Indian Epigraphy c6.s5.24

c6.s5.24

The authors of the praśastis were reluctant to take notice of the defeat and discomfiture of their patrons and their ancestors. Such unpalatable facts were often completely suppressed, and at times they were only vaguely and euphemistically referred to. Powerful feudatories were sometimes described deliberately in ambiguous language that can be interpreted as applicable both to a paramount sovereign and to a subordinate ruler.¹ In medieval inscriptions, the evidence of which can be checked with that of various sources, we have instances not only of an indecisive battle described as a victory but even of a defeat represented as a victory. Rāṇā Kumbhā of Mewar fought an indecisive battle with the Sulṭān of Malwa, but went back to Chitor to raise a kīrti-stambha bearing a praśasti² in commemoration of his victory over the Sulṭān! Rāṇā Udayasiṃha is represented in an inscription³ as having shadowed the glory of Akbar, even though wide areas of his dominions, including the capital city of Chitor, had passed to the Mughals.