursuit of the traitors towards the Pái hills.
35

Maharana Kumbha.
Arriving there, he made several attempts to
reach the fortress, but so steep was the hill,
and so rugged the path that led up to the
fort that Ran Mal failed to achieve his object.
During the reign of Mokal, Ran Mal had,
while living at Chitor, killed a Bhil zamindar
named Gameti of a village situated at the
foot of the Pái hills. The sons of this
zamindar with other Bhils, were now actively
assisting Cháchá and Maira against Ran Mal.
Finding that without the assistance of the
Bhils he could not reach the fort, Ran Mal
went unattended to the house of the Bhil he
had murdered. His widow was at home and
the sons had gone out. He addressed her
as sister, greeted her, and sat down. The
Bhil woman said : “Brother, you did us
great wrong, but as you have come to our
house, we cannot do anything to you now.”
Hearing the approach of her sons, the Bhil
lady asked Ran Mal to go inside the house,
and had his horse tethered at the back of it.
Her five sons now arrived and sat down
36

Maharana Kumbha.
to dinner. She asked them what they would
do to Ran Mal if he should come to their
house. The young men exclaimed, “Do what!
we will kill him.” The eldest, however, said
“Mother, if he comes to our house, we will
say nothing to him.” The lady praised her
son’s noble sentiments and called to Ran Mal
to come out. Ran Mal came out. The
Bhils received him courteously and asked
him why he had come there to be killed. He
replied : “My dear nephews I have taken a
vow not to eat bread till I have killed Cháchá
and Maira ; but with you to assist them, I
cannot get at them.” The Bhils¹ thus
appealed to, promised to abstain from render-
ing any further assistance to Cháchá and
Mairá, and to assist Ran Mal in achieving
his object. Ran Mal returned to his camp
and started next day with 1,140 Guhilots
and Rathods to take the fort. On arriving
at the foot of the hill, the Bhils advised Ran
Mal to wait a few days, as the bypath leading
to the fort had been blocked by a lioness who
¹ For an account of the Bhils, see Gazetteer of Udaipur
p. 227, by Major K. D. Erskine, 1908 A. D.
37

Maharana Kumbha.
had lately given birth to a cub. Ran Mal
said he did not mind that, and went on.
Placing his men at suitable points he ascended
the hill with 60 men. They commenced the
ascent where the parapet was yet low. The
path was steep and rugged ; and in the
darkness of the night each grasped his
neighbour's skirt for security. As the party
reached a ledge of the rock, the glowing eye-
balls of the lioness flashed upon them as she
came roaring towards them. Ran Mal ordered
his son, Aradakamal, to dispose of the beast.
He advanced and buried his poniard in her
breast.¹ This omen was superb. They soon
reached the summit. Some had ascended the
parapet, others were scrambling over when the
minstrel slipping, fell, and his drum which
was to have accompanied his voice in celebrat-
ing the conquest, awoke, by its crash, the
daughter of Cháchá. Her father quieted
her fears by saying it was the thunder and
rain of bhádon, and told her to fear God only
and go to sleep, for their enemies were safe
¹ Another account says that Ran Mal's sword only
wounded the lioness, whereupon Chandan Charan, who was
with Ran Mal, killed her with a poniard. See footnote in
Vir Vinod, p. 318.
38

Maharana Kumbha.
at Kailwá. At this moment the avengers of
Mokal rushed in. Ran Mal hurled his spear
at the door, and people at once said it was
Ran Mal's. Cháchá and Maira had no time
to avoid their fate. Cháchá was cleft in two
by Chauhán Sujá,¹ while the Rathod prince
laid Maira at his feet. Ran Mal then went
to the quarters occupied by Mahpa Panwár
and called him to come out and meet his fate,
for he had taken a vow not to attack any one
who was in the company of women. At the
very first call, Máhpá, unable to face his foe,
put on female garments and thus disguised,
left the house unmolested. In answer to the
second call, a Dom woman shouted from
inside that the Thákur had put on her clothes
and left the house and that she was sitting
naked inside. On this, Ran Mal returned and
joined his companions. Though Cháchá and
Maira met the fate they richly deserved,
Cháchá's son, Ekká, escaped; and he and
Máhpá made straight for the Court of Mandu,
where they found shelter. Ran Mal took
Cháchá's daughter to wife, making Cháchá's
¹ Tod says that Suja was a Chandana Rajput.
39

Maharana Kumbha.
body serve as a bajot ¹ to sit on at the
ceremony.
Cháchá and Maira had captured 500
girls from the villages round about the
Pai Hills and kept them in this stronghold.
Ran Mal married these girls there to spears,
intending to give them to his Rathod follow-
ers. The Maharana's uncle, Raghávadeva, the
brother of Chondá, did not like this proposal,
and on arriving at Delwara removed the
maids to his own camp. This added fuel
to the fire of jealousy already existing between
Rághavadeva and Ran Mal.
Rao Ran Mal preferring the fertile plateau
of Mewar to the arid desert of Marwar took
up his residence at Chitor, and surrounded
himself and the Maharana with Rathods, and
began to take a prominent part in the
administration of Mewar. Rághavadeva, who
had been left by his elder brother Chondá, on
his departure from Chitor during the reign of
the late Maharana Mokal to watch over the
safety of the Maharana during his minority,
¹ A round or square wooden seat to squat upon.
40

had the same duty to perform now that
Maharana Kumbhá, Mokal's son, was young.
Rághavadeva did not approve of the proceed-
ings at the Court, which was now dominated
by the Rathods, and not willing to do any-
thing which might be unpalatable to the
Dowager Maharani, who was Ran Mal's sister,
he silently watched the progress of events.
But his existence was a menace to the grow-
ing influence of the Rathods. It was there-
fore resolved to remove him. One day he
was invited to a Durbar and given a dress
of honor. As he was putting it on, his
arms became entangled in the sleeves, which
had been sewn at the ends, and he was assas-
sinated by two of Ran Mal's men, who
stabbed him with their daggers.¹ Rághava-
deva had been loved throughout Mewar for
his high character, courage, manly beauty
and patriotism. This murder roused great
indignation against the Rathods, and obtained
for the victim divine honours and a place
amongst the Pitridevas of Mewar.
¹ Vir Vinod, Vol. I., p. 319. Mehta Nainsi's Khyat (p. 29)
gives a different account.
41

CHAPTER V.
RISE AND FALL OF THE KINGDOMS OF
GUJRAT AND MALWA.
THE invasion of India by Timur, the flight
of Muhammad Tughlaq from Delhi, and the
conquest and sack of that city by the invader
in A.D. 1398, destroyed the power of the
Tughlaq Sultans of Delhi. After Timur's
departure to Turkistan, Muhammad Tughlaq
returned to Delhi, but he had lost all power
and prestige, and was a Sultan more in name
than in reality. In the opening years of the
fifteenth century, Malwa and Gujrat the
erstwhile viceroyalties of Delhi threw off
their allegiance and declared their indepen-
dence. Malwa and Gujrat became powerful
monarchies, and it was these kingdoms, and
the principality of Nagor, then in the heyday
of their power and prosperity, that Maharana
Kumbhá, about the middle of the fifteenth
century, fought and defeated.
GUJRAT.
Gujrat had been under the rule of the
Baghelā branch of the Chalukya Rajputs till
42

Maharana Kumbha.
the year 1297 A.D., when Sultan Ala-ud-din
Khilji of Delhi sent Ulugh Khan to conquer
it. The Chalukyas had succeeded the Cháurá
Rajputs, who had founded Anhilwara Pātan,
the celebrated Capital of Gujrat. The monar-
chy of Gujrat reached the height of its
magnificence and power under the Solanki
monarchs Siddhráj Jaisingh and Kumár Pál
(1094-1175 A.D.), when it triumphed over
Malwa, conquered Chitor and defeated the
Chauhān King Ânnādeva of Ajmer.
Gujrat remained a tributary province of
Delhi from A.D. 1297 to the year A.D. 1396,
when the Viceroy, Zafar Khan, proclaimed
his independence and mounted the throne of
Gujrat¹ at Birpur, under the title of Muzaffar
Shah. Zafar Khan was originally a Hindu
named Sādharan of the Tánk tribe (Khatri),
and after his conversion to Islam became the
head of the kitchen to Sultan Firoz Shah
Tughlaq who eventually appointed him
Governor of Gujrat in place of the Farhatul-
mulk. Muzaffar Shah was deposed by his son
Tatarkhan with the aid of his uncle Shams-
¹ Lane Pool's Muhammadan Dynasties of India, p. 313.
43

Maharana Kumbha.
Khan. Later, Shams Khan made common cause
with Muzaffar Shah and poisoned Tatarkhan.
On regaining his throne, Muzaffar Shah, to
reward his services, gave Nagor as jagir to
Shams Khan, where he and his descendants
ruled for several generations, often paying
tributes to Mewar or Marwar. Shams Khan
was succeeded at Nagor by his son, Firoz
Khan, who was a warrior of some renown.
He measured swords with. Kumbha's father,
Maharana Mokal, who defeated him and
destroyed his army at Jáwar, 20 miles
south of Udaipur.¹ Firoz Khan had to return
discomfited to Nagor.
The capture of Nagor in A.D. 1455 by
Maharana Kumbha brought Sultan Qutbud-
din of Ahmedabad into the field against him.
With the King of Malwa, the Maharana had
come into collision in the early part of his
reign. These two kingdoms—the most power-
ful Mussalman principalities in India at the
time—when defeated singly by the Maharana,
combined and simultaneously invaded Mewar
from the west and the south; but Kumbha,
¹ See Samiddheshwar Mahadeva Temple Inscription of
Magh Sud 3rd, S. 1485 (A.D. 1429) at Chitor.
44

Maharana Kumbha.
supported by the chivalry of Mewar and
inspired by the patriotic valour of the Guhilot
Rajputs, vanquished them both.
Sultan Qutbuddin died in 1458 A.D. and
was succeeded by Dawud Shah. The kingdom
of Gujrat continued to exist till Sultan
Bahadur Shah was defeated by Humayun in
A.D. 1535 and Gujrat annexed to the empire
of Delhi. With Humayun's flight to Persia,
Muhammad Shah Farukhi became Sultan of
Gujrat but he and his successors were
nominally rulers of Gujrat, till Akbar con-
quered it and made it a part of the Mughal
empire in 1584 A.D.
MALWA.
Till about 1305 A.D., Malwa was ruled by
the Hindus. In 1305 A.D., Ala-ud-din Khilji's
army reduced Western Malwa and soon after
conquered Mandu. Malwa remained a province
under the Sultans of Delhi till, in the reign
of Sultan Mahmud II, the son of Firoz
Shah Tughlaq, it became an independent
monarchy in A.D. 1401. Firoz Shah Tughlaq
(1351-1388 A.D.) had appointed Dilawar
45

Maharana Kumbha.
Khan Ghori, whose real name was Hassan,
Governor of Malwa about 1373 A.D. Amir
Timur captured Delhi on 18th December,
1398 A.D. and sacked it on the 28th.
Sultan Mahmud Tughlaq, the son of Firoz
Shah Tughlaq, fled towards Gujrat, and
finding his way barred by Maharana Mokal,
who inflicted a defeat on him at Raipur, he
turned towards Malwa, where he was wel-
comed and royally entertained by Dilawar
Khan. On Timur's departure, Mahmud
Tughlaq returned to Delhi; and in 1401 A.D.,
Dilawar Khan proclaimed his independence
and took up his residence at Dhar.
The kingdom of Malwa thus created,
continued in existence till the year 1530 A.D.
when Bahadur Shah of Gujrat conquered it
and annexed it to his dominions. In 1570
A.D., Malwa became a part of the Mughal
Empire when Baz Bahadur accepted Akbar's
allegiance.
Dilawar Khan's reign was a very short
one. He was murdered by his ambitious and
unscrupulous son Alp Khan, who mounted the
throne in 1405 A.D. under the title of
46

Maharana Kumbha.
Sultan Hoshang Ghori. He moved from
Dhar to Mandu ¹ and made it his capital in
1405 A.D. Sultan Hoshang Ghori's son and
successor, Muhammad Ghazni Khan (1434-36
A.D.) was murdered by his slave Mahmud
Khan, who ascended the throne under the title
of Sultan Mahmud Khilji and reigned from
1436 A.D. to 1475 A.D. During his reign,
the kingdom of Malwa reached the zenith
of 'its power and prosperity, and it was Sultan
Mahmud Khilji that the Maharana challenged
to stand the onslaught of the Rajputs.
Sultan Mahmud Khilji was eventually defeat-
ed, captured and imprisoned by the Maharana
in the fort of Chitor.
The Maharana magnanimously set the
Sultan free and restored him to the throne of
Mandu. His descendants ruled in Malwa
till 1530 A.D., when Bahadur Shah of Gujrat
defeated Sultan Mahmud Khilji II and annexed
Malwa to Gujrat. Bahadur Shah, however,
was defeated by Humayun, and Malwa and
Gujrat both passed into Humayun's possession.
But with the rise of Sher Shah, Humayun's
¹ Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic
Society, Special number LVIII, page 34.
47

Maharana Kumbha.
power declined and one Malloo Khan, a slave
of the old Khilji dynasty seized the throne of
Malwa and began to reign in Mandu under
the title of Sultan Qadir in 1534 A.D.
In 1543 A.D. Sher Shah drove away
Malloo Khan and appointed Shuja Khan
Governor of Malwa. Shuja Khan proclaimed
his independence in 1553 A.D. and took up
his residence in Sarangpur. On his death, his
second son Baizeed murdered his elder brother
and ascended the throne of Malwa under the
title of Baz Bahadur. In 1564 A.D. Baz
Bahadur accepted Akbar's allegiance and
Malwa became a part of the Mughal empire.
48

CHAPTER VI.
MAHARANA'S CONQUEST OF MALWA
AND
CAPTURE OF SULTAN MAHMUD KHILJI.
As Mahpa Panwar,$^1$ one of the assassins of
Maharana Mokal, was given shelter by the
Sultan of Mandu, a demand for his person was
made by the Maharana. Sultan Mahmud
Khilji, however, declined to surrender the
refugee, pleading that it was against all
notions of dignity and sovereignty to do
so. The Maharana thereupon prepared for
hostilities and left Chitor to attack Mandu.
The Sultan advanced with a powerful army to
meet the Maharana.
Rawat Chonda, the elder brother of Maha-
rana Mokal, who had surrendered the throne of
$^1$ His full name was Mahipal. His grandson Karam-
chand, Raja of Srinagar, gave shelter to Maharana Sangā, the
grandson of Kumbhā during his days of adversity. See
inscription of A.D. 1475 on the embankment of the lake at
Pisaugan, Ajmer District, described in the report of the
Rajputana Museum, Ajmer for 1911-12. Mahipal's son
Rughnath's queen Rajmati built the Pisangan lake and
Karamchand's queen Ramadevi built the great lake at Ramsar
in the province of Ajmer. The village Ramsar in olden
days was a town of respectable size. It lies at a distance of
24 miles from Ajmer.
49

Maharana Kumbha.
Mewar in favour of Mokal in circumstances
which have made his name illustrious in the
history of India, had taken up his residence
in the court of Mandu, where the Sultan,
Dilawar Khan Ghori, had received him with
open arms and given him the district of
Hallar as jagir for his maintenance. Sultan
Mahmud Khilji now asked Chonda to lead
the Mandu army against Ran Mal, the
commander of the Mewar forces and take
revenge for the murder of Rāghavadeva.
The patriotic Chonda replied that he would
gladly have led the army against Ran Mal's
Rathods but that it was against his dharma to
take up arms against the Maharana. Rather
than stay at Mandu, he retired to his jagir.
The Maharana's army is said to have
consisted of a hundred thousand horsemen
and 1,400 elephants. The two armies met
in A.D. 1437¹ near Sarangpur,² between
Chitor and Mandsaur. After a severe engage-
¹ Mahmud Khilji ascended the throne in 1436 A.D.,
and Ran Mal, who took a prominent part in this war was
murdered in A.D. 1438. The Ranpur Temple Inscription of
1439 A.D. mentions the conquest of Mandor which followed
Ran Mal's assassination.
² The Ranpur Temple Inscription, lines 17-18. Vide,
The Bhavanagar Inscriptions, page 114.
50

Maharana Kumbha
ment, the 'Sultan's army was utterly routed.'
The Kumbhalgarh Inscription, v. 270, says
that Maharana Kumbha "captured countless
Muslim women and burnt down Sárangpur."
The Sultan fled and shut himself up in the
fort of Mandu. The Maharana's army follow-
ed up the victory and laid siege to Mandu.
When the Sultan was hard pressed, he told
Mahpa (Mahipal Panwar) that he could give
him shelter no longer. Mahpa mounted his
horse and going on to the rampart took a leap
out of the fort. His horse was killed, but he
was saved.¹ He fled to Gujrat. Kumbha
stormed and took the fort. Ran Mal captured
Sultan Mahmud Khilji, whose army fled in all
directions. The Maharana returned to Chitor
bringing the Sultan captive with him.
To commemorate this great victory, the
Maharana built the great Jaya Stambha—
Tower of Victory—in the fortress of Chitor,
which still adorns that far-famed strong-
hold, or as Colonel Tod says—"this ringlet
on the brow of Chitor which makes her
look down upon Meru with derision." Before,
¹ Vir Vinod, Vol. I, p. 320.
51

Maharana Kumbha.
however, this Tower of Victory, a description
of which is given in Chapter XIII, was comple-
ted, the Maharana had to face and vanquish the
combination of the two most powerful king-
doms in India at the time, the Sultanates of
Gujrat and Malwa, which glorious event is
inscribed on the celebrated Tower.
Mahmud Khilji remained a prisoner¹ in
Chitor for a period of six months, after which
he was liberated without ransom, by the
magnanimous Maharana Kumbha.² "So far
from showing any gratitude for the generosity
thus shown him," says a historian of Mewar,
he (the Sultan) spent the rest of his life in vain
attempts at revenging himself on his con-
queror, for which purpose he entered into an
offensive alliance with his former foe, the
Sultan of Gujrat."
Commenting on this victory, Colonel Tod³
says :—"Abul Fazal relates this victory and
¹ Vir Vinod, p. 320. The place of imprisonment still
exists. Beyond the palaces of Bhim and Padmini "within a
stone enclosure, is the place where the victorious Kumbha
confined the King of Malwa"—Archæological Survey Reports,
Vol. XXIII, p. 112.
² Tod's Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, Vol. I, p.
287. Also the Gazetteer of Udaipur, 1908, p. 17.
³ Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, Vol. I, p. 287.
52

Maharana Kumbha.
dilates on Kumbha's greatness of soul in
setting his enemy at liberty,¹ not only without
ransom but with gifts. Such is the character
of the Hindu; a mixture of arrogance,
political blindness, pride and generosity.
To spare a prostrate foe is the creed of the
Hindu cavalier and he carries all such maxims
to excess.”
Political blindness and misplaced generosity
on the part of Hindus so often illustrated
in the history of India, has been the cause
of their political downfall. They prided
themselves on their chivalry which consisted
of sparing foes, setting them at liberty after
capturing them, and allowing them to return
home unmolested. This no doubt proves
that they were chivalrous and fearless, and
lived on a high spiritual and moral plane;
but it also proves that they were not
men of foresight, and were, so far as politics
go, novices and therefore unfit to preserve
their liberties. The Rajput ideal of life
was “how to die nobly,” rather than
how to achieve success in life. They pre-
¹ As a matter of fact Abul Fazal praised Sāngā for his
capture and release of Sultan Mahmud Khilji II of Mandu.
.53