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

Maharana Kumbha. Sultan of Delhi at Badnor, and the Sultan of Gujrat at Mandalgarh.¹ He liberated Tristhali² (Benares, Allahabad and Gaya) from the Mussalmans and the hill fort of Vardhan³ from the Meds (Mers). Col. Tod says: "He carried the war to Gaya, and in driving the barbarian from this sacred place, lost his life."⁴ It was about this time, the close of the fourteenth century A.D., that the Rathods, who under their leader Sihaji, had come in the thirteenth century A.D., from the United Provinces, and settled in Pali (Marwar), began to take root in the congenial soil of this hospitable region, and throw out ramifications all round. One branch had settled in Mālāni, where the famous warrior, Mallinath ruled. ¹ Ferishta (Vol. IV, p. 6) says that Sultan Muzaffar Shah of Gujrat invaded Mandalgarh in A.D. 1396, but returned with- out conquering it, as he was given gold and jewels. The Mussal- man historians generally describe defeats of Mussalman kings by saying that the Sultan returned owing to the rainy season having set in, or, because he was given gold and jewels. Gujrat histories make no mention of this expedition against Mandalgarh. The Mirati Sikandari mentions Māndu by mis- take for Mandalgarh—Bayley's Gujrat, p. 77. ² Maharana Kumbha's Kumbhalgarh Inscription, V. 207 (Also Chitorgarh Kirtisthambha Inscription, V. 3). ³ Ibid, V. 36. ⁴ Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, Vol. 1, p. 275. 11