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

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

Maharana Kumbha.
ferred fame to success and cared less for
victory and more for praise of their personal
valour.' The repeated attempts made by
Sultan Mahmud Khilji of Malwa, after his
release by the Maharana to wipe off his
disgrace, by invading Mewar to obtain a
victory over Maharana Kumbha, shows that
Kumbha's release of Mahmud Khilji was a
piece of political folly, almost a crime. Had
the Maharana destroyed the Sultanate of
Malwa, annexed the country to Mewar and
consolidated his kingdom as any wise ruler
would have done he should not only have
saved Mewar from the several wars with
Malwa, which followed Mahmud Khilji's
release, but would have spared Mewar the
wars with the Sultans of Gujrat and the
subsequent sack of Chitor by Bahadur Shah.
Several instances of such misplaced genero-
sity may be cited. The Hun invader Mihir-
kula, who greatly oppressed the people of the
Punjab, was defeated and taken prisoner about
131 A.D.¹ but was sent home with all honor
by Bālāditya, the King of Magadha, with the
¹ The Krita, Gupta Eras in the Modern Review for July,
1932 p. 30.
54

Maharana Kumbha.
result that Mihirkula invaded India again,
treacherously murdered the King of Kashmir
and seized his kingdom.¹
Sultan Shahabuddin Ghori (Muizuddin bin
Sam) was defeated and captured by Emperor
Prithviraj Chauhan on the field of Tiraori
in 1191 A.D. but was liberated and allowed
to return to his country. He re-invaded India
with an army of 1,20,000 horsemen and assis-
ted by the Rajas of Kanauj and Anhilwara
Patan, destroyed the Hindu Empire of India.
Mahmud Khilji II, the King of Malwa
was defeated and taken prisoner by Maharana
Sānga in A.D. 1519. He was later not only
set at liberty but was loaded with gifts and
reinstated on his throne² by the chivalrous
Maharana with the result that, soon after
Sanga's death, this ungrateful man, to quote
the Muslim historian Ferishta, "without any
provocation, deputed Shiraj Khan with an
army from Mandu to attack Maharana Ratan
Singh,³ son of Maharana Sanga."
¹ Vincent Smith's Early History of India, p. 276.
² Brigg's Ferishta, Vol. IV, p. 263.
³ Ferishta, Vol. IV, p. 266.
55

Maharana Kumbha.
Mehta Nainsi in his Khyat, page 69,:
relates how Maharana Pratap spared the life
of the commander-in-chief of Akbar's army.
In 1576 A.D., Akbar invaded Mewar and
sent his Imperial legions under the supreme
command of K. Man Singh of Jaipur. While
Man Singh was bivouacing one evening at
the village Lohsing with a thousand horsemen,
ignorant of the fact that Maharana Pratap
with his army was only two miles away
behind the mountain, Maharana's scouts
informed the Maharana of this godsend oppor-
tunity to capture Man Singh. The Maharana
could easily have wiped off Man Singh and
the 1000 horsemen, but out of chivalry not
to take an enemy at unawares, Pratap
abstained from attacking Man Singh and
allowed him to escape.
Emperor Aurangzeb invaded Mewar in
A.D. 1679. During the course of the war,
he was hemmed in by the army of the
Maharana and would, according to the English
historian Orme, have perished in the mountain
pass. He, however, owed his life to the
clemency of Maharana Raj Singh who after
confining the Emperor for 2 days, magnani-
56

Maharana Kumbha.
mously ordered his army to withdraw from
their stations and let Aurangzeb escape.¹ The
Maharana's generosity did not stop here.
When the Emperor was out of danger, the
Maharana sent him his favourite Circassian
wife, whom the Maharana had captured,
accompanied by a chosen escort only request-
ing that the Emperor would in return refrain
from destroying cows which might still be
left in the plains. But for this act of foolish
generosity, the whole history of India would
have been changed and the country spared all
the wars in the Deccan, in Rajputana and
the Punjab, that filled the last thirty years of
Aurangzeb's reign
Well does Col. Tod exclaim :—"But for
repeated instances of an ill judged humanity,
the throne of the Mughals might have been
completely overturned." ²
The time after Mahmud's defeat was very
usefully employed by the Maharana in erecting
several forts and generally strengthening the
defences of his country.
¹ Orme quoted in full in Tod's Annals and Antiquities
of Rajasthan, Vol. I, p. 383, footnote.
² Tod's Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, Vol. I,
p. 379.
57

CHAPTER VII.
ASSASSINATION OF RAO RAN MAL
AND
MAHARANA'S OCCUPATION OF MARWAR.
AFTER the crushing defeat and capture of
the King of Malwa, Mahpá (Mahipal) Panwár
and Ekká, son of Cháchá, fled to Gujrat.
The Sultan of Gujrat, not risking the dis-
pleasure of the Maharana, being aware of the
consequences to Malwa of giving shelter to
the refugees, sent them away. Finding
shelter nowhere, they came and threw them-
selves at the feet of the Maharana and sued
for mercy. The Maharana, with his usual
magnanimity, pardoned them and took them
into his service. Rao Ran Mal disapproved of
this clemency, but said nothing. ¹
The success which Ráo Ran Mal had
achieved in killing the assassins of Mokal, and
crushing the power and capturing the
person of the King of Malwa had raised
the influence and power of the Ráo to a
pinnacle whence he exercised undisputed
¹ Vir Vinod, Vol. I, p. 320-21.
58

Maharana Kumbha.
sway in Mewar. Rathods were to be seen
everywhere in the kingdom, and all positions
of confidence and trust as well as those of
political and military importance, were bestow-
ed on them. This naturally excited the
apprehensions of the nobles and Sardárs of
Mewar. One day, Mahpá plainly told the
Maharana that the Rathods were aiming at the
throne of Mewar; but the Maharana, aware
of his enmity towards Ráo Ran Mal, gave no
heed to this warning. Ekká, Cháchá's son,
a few days later, while shampooing the Maha-
rana, who was asleep, began to weep. His
tears falling hot on the feet of the Maharana
woke him, and on being asked the cause of his
distress, he repeated the tale Mahpá had told.¹
The Maharana now began to be a little
suspicious of Ran Mal. The Maharana's
dhaya ² (wet nurse) became fearful of the
future, and bursting with indignation at the
ascendency of the Rathods, demanded of the
Rana's grandmother, " if her kin was to
defraud her own grandchild of his inheritance."
¹ Vir Vinod, Vol. I, p. 321. Nainsi's Khyat, p. 28.
² The dhaya is an important person in a Rajput
household.
59

Maharana Kumbha.
The Dowager Queen Hansbai spoke
to her brother. Ran Mal's reply did not
allay her anxiety, which had been first caused
by the assassination of Rághavadeva, the
brother of Chondá. An incident which is
said to have occurred about this time made
the queen more anxious.
A fair maid of the Queenmother Sobhagya-
devi, named Bhārmali, with whom Rao Ran Mal
was in love, was one evening detained
a little longer in the palace and went to him
later than usual. He asked the cause of the
delay, whereupon she said that she was not
her own mistress, and that as soon as those
whose servant she was, gave her leave she
went to him. The answer annoyed the Ráo,
who was drunk. He told her that she would
soon cease to be a servant, and that those
who cared to live in Chitor would have to
live as her servants.¹ And, yielding to her
seductive charms and female art, Ran Mal,
intoxicated with liquor as he was, confessed
to her his designs. The loyal maid, next day,
related the whole incident to the Queen,
¹ Vir Vinod, Vol. I, p. 321.
60

Maharana Kumbha.
who communicated the information to the
Maharana. Whether this story of the maid
Bharmali was concocted to sow seeds of
dissension between the queenmother Sobhagya-
devi, widow of Mokal and the Dowager Queen
Hansbai, widow of Lakhsh Singh, or was
invented as a part of the intrigue against
Ran Mal, whose dominant position in Mewar
had been the cause of the influx of Rathods
in the country, it is impossible to believe
that the chivalrous Ran Mal entertained the
base designs attributed to him.
His high character, and his past conduct
whether in Marwar or in Mewar, belie the
imputations sought to be cast against him.
His loyalty to the Maharana cannot be
doubted. His position in the administration
naturally excited the jealousy of the chiefs
of Mewar. Whether some of them believed
that Ran Mal's aim was to seize the supreme
power in Mewar or not, they all thought
that the time had come to rise against the
Rathodisation of the Mewar administration
and assert their right to hold important
offices in their own country. There were two
factions in Chitor, (a) the Sisodia nobles of
Mewar and (b) the Rathods headed by Ran Mal.
Ran Mal may have disclosed to Bharmali
his intention to reduce the Sisodia nobility
to a subordinate position and make the Rathod
bureaucracy all powerful.
61.

Maharana Kumbha,
The Sisodia nobles of Mewar became
apprehensive not only of their own position
but of the future of their country. All
their hopes for the safety of Mewar and its
rightful sovereign now rested in Chondá ;
and to him they at once turned for help.
He was apprised of the danger to his country
and was asked to come and save it. Chondá,
who had been a silent but not an inattentive
spectator of the dangerous game that was
being played in the land of his birth, lost
no time in coming to the assistance of the
Maharana.¹
¹ Various traditions are current in Mewar about
Chonda's return to Chitor. one of them is to the effect that
he sent 200 of his followers, hunters by profession, to visit
their families in Chitor, and while there to ingratiate them-
selves in the favour of the gatekeepers of the fortress. The
Maharana was asked to descend daily from the fort with
a retinue to give feasts to the surrounding villages, and to
hold the feast on the Diwali day at Ghosoonda. The day
arrived : the feast was held at Ghosoonda, and night came,
but no Chonda arrived. With heavy hearts, the nurse, the
Purohit and others started homewards, and had reached the
eminence called Chitori when forty horsemen passed them at
full gallop, and at their head was the chivalrous Chonda, who,
by a secret sign, paid homage to his nephew and sovereign.
Chonda and his band reached the Rampol Gate unnoticed,
but here they were challenged. They said they were neighbour-
ing chieftains and had the honor to escort the Maharana
home. But the main body, of which this was the advance,
presently coming up, the stratagem was discovered. Chonda
unsheathed his sword, and at his well-known shout, the
hunters were speedily in action. The Bhatti chief in charge
of the principal post of Chitor, was killed, though not before
he had launched his dagger at Chonda and wounded him.
62.

Maharana Kumbhá.
The Vir · Vinod says $^1$ that the Ráthods
approached the queenmother Sobhagyadevi
and in the interests of the Maharana,
protested against Rawat Chonda's return to
Chitor. The queen, however, replied that it did
not look well that the gates of Chitor should
be closed against one who had made such
noble sacrifices for his country.
The old Rao of Mandor now began to scent
danger. Fearing surprise, he sent his sons
Jodhá (who later founded Jodhpur), Kándhal
and others to live in the taleti, at the foot of
the hill on which the fortress is built and
told them to be always on their guard and
never to come up to the fort even if they
should receive a message in his name.$^2$
Prompted by Chondá, the Maharana asked
Ran Mal to call Jodhá and Kándhal to reside
in the fortress, but the Rao made some excuse
or other.$^3$ The Sisodia nobles of Mewar now
decided to rid the fortress of the Rathods.
$^1$ Vir Vinod, Vol. I., p. 321.
$^2$ Nainsi's khyat, p. 28 (Benares Edition).
$^3$ Ibid.
63

Maharana Kumbha.
Bhārmali, the queen's maid, one even-
ing in Asárh, S. 1495 (1438 A.D.) plied the
Rao with liquor. When the old chief was
drunk, Bhármali, who had been compelled to
his embrace, tied him well to the bed with the
big turban he wore. The Rao was only roused
to a sense of his danger when Máhpá Panwár,
Ekká son of Cháchá, and others arrived. In
his rage, by a sudden desperate movement he
got on his legs with the pallet behind him,
and roared like a caged lion unable to free
himself from the meshes of the turban that
tied him to the pallet. Finding all arms re-
moved, he got hold of a brass lotá, and with
this he killed 3 of his 17 assailants ere he was
killed by a shot from a matchlock.¹ Ran Mal
was of herculean build. His gigantic stature
and the force of his blow were well known in
Rajputana. Máhpá fled as soon as Ran Mal got
on his feet. The other Rathods in the fort-
ress, including Randhir, brother of Ran Mal,
Sattá Bhati, son of Lunkaran, and Randhir
¹ Vir Vinod, Vol. I, p. 322. Tod's Rajasthan, Vol. I,
p. 280 Nainsi's khyat (p. 28-29) gives a slightly different
account.
The Jodhpur khyat gives A. D. 1444, as the year of
Ran Mal's murder.
64

Maharāna Kumbhā.
Suráwat, were surprised and slain. Seeing
the state of affairs a Dom in the service of
Ran Mal, got on to the wall of the fortress
and in a loud voice, cried out:—
चुंडा अजमल आविया, मांडूं हुं धक आग ।
जोधा रणमल मारिया, भाग सके तो भाग ॥
"Chonda has returned from Mandu. Ran Mal
has been killed : Jodhá, flee for your life if
you can."
Jodhá and his 700 Rathods saddled their
horses, took up their arms and leaving Bheem,
who was too drunk to move, sprang into their
saddles and made for Marwar. Chonda, with
the memory of the murder of his brother
Rághavadeva fresh in his mind started in
pursuit with ten thousand Guhilots. A run-
ning fight ensued between the Rathods and the
Sisodias. There were several encounters.¹
Jodhá had not gone far when Chonda came up
and a fight took place at Kapásan. Jodhá,
after losing 200 men and killing 400 of the
enemy, slipped away. Chardá and Chand
Rao, sons of Aradakamal (Ran Mal's son),
¹ The Jodhpur khyat mentions encounters at Chitori,
Satkhamba, Kanawaj, Kapasani and Kailwa.
65