History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v2.c29.2

v2.c29.2

The foremost and the most renowned among the new royal families which came to the front about the beginning of the ninth century A. D. in consequence of their valorous resistance to the Mahomedan onslaughts on inner India, were undoubtedly the Guhilots of Mewad. We shall begin our history of the second set of Hindu Kingdoms by relating the story of this most chivalrous clan. Tod observes rightly that the Rajput tribes yield unanimous suffrage to the prince of Mewad, the legitimate heir to the throne of Rāma, as the first of the thirty-six royal tribes; and has further properly noted the fact that the State of Mewad is the only one (with the exception of Jaisalmere) which has outlived eight centuries of foreign domination and in the very lands where it was founded in the second half of the 8th century A. D.—a circumstance which certainly adds to the dignity of the Rāṇā of Mewad. But the dignity of the Mewad royal family is not only due to the stability of their rule and dominion but to the long continued and determined resistance which they offered to the Mahomedans in spite of great reverses now and then, a conflict—almost always successful—which has become the most glorious episode in Indian history hallowed by the names of a succession of great heroes such as the legendari Bappā, Khumana, Samarasi, Bhīma, Hamīra Sāṅga, Pratāpa and others. In fact the heroism of this family and its sustained tenacious effort for the preservation of its independence* and its religion are as stable as their fortune and their dominion.