Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v1.c20.s3.69

v1.c20.s3.69

Rāna Uda, A.D. 1468-73.—This happened in S. 1525 (A.D. 1469). Uda was the name of the parricide, whose unnatural ambition, and impatience to enjoy a short lustre of sovereignty, bereft of life the author of his existence. But such is the detestation which marks this unusual crime that, like that of the Venetian traitor, his name is left a blank in the annals, nor is Uda known but by the epithet *Hatyara*, ‘ the murderer.’ Shunned by his kin, and compelled to look abroad for succour to maintain him on the throne polluted by his crime, Mewar in five years of illegitimate rule lost half the consequence which had cost so many to acquire. He made the Deora prince independent in Abu, and bestowed Sambhar, Ajmer, and adjacent districts on the prince of Jodhpur¹ as the price of his friendship. But, a prey to remorse, he felt that he [291] could neither claim regard from, nor place any dependence upon, these princes, though he bribed them with provinces. He humbled himself before the king of Delhi, offering him a daughter in marriage to obtain his sanction to his authority; "but heaven manifested its vengeance to prevent this additional iniquity, and preserve the house of Bappa Rawal from dishonour." He had scarcely quitted the divan (diwan-khana), on taking leave of the king, when a flash of lightning struck the Hatyara to the earth, whence he never arose.² The bards pass over this period cursorily, as one of their race was the instrument of Uda’s crime.