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No. 11.)
JAGANNATHARAYA TEMPLE INSCRIPTIONS AT UDAIPUR.
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to Mewar from Surashtra and Valabhi. Col. Tod has closely followed this tradition in his work." but Rai Bahadur Ojha is of opinion that the family of Bäpä had no connection whatsoever with South India, and has discussed in details the invalidity of the legends.
The names of the Rāņās as given here next are to be met with in some other records also such as the Ekalinga-māhātmya, the Rāja-prasasti, etc., with certain variations. The only point of importance worthy of note with regard to these princes is that till before the time of Hammira they were the rulers of the small estate of Sesodā and were contemporary to the princes of the Rāval branch of the family ruling over Chitor. It is a mistake to take them as having ruled over Mewar with Chitor as their capital in direct succession to the Rävals, as has been done chiefly in the chronicles of the bards, which have in their turn been relied upon by most of the inscriptions. It is from the Ekalinga-māhātmya first of all that we learn of the division of this family into two branches in the reign of Rāval Ranasimha or Karnasimha' at the beginning of the twelfth century of the Vikrama era. The first of the Rāņās to govern the territory of Mewar as & whole was Hammira who regained his ancestral citadel of Chitor in about A.D. 1326 from the Muhammadans by establishing matrimonial alliance with Mäldeo Sonagarā to whom was entrusted the famous fort by Khizr Khan, the son of Ala-ud-din Khalji.
The list of the Rāņās which is given here is almost in chronological succession except the omission of Ajayasimha after Lakshmanasimha and of Ratnasimha, Vikramaditya and Banabira after Sängā. Lakshmanasimha's successor as here recorded is Arasi, his eldest son, but in truth he never succeeded his father, for he together with his father had died in the dreadful sack of Chitor in A.D. 1303. His younger brother Ajayasimha, who somehow escaped from the battle-field, became the next Rāņā. He was afterwards succeeded by his nephew Hammira, the son of Arasi.
The description of these princes found here is more poetical than historical. Kumbhakarna is first of all said to have built the fort of Kumbhalgarh.
Record of some tangible historical value is, however, found first in connection with Sänga. He is described to have conquered the Sultans of Mālwā and Gujarāt, although the author has confused their names with relation to both these countries. Here we find a reference to the victory of Rana Sängā over Mahamud Khalji II of Mālwā when the latter attacked Bhimakarna, the viceroy of Mēdini Rai at Gāgrūn in A.H. 925 (=A.D. 1519). The intelligence of this attack of Mahamud having reached Sänga, he at once led a large army against him on account of his friendship with Mēdini Rai, and a dreadful battle was fought in which, after great bloodshed, the Muhammadan army was utterly defeated and Mahamūd, receiving several wounds, ultimately became & prisoner in the hands of the Rāņā. The latter took his royal prisoner to Chitor, treated him with utmost care and after three months' nominal captivity, honourably sent him back to Man ļū.'
The other reference is to Ränä Sänga's victory over Muzaffar Shah II, the Sultan of Gujarat. with whose army he had to fight more than once. The cause of one of his fights with Muzaffar was his partiality for Rai Mal, the legitimate heir to the state of Idar, whose rights were usurped during his minority by his uncle Bhima whom the governor of Gujarat favoured. When Bhima
1 Toil, Rajasthan (W. Crooke's ed.), Vol. I, pp. 247-71. . Raj. Itihs., Fasc. 1, pp. 374-90. • Ibid., pp. 446-7.
• Raj. Itihs., Faso. I, p. 512. According to the text (v. 38, A) Mudaphara (Muzaffar II) was the governor of the fort of Mandava (Minda Malwil) and Mahamumda Khana (Mahamad Khalji IT) that of Gujarat. The poet has here evidently con. fused both these names and the positions they held.
Bayley, History of Gujarat, p. 203 And Briggs' Firishti, Vol. IV. Pp. 200.1. Bayley, loc. cit., p. 26
