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

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

Maharana Kumbha.
Rana Pitha Rájáwat, Shivaraj, Poorná Bháti,
Barisál and others gave up their lives
defending Jodhá.¹ Jodha reached Mándal,
where Kandhal joined him, and the two
brothers continued their flight towards Marwar.
They reached the Someshwar Pass in the
hills which divide Marwar from Mewar with
only a hundred horsemen. Chondá soon
came up, and to prevent the Rathods escaping .
into Marwar made a furious attack on them.
The Rathods collected round Jodhá and Kán-
dhal to save them. Both the Sisodiás and the
Rathods dismounted and engaged in a hand-
to-hand fight. Out of the 100 horsemen that
reached the Pass, Jodhá crossed it with but
seven. With this remnant of the 700 horse-
men with whom he had left Chitor, Jodhá set
foot on the soil of Marwar. He owed his
safety to the fleetness of his steed.
Chonda, who had patiently borne the
wrongs heaped upon him by Rao Ran Mal,
was exasperated beyond measure against the
Rao and was determined to take full revenge
for the ruin of his life wrought by Ran Mal.
¹ Mehta Nainsi's Khyat, p. 29, also mentions Bhim, uncle
of Jodha as one of those who died defending Jodha.
66

Maharana Kumbha.
Chonda fully remembered that it was Ran Mal
whose artful handling of the situation created
by Chonda refusing the hand of Ran Mal's
sister Hansbai, had deprived him of the throne
of Chitor. He also remembered that it was
Ran Mal who had brought about his banish-
ment from his motherland. He also remem-
bered that his dear brother Raghavadeva
was murdered at the instance of Ran Mal.
All these wrongs which had thoroughly
embittered Chonda's life were raging within
him like the fire which rages within an active
valcano. And now that the opportunity for
which he had waited all his life, came, all the
pent up fury and hatred burst out with a
force which was almost uncontrollable.
Chonda's pursuit of Jodha was relentless
He arrived at Mandawar (Mandor) close on
Jodhá's heels. Jodhá unable to make a stand
there, passed by it. Relying on the aid of the
Bhátis of Poogal and Bikampur he took up his
abode at the village Kāhuni,¹ ten miles from
Bikaner.
The Rana's forces took possession of
Marwar and established thánás all over the
¹ Marwar khyat, Vol. I., p. 41.
67

Maharana Kumbha.
land. Akho Sisodia was appointed Governor
of Mandor. Ahádo Hingolo and Mehtá
Rayangar were also attached to this fort.
Ráwat Rághavadeva, son of Hansmal Chonda-
wat, was given Sojat as jagir and was made
Thánádar of Chokri. Bháti Banbir, Chauhán
Jassá of Sachore and the son of Firoz Khan
ruler of Nagor were also attached to this
Tháná. Vir Vinod says that Chonda left
his 3 sons Kuntal, Manja and Suwa at Mandor
to keep the country under control.¹
Narbad, son of Ran Mal's younger brother
Sattá, to whom Maharana Mokal had given a
jágir with an annual rental of Rs. 1,00,000—
Káyaláná—when Ran Mal was placed on the
throne of Mandor in 1409 A.D., remained loyal
throughout these transactions, and the Maha-
rana enlarged his jagir by further bestowing on
him an estate yielding an income of Rs. 50,000
a year. He took up his abode at Bassi. The
year 1438 A.D. thus saw the expulsion of the
Rathods from Chitor and the passing of
Marwar into the possession of the Maharana.²
¹ Vir Vinod, Vol. I., p. 322.
² The Ranpur Temple Inscription of A.D. 1439 men-
tions the occupation of Mandor by Maharana Kumbha.
68

The provided image is completely blank and contains no text to transcribe.

Rao Jodha, the founder of Jodhpur.

CHAPTER VIII.
RAO JODHA RECOVERS MARWAR.
AFTER a year's stay at Kahuni, Jodha
began to raid Mandor. His raids always
cost him men and horses without bringing
him any profit. One day, returning from his
raid, Jodhá came to a village and put up at
the house of one Rákan Jat. The mistress
of the house placed before Jodhá a tháli
(plate) full of hot ghát (porridge). Jodhá at
once thrust his fingers into the centre of the
porridge to take a morsel, and as the porridge
was burning hot, Jodhá burnt his fingers.
Seeing this and not knowing who the stranger
was, the Játni said : “Brother, thou art as
devoid of sense as Jodhá is.” Jodhá was
astonished to hear this remark and asked the
lady why she thought Jodhá was without
sense. The Játni replied that want of
sense in Jodhá was clear from the fact
that instead of raiding the out-lying country,
he always went straight to attack Mandor,
which was garrisoned by the Rana; and thus
69