The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c29.s2.112

v3.c29.s2.112

Lākhā's eldest son, Chonda, was to have been betrothed to the daughter of Ranmall the Rāthor, but being annoyed by an innocent pleasantry of his father, which he regarded as indelicate, refused to accept Ranmall's offer of his daughter, and, as it could not be rejected without giving grave offence, Lākhā himself accepted it, but insisted that Chonda should relinquish his right to the succession in favour of any issue which might be born of the Rāthor lady. He agreed, and Lākhā was succeeded, on his death in 1397, by his son Mokaljī, aged five, for whom Chonda acted as regent until, incensed by the unjust suspicions of the child's mother, he retired from the kingdom. The bards are at fault regarding his destination, which they give as Māndū, the capital of the Muslim kingdom of Mālwa, while they place the grant of land which he received in the west of the peninsula of Kāthiāwār, which was never included in that kingdom. On Chonda's departure the rapacious Rāthor kinsmen of the young Rānā's mother flocked into the state. Her brother Jodha, who afterwards founded Jodhpur, came first, but was soon followed by their father, Ranmall, with a large contingent of the clan. They murdered Raghudeva, the younger brother of Chonda, and their designs on the throne were so evident that the mother, trembling for her child's life, begged Chonda to return. He obeyed the summons, and promised to join her and the young Rānā on the Diwālī festival, the feast of lamps, at Gosunda, seven miles south of Chitor. Chonda and his band obtained admission to Chitor in the guise of neighbouring chieftains who had assembled to escort their prince to his capital. They overpowered the garrison, slew Rāo Ranmall and a large number of the Rāthors, and would have slain Jodha, had he not saved himself by flight. Chonda pursued him, occupied Mandor, then the Rāthor capital, which was held by the Sesodias for twelve years, and annexed the fertile district of Godwār, which adjoined Mewār.