Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v1.c20.s2.t1.118

v1.c20.s2.t1.118

Mewār occupied by the Musalmāns: The Exploit of Hamīr.—Mewār was now occupied by the garrisons of Delhi, and Ajaisi had besides to contend with the mountain chiefs, amongst whom Munja Balaicha was the most formidable, who had, on a recent occasion, invaded the Shero Nala, and personally encountered the Rana, whom he wounded on the head with a lance. The Rana’s sons, Sajansi and Ajamsi, though fourteen and fifteen, an age at which a Rajput ought to indicate his future character, proved of little aid in the emergency. Hamir was summoned, and accepted the feud against Munja, promising to return successful or not at all. In a few days he was seen entering the pass of Kelwara with Munja’s head at his saddle-bow. Modestly placing the trophy at his uncle’s feet, he exclaimed: “Recognize the head of your foe!” Ajaisi ‘kissed his beard,’¹ and observing that fate had stamped empire on his forehead, impressed [269] it with a tika of blood from the head of the Balaicha. This decided the fate of the sons of Ajaisi; one of whom died at Kelwara, and the other, Sajansi, who might have excited a civil war, was sent from the country.² He departed for the Deccan, where his issue was destined to avenge some of the wrongs the parent country had sustained, and eventually to overturn the monarchy of Hindustan; for Sajansi was the ancestor of Sivaji, the founder of the Satara throne, whose lineage³ is given in the chronicles of Mewar.