Saint Mira

Author(s): T L Vaswani
Publisher: Saint Miras English Medium School

Page 38

OF THE RACE OF HEROES
37
She renounces her all and leaves her palace in quest of her Beloved, --Sri Krishna. The words of Will Durant, the great interpreter of the history of civilisation, are so significant that I am tempted to quote them. The military spirit of the Rajputs enabled them, says Durant, "to defend themselves against the Moslems with historic valour.” The story of the fall of Chitor, one of the Rajput capitals, Durant says, “is as romantic as any legend of Arthur or Charlemagne.” The Mohammedan invader, Alau-ddin, Durant points out, “wanted not Chitor but the princess Pudmini,-'a title bestowed only on the superlatively fair'. The Moslem chieftain proposed to raise the siege if the regent of Chitor would surrender the princess. Being refused, Alau-d-din agreed to withdraw if he were allowed to see Pudmini. Finally he consented to depart if he might see Pudmini in a mirror ; but this too was denied him. Instead, the women of Chitor joined in defending their city; and when the Rajputs saw their wives and daughters dying beside them they fought until every man of them were dead. When Alau-d-din entered the capital he found no sign of human life within its gates; all the males had died in battle and their wives had burned themselves to death."
In a later period, when Akbar was the emperor of India, many a Rajput state surrendered to him, but the Rajput kingdom of Mewar remained independent. Mewar never compromised her honour,