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

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

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