The story of Mewar
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| Title | The story of Mewar |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Srinidhi Balasubramanian |
| Platform | Bharatiya Jnana Sarita |
| Categories | Historical and civilizational Sciences |
| Year | 2026 |
| Type of Article | Original Article - Long Form |
| Difficulty Level | Beginner |
| Abstract | Throughout the history of India, several states and empires were known for their staunch resistance and fight against foreign invasions and their struggle for independence. Among them, Mewar stands out as a remarkable example. A region in the south-central parts of Rajasthan, the kingdom of Mewar is remembered by heroic stories of valour, patriotism, and dedication to ever-upholding Dharma. Their legacy is so revered, that they came to be known by the title ‘Hindua Suraj’, meaning “the Sun of the Hindus.” |
The morning sun had already climbed above the Aravalli ridges when Acharya Mahesh stepped out of the gurukula and looked down the dusty path. The boys were late. He squinted through the haze of smog surrounding the Eklingji Temple, searching for any sign of his students.
“Tring… Tring…” The temple bell rang, cutting through the rhythm of chisels striking stone – the second prahara of the day. The boys were never this late. Acharya Mahesh scanned the eastern path once more.
After a few moments, three small figures appeared in the distance, hurrying, speaking over one another. The three teenage boys ran to the well, washed their hands and feet, and made their way into the gurukula courtyard.
“Pranam, Acharyaji,” they said in chorus, bowing to touch his feet.
“Shubham bhavatu,” Acharya Mahesh acknowledged. “You are late today,” he continued.
“The roads were blocked, Acharya ji,” said Gopal, the shortest among them. “They would not let us near the temple.”
“The royal soldiers were there,” Vikramdev added. “They said something about Diwanji coming.”
“I heard from the Thakur that Diwanji has given twenty-four lakhs to the temple. Is it true that Diwanji is god? Does he really—” Shakti started, then quickly added, “And… Acharya ji—have you ever seen Ranaji? Have you been to Chittor?”
Acharya Mahesh’s eyes softened. “Sit down,” he said gently.
He gestured toward Eklingji. “You see this temple? Today you hear bells ringing openly, see sculptors working without fear. But there was a time, not long ago, when Eklingji’s darbar was smaller than this gurukula. Puja happened quietly. Doors were shut more often than open, lest it draw the enemy.”
“Enemy?” Gopal asked.
“The Turushkas. The wretched mlecchas,” the Acharya replied, his voice steady. “Turk armies brought devastation wherever they marched. Forts fell. Temples turned to rubble. Cities burned, and cows were slaughtered. Men were mercilessly tortured and killed. Women and children were captured, enslaved. Several kingdoms – even our neighbours – permanently fell into their hands.”
The boys leaned forward, rapt.
“But ours did not,” Vikramdev whispered.
“No,” Acharya Mahesh said. “For Mewar is more than land or forts. It is the guardianship of Dharma. Diwanji - Maharana Kumbha ji is the protector of Eklingji’s estate, the land of righteousness. From the time of Bappa Rawal, who first secured Chitrakuta, the rulers of this land saw themselves as custodians of Dharma under Eklingji. They fought when they had strength. They endured when they did not. They rebuilt when destruction seemed final.”
“Was this during the Mahayudh? The great Saka and Jauhar of Chittorgarh?” Shakti asked.
“And who was Bappa Rawal?” Gopal added.
“Listen, children,” Acharya said, his eyes twinkling, “to the story of Mewar and of the lineage of our king - Maharana Kumbhakarna Simha”
—-
Throughout the history of India, several states and empires were known for their staunch resistance and fight against foreign invasions and their struggle for independence. Among them, Mewar stands out as a remarkable example. A region in the south-central parts of Rajasthan, the kingdom of Mewar is remembered by heroic stories of valour, patriotism, and dedication to ever-upholding Dharma. Their legacy is so revered, that they came to be known by the title ‘Hindua Suraj’, meaning “the Sun of the Hindus.”
The story of Mewar begins in the early 8th century. In around 711 CE, the Arabs under the Ummayad Caliphate attacked the frontiers of Bharat, defeating the last hindu dynasty to rule over Sindh. In the decades to follow, the governors of the caliphate stationed at Sindh, made extensive efforts to conquer the other parts of India, to penetrate further. They sent forces in all directions, to Kashmir, to Kangra, to the interiors of Rajasthan, to Kannauj, and to capitals as far as Ujjain. Yet despite these relentless attacks, several Indian kingdoms formed confederacies to resist them. The Arab armies were repeatedly repulsed and never managed to establish permanent control beyond Sindh.
The Ummayad Caliphate at its peak, after the conquest of Sindh. Note the extent of the Empire, ranging right from Spain through Arabia, Persia, knocking at the doors of Bharat. It is this formidable adversarial power that several powerful Indian rulers like Lalitaditya Muktapida of Kashmir, Nagabhatta Pratihara of Ujjain, Pulakeshin Chalukya of Gujarat successfully repulsed and delayed the eventual Islamic onslaught of India by several centuries.
Source: Wikipedia commons
Bappa Rawal, a chief, was a part of one such confederacy under the Pratihāra emperor Nāgabhatta I, that repulsed the Arab invasions at Ujjain in around 725 CE, laying the foundation of the kingdom of Mewar. The kingdom of Mewar was thus born, under Bappa Rawal. He established the temple for Eklingji as the state deity, and till today, Eklingji is considered the custodian of the Mewar kingdom, and the rulers are only the diwāns. Mewar continued to grow as a kingdom for several centuries after Bappa Rawal. Though records from this early period are scarce, the kingdom he founded would continue to slowly grow and flourish for centuries.
A panoramic view of the Chittorgarh fort. Source: Wikipedia Commons
The magnificent fort of Chitrakuta, today known as Chittorgarh, is a UNESCO World Heritage site in Rajasthan, was the capital of Mewar for several centuries. Chittorgarh witnessed a constant struggle against the invaders – right from the early sultans of Delhi, down to the Mughal emperors.
A further testament to the stubborn resistance to the Islamic invasions, is the tragic yet heroic rituals of Jauhar and Saks, rooted in the concept of preservation of honour and dignity, were observed in several parts of India during wars in medieval times. Jauhar involved the collective self-immolation of women, children, and the elderly within besieged forts. This would be followed by Saka, when all the men choosing a final stand in battle would march to the battlefield with death as a certain fate. This symbolised a commitment to preserving freedom, honour and dignity which were considered superior to surrender and a life of slavery. This practice is especially significant when we consider the ruthless reputation of Turko-Persian armies, notorious for their inhumane and barbaric treatment of civilians post-war – ordinary citizens faced forced conversions or merciless executions, while young boys and girls were sold as slaves. Women, in particular, were subject to the horrifying specter of rape and exploitation. In this grim reality, Jauhar and Saka were seen not only as acts of courage but as a desperate assertion of humanity and moral principles in the face of overwhelming terror. These episodes of history went on to get etched in our pages of history, and also became the subject of several literary and creative works (veer kathas) that remembered the tragic event, and celebrated the heroes and the heroines.
Chittorgarh fell three times in a span of 300 years – it witnessed three Jauhar-Sakas. The first time, it fell in the hands of Alaudin Khilji in 1303, the second time to Bahadur Shah in 1535, and the third time to Akbar in 1568, post which it never recovered. These three incidents were not incidental, but it was the culmination of valiant Hindu military and political renaissance through centuries, by thousands of men and women. Through this series of three articles, we shall trace the history of Chittorgarh in the light of it being a symbol of Hindu resistance and glory, anchored on the Jauhar-Sakas.
The First Siege of Chittorgarh
By around 1190 CE, Mahmud of Ghur penetrated into the gangetic plains, and established the Delhi Sultanate. Ever since the beginning of the Sultanate in Delhi, the sultans always tried to annex Rājasthān. While the early sultans till Balban made several incursions into Rājāsthan, none of them could make any deep or long-lasting impacts. Kingdoms, including Mewar, continued to resist and thwarted their efforts successfully. However, things started changing upon the ascension of the Khalji dynasty to the throne of Delhi, in the late 13th century. It ushered in a new era of frequent and large-scale conquests and for the first time, an Islamic power made inroads into the remotest corners of the country.
On the eve of the establishment of the Khalji rule in Delhi, there were four prominent kingdoms in Rājasthān -
Śakhambarī Cāhamāna of Raṇathambor
Guhillas of Chittor (Mewar)
Sonigāra Cāhamāna of Jālor (Mārwar)
Bhāṭis of Jaisalmer
India on the eve of Khilji’s ascension in Delhi. The Sultanate for about 150 years had limited influence, mostly over the plains from Punjab in the west to Bengal in the east. Alauddin Khilji was the first sultan of Delhi to bring down several Hindu kingdoms throughout Bharat. Starting from Gujarat and Rajasthan, he also attacked all the South Indian kingdoms shown in the above map.
Alauddin Khilji attacked all these kingdoms one at a time – Jaisalmer fell in 1299, Ranthambore fell in 1301, Chittorgarh fell in 1303 and Jalor fell in 1311, thereby bringing the entire Northern region of India under the Sultanate. In each of the above cases, Khilji faces immense resistance – none of the kingdoms surrendered. Sadly, all four would eventually fall with a Jauhar-Saka.
The fall of Chittorgarh became to be known as the first Jauhar-Saka of Chittorgarh in 1303 would go on to become the subject of many legends and epics, featuring the famous Rajput queen Rani Padmini (or Padmavati) and Rawal Ratansimha. With several contradicting stories around this incident, as well as legendary accounts by various chronicles, it may be hard to establish any one of them as historical truth, but nevertheless, the brave resistance put up by the Rajputs against Khilji’s ruthless advances, and the eventual fall of the fort after a tough Jauhar-Saka is a well-documented fact.
In January of 1303, Alauddin Khilji started marching towards Chittor to conquer Mewar.
For nearly eight months, Mewar protected their capital, they resisted and fought against the imperial army. Two attempts to storm the fortress failed.
The imperial army did not have an easy time. A chronicler of the Sultanate, Barani, talks about the heavy losses due to the siege in monsoon, “The Sultan now returned from the conquest of Chittor, where his army had suffered great loss in prosecuting the siege during the rainy season. They had not been in Delhi a month, no muster of the army had been held, and the losses had not been repaired … and had had no time to refit and recruit his army after his great losses in the siege”
As the monsoon set in, the inmates also seemed to have faced a famine/epidemic-like situation, perhaps due to the depletion of resources. Left with no other option, the inmates resorted to the tradition of Jauhar and Saka. In August 1303, Alauddin Khiljii entered the fortress and sacked Chittorgarh. The treasury was looted, the temples were ruthlessly brought down, and the surviving inmates were slaughtered. In his Khaza’in ul-Futuh (Treasures of Victory), the famous poet Amir Khusrau writes exaltingly of the desecration and massacre of Chittor by Khilji post the battle — “After ordering a massacre of 30,000 Hindus, he bestowed the Government of Chittor upon his son, Khizr Khan, and named the place Khizrabad.”
Alauddin returned to Delhi and continued conquering other parts of India including southern parts, which came under the sway of the sultanate for the first time.
Reemergence and Rise of Mewar
The horrors and memories of the fall of Chittorgarh still fresh in the minds of the Rajputs of Mewar, they waited for the right time to reestablish the kingdom. Within three decades, when the Khiljis lost power, Rana Hammir Singh, a descendant of the same family, defeated the Delhi Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq and reconquered Chittor. His successors continued resisting for several decades and were successful in numerous encounters with the sultans of Delhi and Gujarat.
By the start of the fifteenth century, the Delhi Sultanate briefly was in a period of anarchy and chaos following Timur’s invasion in 1398. This allowed many Rajput principalities, including Mewar, to break away from the sultanate and declare their independence. During this interjunction, the rulers of Mewar expanded their boundaries to include large parts of today’s Rajasthan and regions of northern and western Bharat. At the same time, the governors of the sultanates of Malwa and Gujarat broke away and declared their independence, establishing the Malwa and Gujrat Sultanate respectively.
In 1433, Maharana Kumbha came to the throne. He was ruler par excellence – Kumbha built on the growing prosperity of Mewar and is believed to have fought 56 battles without facing defeat. He inherited an expanding and flourishing kingdom, but not without challenges. The threat of the Sultanate was no longer from Delhi but from two neighbours - Malwa and Gujarat. However, he was successful in tackling it and he brutally defeated the sultans of Malwa and Gujarat in multiple battles. His inscriptions record that he rescued twelve lakh cows and brahmins from the rule of Mlecchas in Malwa. The conquests of Rana Kumbha record one of the few unique instances of Hindu rulers who sought to play the game not only by morals and rulebooks, but also by the principle of retaliation – he is recorded to have razed down multiple mosques in Malwa during his conquests as a response to the Malwa sultanate who destroyed temples persecuted the hindus of the land.
He erected 32 forts, the most famous of them being Kumbalgarh – which holds the record for being the second-longest wall in the world. Much as he was a distinguished warrior and administrator, he was a great patron of arts and a scholar himself, one of his titles being ‘Abhinava Bharatacharya’ a reference to Bharata, the author of Nāṭyaśāstra). He was an accomplished Vainika and a musician, having written treatises on music and a commentary on Sangita Ratnakara. His accolades in his inscription say that it was as easy for him to write poetry as it was to go to battles. He authored four dramas in Sanskrit and commentaries on Jayadeva’s Gita Govinda and Banabhatta’s Chandisatkam.
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