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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
siṁha would be too late for one and too early for the other. There is an inscription of Samarasiṁha, son of Kītuka, the founder of the Sōngirā branch of the Chāhamānas who ruled in Mārwār,
which is dated in V.S. 1239[1], long before the time of Bhuvanasiṁha. Alāuddīn attacked Chitor
when Lakshmaṇasiṁha, grandson of Bhuvanasiṁha, was the Sisōdā chief. In the Kumbhalgarh
inscription, Jaitrasiṁha alias Rāvala Jayasiṁha is said to be ruling over the four countries of
Chitor, Āghāṭa, Mēdapāṭa and Vāgaḍa with his seat at Nāgahrada which shows that the whole
of the former possessions of the Guhilas came under their power once again.
Again, the twelve chiefs from Rāhapa onwards belonged to the Sisōdā branch and not to the
Rāval branch of Mawār. These are, according to the praśasti, Rāhapa, his son Narapati, Dinakara (omitted in the praśasti), Jasakarṇa, his son Nāgapāla, his son Puṇya(Pūrṇa)pāla, his son
Pṛithvīmalla, his son Bhuvanasiṁha, his son Bhīmasiṁha,[2] Jayasiṁha, his son Lakshmasiṁha,
mentioned in the Rājapraśasti as the ruler of Maṇḍalgarh, who died with his 12 brothers and 7
sons defending Chitor against Alāuddīn Khaljī, and Ajēsī (Ajayasiṁha), his only surviving son who
succeeded his father.
It may be mentioned here that the Sadaḍī inscription of the time of the Mahārāṇā Kumbhakarṇa (V.S. 1496),[3] mentioned before, also gives the names of Bhuvanasiṁha, his son
Jayasiṁha, Lakshmasiṁha, his son Ajayasiṁha, and his brother Arisiṁha after Samarasiṁha of the Rāval branch, but Ratnasiṁha’s name is altogether omitted. The Rājapraśasti,
however, mentions Ratnasī but puts him as the brother of Lakshmasiṁha. But we know form
the Kumbhalgarh inscription of V.S. 1517 and the Ēkaliṅga Māhātmya that Ratnasiṁha was from
son and successor of Samarasiṁha of Mewār while Lakshmasiṁha belonged to Sisōdā.[5] At the
time of the siege of Chitor, Lakshmasiṁha must have been in Chitor in command of the fort on
behalf of Ratnasiṁha. The history of Mewār is a bit confused at this period and the statements
given in the bardic and Muslim chronicles do not agree.
There is no reference in the Rājput
chronicles of the occupation of Chitor by Alāuddīn who left it in charge of his son Khizir Khān
and then of Māladēva, the Soṅgirā Chāhamāna ruler, as stated by the Muslim historians. Again,
according to the Rājapraśasti, Arisiṁha died with his father Lakshmasiṁha in the battlefield and
his brother Ajēsī (Ajayasiṁha) seems to have been the chief of Sisōdā.[4] It seems certain that the
line of the Rāval branch of Mewār ended with Ratnasiṁha till Hammīra, son of Arisiṁha of the
Sisōdā branch, reconquered Chitor and thus brought Mewār under the rule of the Sisōdās. From
Hammīra onwards the information given by the author of the Rājapraśasti, though meagre, is
more authentic. As is usual in such cases, the poet has scrupulously avoided any reverses that his
patron and his ancestors may have suffered, exaggerated their achievements and mixed up legends
with history following the tradition of the bards, but all the same he had given quite a lot of
information which is interesting and can be verified from other sources. Many of these have
been noticed in the footnotes to the abstract of contents.
Two chronological tables, one from Guhila to Hammīra, compiled from early inscriptions, and
another from Hammīra to Jayasiṁha, the last ruler included in the Rājapraśasti, are appended
here with known dates of the rulers mentioned. In the Kumbhalagarh inscription of Rāṇā Kumbhā
(V.S. 1517), it is claimed that the genealogy of the early rulers as given there has been compiled
with great care after studying many old praśastis[6] and this claim seems to be justified.
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[1] Above, Vol. XI., pp. 53 f.
[2] Tod wrongly mentions him as the husband of Padminī.
[3] A.S.I. An. Rep., 1907-08, pp. 214 f.
[4] Bhandarkar in his Genealogical List includes him in the Rāval branch.
[5] This is the relationship given in the Sadaḍī inscription also. But according to the Cambridge History of
India (Vol. III, p. 525), Arsi was the eldest son of Ajai Sing who was appointed to the command of Chitor by
Alāuddīn.
[6] Above, Vol. XXIV, p.324, v. 138.
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