Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v2.c28.139

v2.c28.139

Ganga died¹ four years after this event, and was succeeded by Rāo Māldeo, A.D. 1532–62, or 1568–69.—Maldeo in S. 1588 (A.D. 1532),² a name as distinguished as any of the noble princes in the chronicles of Maru. The position of Marwar at this period was eminently excellent for the increase and consolidation of its resources. The emperor Babur found no temptation in her sterile lands to divert him from the rich plains of the Ganges, where he had abundant occupation; and the districts and strongholds on the emperor’s frontier of Maru, still held by the officers of the preceding dynasty, were rapidly acquired by Maldeo, who planted his garrisons in the very heart of Dhundhar. The death of Sanga Rana, and the misfortunes of the house of Mewar, cursed with a succession of minor princes, and at once beset by the Moguls from the north, and the kings of Gujarat, left Maldeo to the uncontrolled exercise of his power, which, like a true Rajput, he employed against friend and foe, and became beyond a doubt the first prince of Rajwara, or, in fact, as styled by the Muhammadan historian Ferishta, “the most potent prince in Hindustan.” ¹