The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c29.s2.121

v3.c29.s2.121

He was succeeded by Ratan Singh II, his eldest surviving son, who was secretly affianced to the daughter of the Kachhwāha, Prithvī Rāj, Rāo of Amber, but delayed the marriage ceremony, and Sūrajmall, Rāo of Būndī, of the Hāra clan of the Chauhāns, sought and obtained her hand in marriage. Sūrajmall and Ratan Singh met and fought in 1531, when each killed the other, and Vikramāditya or Bikramājīt succeeded his brother on the throne of Mewār. The new Rānā was arrogant, passionate, and vindictive, and alienated his nobles, and the cavaliers of Mewār, by his preference for the society of wrestlers and athletes and for the infantry of his army, which he developed at the expense of his cavalry. An open rupture occurred between the prince and his nobles, and his cavalry refused to perform their duties. Matters had reached this stage when Sultān Bahādur of Gujarāt marched against Bikramājīt, then encamped at Loicha, in the Būndī territory. The feudal forces of the state deserted their sovereign and marched off to defend Chitor and the infant Udai Singh, posthumous son of Sangrama. Bahādur gained an easy victory over the *pāiks*, or foot-soldiers of Mewār¹, and turned towards Chitor, to the defence of which the prince of Būndī, the Rāos of Jālor and Ābū, and many chiefs from all parts of Rājastān hastened. The siege has been described in Chapter XIII¹. Chitor fell in 1534, and became for a short time a possession of the kingdom of Gujarāt, but Udai Singh, who had been crowned during the siege, was carried off into safety by Surjan, prince of Būndī. There is no truth in the Rājput story of the dispatch of the *rākhī* to Humāyūn by the young Rānā's mother, and of the latter's chivalrous response, for though he had received gross provocation from Bahādur he punctiliously refrained from attacking him while he was engaged in warfare against the 'misbelievers.' After the fall of Chitor, however, Bahādur was compelled to retire before Humāyūn, and Bikramājīt returned and almost immediately recovered the fortress. He had learned no wisdom in adversity, and his insolence and arrogance towards his nobles culminated in a blow inflicted in open court on Karamchaud of Ajmer, his father's protector and benefactor. On the following day the nobles put the unworthy prince to death and, dreading the rule of a minor at such a critical period, persuaded Banbīr Singh, natural son of Prithvī Rāj, Sangrama's younger brother, to mount the throne. Banbīr immediately sought the life of the infant, Udai Singh, but he was saved by a faithful nurse, who carried him off, and, after some vicissitudes, delivered him to Āsā Sāh, governor of Kūmbhalgarh, who ensured his safety by passing him off as his nephew, and for three years kept the secret of his presence with him. The rumour at length spread that the son of Sangrama was at Kūmbhalgarh, and the nobles of Mewār assembled there to do him homage. The pretensions of the bastard, Banbīr, had offended them, and all deserted him. He still held the capital, but his ministers admitted a thousand of the adherents of the legitimate prince, and he was deposed, and Udai Singh was enthroned in 1537.