महाराणा सांगा: द हिन्दूपत (हरविलास सारदा - मेवाड़ साम्राज्य एवं खानवा महायुद्ध इतिहास)

Maharana Sāngā. Soon after Jai Mal's death, Maharana Rai Mal conferred the parganah of Bhains- ror of the annual rental of Rs. 50,000 on Rawat Suraj Mal (Rana Mokal's grand- son) as jagir. When the news of this grant reached Prithviraj in Godwar, he recol- lected the prophecy of the Charanidevi and the duel he had with Suraj Mal, and sent a letter to the Maharana protesting against the grant. The Maharana replied that he on his part had made the grant and that Prithviraj was at liberty to take it back if he could. As soon as this reply reached Prithviraj, he started to attack Bhainsror with two thousand horsemen. Putting Suraj Mal and Sarangdeva, a grandson of Rana Lakha, to flight, he took possession of the castle and turned the families of the two chieftains out of the fort. Suraj Mal, whose vaunting ambition had persuaded him that the crown was his destiny, plunged deep into treason to obtain it. Winning over Sarangdeva to his cause, they both repaired to Sultan Nāsiruddin Khilji of Malwa. The Sultan 34

Maharana Sāṅgā. welcomed the opportunity these internal dissensions in Mewar gave him to inflict a blow on Chitor, and thus avenge the defeats the successive Maharanas had inflicted on his ancestors. He sent a large army against Mewar. Thus aided, the two trai- tors assailed the southern frontier of their fatherland and rapidly possessed themselves of Sadri, Batarda and a wide tract extending from Nye to Neemuch, attempting even Chitor. With the few troops that were in the fort, the Maharana started to punish the rebels, who met the attack on the river Gambhiri. The Maharana, fighting like a common soldier, had received two and twenty wounds and was nearly falling through faintness when Prithviraj, who had heard of the invasion, with lightning speed arrived with one thousand fresh horse from Kumbhalgarh and averted a disaster. Looking out for his uncle Suraj Mal, he soon sighted him. Cutting his way up to him, he covered him with wounds. Both sides lost many brave men but neither would yield. When night fell they retired from the field and bivouacked in sight of each other. 35

Maharana Sāngā. Soon after nightfall, Prithviraj paid a visit to his uncle Suraj Mal, and the meet- ing between the rival uncle and the nephew is described by Colonel Tod as “unique in the details of strife, perhaps since the origin of man.” Prithviraj found his uncle in a small tent reclining on a pallet, having just had the barber (surgeon) to sew up his wounds. He rose and met his nephew and heir to the throne of Mewar with the customary respect, as if nothing unusual had occurred ; but the exertion caused some of the wounds to open afresh, when the following dia- logue ensued :— “ PRITHVIRAJ. ‘ Well, uncle, how are your wounds ? ’ SURAJ MAL. ‘ Quite healed, my child, since I have the pleasure of seeing you.’ PRITHVIRAJ. ‘ But, uncle (kaka), I have not yet seen the Dewanji.¹ I first ran to see you, and I am very hungry ; have you anything to eat ? ’ ” ¹ The Maharana is called Diwanji, owing to his being the chief priest of the famous temple of Eklingji. 36

Maharana Sāngā. Dinner was soon served, and the extra- ordinary pair sat down, and 'ate off the same platter (tháli);' nor did Prithviraj hesitate to eat the 'pān'¹ presented on his taking leave. "PRITHVIRAJ. 'You and I will end our battle in the morning, uncle.' SURAJ MAL. 'Very well, child; `come early!'" They met: but Sarangdeva bore the brunt of the conflict, receiving thirty-five wounds. During four ghurries, swords and lances were plied, and every tribe of Rajput lost numbers that day. At last the rebels were defeated and fled towards Sadri, and Prithviraj returned in triumph, though with seven wounds, to Chitor. Suraj Mal took up his abode at Sadri and Sarangdeva at Batarda. The Maharana did not wish to trouble them any further, but Prithviraj was relentless in his efforts to drive them out of Mewar. Many personal encounters took place between the uncle and the ¹ Pān has frequently been a medium for administer- ing poison. 37

Maharana Sāngā. nephew: the latter saying he would not let him retain "as much land of Mewar as would cover a needle's point": and Suraj Mal retorting, that "he would allow his nephew to redeem only as much as would suffice for him to lie upon." Driven from place to place, the rebels came to the wilds of Bāturro (Batarda), where they formed a stockaded retreat of the dho tree, which abounds in the forest; and one day while Suraj Mal and his companion Sarangdeva, were communing by the night fire on their desperate plight, their cogitations were checked by the rush and neigh of horses. Scarcely had the pretender exclaimed, "this must be my nephew!" when Prithviraj dashed his steed through the barricade and entered with his troops. All was confusion, and the sword showered its blows indiscriminately. The young prince reached his uncle and dealt him a blow which would have levelled him but for the support of Sarangdeva, who upbraided him, adding "a buffet now was more than a score of wounds in former days:" to which Suraj Mal 38

Maharana Sāngā. added, “only when dealt by my nephew’s hand.” Suraj Mal demanded a parley ; and calling on the prince to stop the combat, he continued : “If I am killed, it matters not— my children are Rajputs, they will run the country to find support ; but if you are slain, what will become of Chitor ? My face will be blackened and my name everlastingly reprobated. “The sword was sheathed, and as the uncle and nephew embraced, the latter asked the former, ‘What were you about uncle, when I came ?’—‘Only talking nonsense, child, after dinner.’—‘But with me over your head, uncle, as a foe, how could you be so negligent ?’—‘What could I do ? You had left me no resource, and I must have some place to rest my head.’ ” There was a small temple near the stockade, to which in the morning Prithvi- raj requested his uncle to accompany him to sacrifice to the mother (Kali), but the blow of the preceding night prevented him from going. Sarangdeva was his proxy, 39

Maharana Sāngā. Suraj Mal having left for Sadri. One buffalo had fallen and a goat was about to follow when the prince turned his sword on Sarangdeva. The combat was desperate, but Prithviraj was the victor, and the head of the traitor was placed as an offering on the altar of Time (Kali). The place was plundered and the town of Bāturro (Batarda) was recovered. Having done with Sarangdeva, Prithvi- raj started for Sadri to despatch Suraj Mal after Sarangdeva. Suraj Mal having reach- ed Sadri, stopped there only to fulfil his threat that "he would make over the lands to those stronger than the king." Among others he gave 12 villages of Debari, includ- ing Billano and Banslo to Brahmins and bards, and was about to abandon Mewar for ever when Prithviraj arrived. He was received in due form. Suraj Mal's wife placed poisoned food before the prince. Suraj Mal came to know of this, but not knowing which plate contained the poison, he was unable to remove it. He therefore sat down to join Prithviraj in the repast. 40

Maharana Sāngā. Instantly, his wife removed the plate contain- ing the poison. Like a flash of lightning, the incident revealed the truth to Prithvi- raj. Overwhelmed by the solicitude of his uncle for his safety, he got up and said : “Uncle, now the throne of Mewar is at your service.” Suraj Mal replied that the throne apart, he would not stay in Mewar even to drink water. Passing through the wilds of Kanthal, he had an omen which recalled the Charani's prediction: “a wolf endeavouring in vain to carry off a kid defended by maternal affec- tion.” This was interpreted as strong ground for a dwelling. He halted there and subdued the native tribes of the jungles and erected on the spot where the wolf was held at bay by the goat, the stronghold ¹ of Deolia. He became the lord of a thousand villages and founded the State, which under the name of Deolia Pratapgarh, is now one of the eighteen Ruling Chiefships of Rajputana. ¹ Mehta Nainsi in his Chronicles says that it was Suraj Mal's grandson, Bika, son of Bagh Singh, who took Deolia and severed his connection with Mewar. 41

Maharana Sāngā. Prithviraj was all this time in blissful ignorance of the whereabouts of Sāngā and whether he was alive or dead. Sāngā’s marriage with the daughter of the Rao of Srinagar made known his retreat to Prithvi- raj, who determined to visit Rao Karam Chand with his vengeance for daring to give protection to Sāngā in defiance of his threats. The fates, however, willed otherwise, and this “Rolando of his age” was treacherously poisoned by his own brother-in-law, whose life he had spared. As Prithviraj was preparing for his ex- pedition against Karam Chand of Srinagar, he received a letter from his sister Ananda Bai, written in great grief, complaining of her ill-treatment by her lord, Rao Jug Mal of Sirohi, from whose tyranny she begged to be delivered and to be restored to her paternal roof. When Prithviraj read this letter, he was all afire with indignation and rage. Leaving aside for the present the projected attack on Srinagar, he instantly started for Sirohi, which he reached at midnight. Scal- ing the palace, he interrupted the slumbers 42

Maharana Sāngā. of Jug Mal by placing his poniard at his throat. His wife, forgetting her husband's cruelty, responded to his humiliating appeal for mercy, and begged her brother to spare his life, which was granted on condition of his standing as a suppliant with his wife's shoes on his head and touching her feet, the lowest mark of degradation. He obeyed, was forgiven and embraced by Prithviraj. The next morning, Jug Mal entertained his royal brother at a public entertainment. At Prithviraj's departure, Jug Mal¹ presented him with three pills of a confection for which he was celebrated. Prithviraj ate them as he came in sight of Kumbhalgarh, but on reaching the shrine of Mamadevi, he was unable to proceed further. He sent a mes- sage to the fair Tara to come and bid him farewell, but so subtle was the poison that death overtook him ere she descended from the fortress. Her resolution was soon taken; the pyre was erected, and with the mortal remains of the chivalrous Prithviraj in ¹ P. Gauri Shanker Ojha's History of Sirohi, p. 205. Jug Mal reigned from A.D. 1483 to A.D. 1523. 43

Maharana Sāngā. her embrace, she ascended "the regions of the sun." Such was the end of this hero of Mewar and the "Star" of Badnor. How the course of history would have run if Prithviraj had been spared to lead the fortunes of Mewar, and what fate the founder of the Turk (Moghal) dynasty in India would have met at the hands of Rajput chivalry, led by the reckless heroism and the impetuous energy of Prithviraj, instead of the cautious Sāngā, it is, as Colonel Tod says, futile to conjecture. One thing, however, is certain. If Bābur, after his early defeats had had Prithviraj instead of Sāngā as his opponent, the chances are overwhelming that he would have ended his days an unsuccessful adventurer, at Khanua, near Sikri, in February A.D. 1527, and the Indian soil have been once more cleared of the hordes from the North-west. 44

CHAPTER V. EARLY YEARS OF SĀNGĀ’S REIGN. THE shock of Prince Prithviraj's death shattered the constitution of Maharana Rai Mal, who grievously mourned the loss of his noble and heroic son, whose deeds were ringing throughout the country and whose fame had spread far and wide in the land. He fell ill, and, during his illness, news reached him that Sangram Singh was with Rao Karam Chand of Srinagar. A mes- senger was sent to Karam Chand, who presented himself with Prince Sangram Singh at Chitor. The Maharana was delighted to see his son again, and conferred on Karam Chand a suitable jagir as a reward for his services. His descendants still hold the village of Banberi and are amongst the thirty-two Sardars of Mewar. 45

Maharana Sāngā. Rai Mal did not long survive the death of the heroic Prithviraj. He died in Vicrama Sambat 1566 (A.D. 1508), and Sangram Singh ascended the throne of Mewar on (Jeth Sud 5th, S. 1566)¹ 4th May A.D. 1508, in the renowned fortress of Chitor. Sangram Singh was born on Baisakh Bad 9th, S. 1539 ² and was therefore 27 years old when he took his seat on the cushion of Bappa Rawal. ³ When Maharana Sāngā came to the throne, Rajputana as a whole was much stronger politically than it had been since the advent of the Afghan power in India. After the Chauhāns of Ajmer, the Guihlots of Mewar rose to great power. Even in Kumbha's time ( A.D. 1433-1468 ) the Guihlots were the only powerful Rajput Kingdom in Rajputana. The Hārās were the vassals of Mewar, and the Kachhwahas ¹ Mehta Nainsi's Chronicles. Mehta Nainsi says that Rai Mal had a son named Jassa, who was given to pleasure and sport, and the Sardars passed him over and placed Sangram Singh on the throne. ² Ibid. ³ Bābur had been four years king of Kabul when Sāngā became Maharana. 46

Maharana Sāngā. (capital Amber, now Jaipur) were not of much political consequence. The Rāthors were only just beginning to strike root in the region round Mandawar (Mandor), the seat of the ancient Paṛihar power which, in Narhar Rao’s time had been paramount in Hindustan. When Sāngā came to the throne in A.D. 1508 A.D., both the Kachhwahas and the Rāthors had gathered strength and had not only become powerful neighbours of the Guihlots of Mewar, but had contributed largely in covering Rajputana with a race of warriors which first showed its strength in joining the Guihlots in offering a desperate resistance to the founding of the Turk power in India, and which later (Akbar’s time) had to be wooed and won over before that power could strike root in the country. While the Kachhwahas had brought under their control the whole of Dhundhar (now Jaipur State) and had made Amber a powerful kingdom, the Rāthors had not only founded Jodhpur (S. 1515, A.D. 1458) and firmly established themselves in Pali, Sojat and other places, 47

Maharana Sāngā. but had spread over and taken possession of the whole of the country of Jānglu, founded Bikaner (A. D. 1488) and Chāpar Dronapur (S. 1526, A.D. 1469). The Rāthors occupied the whole of Western Rajputana, with the Bhattis in the extreme west and south- west: the Kachhwahas were in Amber and were in possession of the country up to Mewat and the south-western borders of the Panjab, while the east was very nearly all dominated by the Guihlots of Mewār. One of the earliest acts of Sāngā after his accession to the throne was to reward handsomely the services rendered to him by Rao Karam Chand, the Parmar Chief of Srinagar. The Maharana conferred the fief of Ajmer on him and enrolled him amongst the nobles of the first rank in Mewar. Soon after his accession, Sāngā began to consolidate his dominions and recover what had belonged to Mewar but had been lost during the parricide's reign and not re- covered by Rai Mal. 48

Maharana Sāngā. Sāngā's country was surrounded by the Mussalman kingdoms of Delhi, Malwa and — Gujarāt except towards the west, where the Rāthors were rapidly rising to power. With all these three monarchies, Sāngā had to wage wars, and it is due to his military genius that Mewar came out successful in every one of them. Combinations were formed against him and he had to fight his enemies on all the three fronts at the same time, but his genius was equal to all emer- gencies. It has been recorded to his glory that he not only vanquished them and extended his kingdom at their expense but made them respect the frontiers established by him. He won the respect and attachment of all the Hindu kings of Upper India and raised Mewar to an eminence never reached by any Hindu kingdom since the fall of the Chauhan dynasty of Ajmer towards the end of the twelfth century. Sāngā's achievements raised him to a position in India which, in the words of Mr. Erskine, "inspired all his countrymen with hopes that a change of dynasty was about to take place; and they hailed with joy the prospect of a native 49

Maharana Sāngā. Government of India."¹ Had not a small incident occurred on the field of Khānua on 16th March A.D. 1527, the crown of India "might again have encircled the brow of a Hindu, and the banner of supremacy been transferred from Indraprastha to the battle- ments of Chitor."² The early part of the sixteenth century witnessed the rapid decay of the Pathan power in Northern India. The Lodi dynasty had succeeded the Sayyads at Delhi. The fanati- cal Sikander transferred the seat of govern- ment to a more central position, Agra, in the vain hope of strengthening the failing sinews of the Pathan power in Hindustan, which was crumbling to pieces. The cruelty, distrustfulness and oppression of Sikander's son Ibrahim led to numerous revolts in his dominions, and the time was favourable for the designs of a vigorous monarch like Sāngā. "Mewar little dreaded these imperial puppets, when ‘Amurath to Amurath ¹ W. Erskine's History of India, Vol. I., p. 469. ² Tod's Rajasthan, Vol. I., p. 300. 50

Maharana Sāngā. succeeded,' and when four kings reigned simultaneously between Delhi and Benares."¹ The kingdom of Malwa, founded in A.D. 1401 by Dilawar Khan Ghori, was now, after only a century's existence, tottering to its fall. The cruelty and incapacity of Nāsiruddin had disgusted the nobles, and the administration had become weak and inefficient. Nāsiruddin was succeeded in 1511 A.D.² by his son, Mahmud II, who lacked all the qualities of a king except personal courage, and who consequently brought about the downfall of that kingdom. The Sultanate of Gujarāt, founded in A.D. 1407 by the Hindu convert, Zafar Khan,³ was a small principality. When separated from Delhi, the new king had but a narrow territory on the plain. On the north-west were the independent Rajas of Jalor and Sirohi from whom he occasionally levied contri- butions. The Raja of Idar, another Rajput prince, was in possession of the western ¹ Tod's Rajasthan, Vol. I., p. 299. ² Major Luard's Bibliography, &c., p. 70. ³ Bayley's History of Gujarāt, p 84. 51

Maharana Sāngā. part of the hills. The rest of the hilly and forest tract was held by the mountain tribes of Bhils and Kolis, among whom some Raj- put princes, mostly connected with Mewar, had also founded petty States. The peninsula was in the hands of nine or ten Hindu tribes who had mostly come from Cutch and Sindh at different periods some centuries before. The real possessions of the kings of Gujarāt, therefore, only included the plain between the hills and the sea, and even of that the eastern part belonged to an independent Raja who resided in the hill fort of Champānēr. On the other hand, the Gujarāt territory stretched along the sea to the south-east so as to include the city of Surat and some of the country beyond it.¹ The Sultans maintained their power, as the Hindu Rajas were all disunited. Although none of the latter was strong enough to drive out the Sultan from Gujarāt, so powerful were these Rajas that the Sultan had at times to use all the resources of his kingdom to subdue even one of them. If they had com- ¹ Elphinstone's History of India, p. 673. (Edition of 1857 A.D.). 52

Maharana Sāngā. bined, the Sultanate would have ceased to exist. When Sāngā came to the throne, the Sultanate of Gujarāt was at the meridian of its power and prosperity. Mahmud Shah Begara's reign was drawing to a close, and it was with his son, Muzaffar Shah II, who reigned till A.D. 1526, that Sāngā had to wage wars. It was through Idar that Sāngā came into collision with the Sultan of Gujarāt. Idar, as stated above, is a small Rāthor Rajput principality situated on the borders of Gujarāt. Its ruler, Rao Bhan, died, leaving two sons, Suraj Mal and Bhim. Suraj Mal succeeded to the throne but died after a reign of 18 months, leaving a minor son Rai Mal, who became Rao of Idar. He was, however, deposed by Bhim,¹ who usurped the throne. Rai Mal fled to Chitor for shelter. Bhim dying a few days after this, his son Bhar Mal, became Rao of Idar. Rai Mal on growing up to manhood claimed his patri- mony, and with the assistance of Maharana ¹A. K. Forbes' Ras Mala, p. 290 (1878 edition). 53