And it was the centre of zinc and copper production 3. Mewar had seen the discovery of silver and lead mines in the village of Jawar years ago. Mewari army regularly was in practice of tax collection from merchants and travelers taking the routes as it fell under their undisputed sovereignty. Crucial trade and campaign route, from Delhi to Gujarat where the major port of Surat was located, and from Delhi via Malwa on to the Deccan – ran through Mewar’s territories. Mewar was enroute to major trade centres and was on road to ports of Gujarat. And more importantly its tremendously significant strategic position. Pratap inherited a vulnerable state but significant nonetheless, its prestige and position of eminence among the Rajput states or even whole of India, was still the same.

Many of the renowned warriors had died defending the country at Khanua in 1527, then exacerbated by a sudden invasion and siege by the Gujarat Sultanate a decade later, followed by short but ruinous reign of the usurper Banbeer 2 and finally the war of 1568. As Kaviraj Shyamaldas in his work, Vir Vinod, recorded. Mewar at that point was perhaps at its weakest. Mewar traditions hold that Guhaditya had begun to rule around 568 ce and ever since then, the Mewari Rawals and later Ranas protected the nation, religion and the people against almost every foreign force.įour years prior to Pratap’s ascension to the throne, Mewar had already been through a devastating war at Chittor in 1567-68, where Akbar’s forces prevailed and what followed was a disaster with mass killings of almost 30,000 people. Guha, also referred to as Guhaditya, had eventually wrested power and founded a new kingdom to replace his lost ancestral kingdom. The clansmen were once known as Guhilots, after one of their ancestors, Guha. Sisodia Rajputs of Mewar are Suryavamshi Kshatriyas, from the illustrious line of Raghu and Shri Ram. Mewar was a well-established kingdom by that period, much eulogized for its tradition of valour in battle, and tracing its physical entity in the region to more than one thousand years before Pratap’s birth. His mother, Queen Jayavanta Bai, was the first of his father Rana Udai Singh’s more than twenty wives. Prince Pratap was born in the mighty fort of Kumbhalgarh, straddling the thickly forested hills of the kingdom of Mewar, on 9 th May 1540 (or Jyeshtha Sof the Vikram Samvat calendar).

His story is of the powerful, invincible and dauntless spirit for the protection of freedom, sovereignty and dignity of his kingdom and his people. This is one of the many poems and bards sung in respect of Maharana Pratap, a Sisodia Rajput and the 54th Custodian of the kingdom of Mewar. Akbar had never come across in his life time such a true, noble and brave heart warrior of blue blood. Maharana, always on his feet, well equipped with arms and armour, became a bottleneck for Akbar’s dream of expansion of his empire in the Southern part of Rajasthan.Īt the same, the poet says, for Akbar, the noble king Pratap was also a neckline which is not to be adorned because of his animosity. The poet beautifully conveys that the august immortal warrior spirit of Maharana Pratap made him daringly stake his life. These poetic lines 1 – from the song entitled “Akbar and Maharana Pratap” (lyrics’ metric style is in Sannaur linguistic pattern of regional Mewari dialect) – praises Maharana Pratap’s war, diplomacy and strategy against Akbar, the Mughal emperor. Dhar Vihar Pratap Khadag Dhar, SujBisar Nah PakkarSaer!Īkbar Uber MaalAadhado, Oeeyeney Sevag Bhup Aaner!!

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