Mewar: Titles of the Chiefs - Revision history

Pdewan: /* Mewar: Titles of the Chiefs */

2015-04-13T08:01:30Z

‎Mewar: Titles of the Chiefs

Pdewan: Created page with " M M {| class="wikitable" |- |colspan="0"|
This page is an extract from
ANNALS AND ANTIQUITIES
2015-04-13T08:01:00Z

Created page with " M M {| class="wikitable" |- |colspan="0"|<div style="font-size:100%"> This page is an extract from <br/> ANNALS AND ANTIQUITIES <b..."

New page

[[Category:India |M ]]
[[Category:History |M ]]
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|colspan="0"|<div style="font-size:100%">
This page is an extract from <br/>
ANNALS AND ANTIQUITIES <br/>
OF <br/>
'''RAJASTHAN '''<br/>

OR THE CENTRAL AND WESTERN <br/>
RAJPUT STATES OF INDIA <br/>

By <br/>
LIEUT.-COL. JAMES TOD <br/>
Late Political Agent to the Western Rajput States <br/>

Edited with an Introduction and Notes by <br/>
WILLIAM CROOKE, CIE. <br/>
Hon. D.Sc. Oxon., B.A., F.R.A.l. <br/>
Late of the Indian Civil Service <br/>

In Three Volumes <br/>
VOL. IV: ANNALS OF MEWAR<br/>
[The Annals were completed in 1829]<br/>

HUMPHREY MILFORD <br/>
Oxford University Press <br/>
London Edinburgh Glasgow New York <br/>
Toronto Melbourne Bombay <br/>
1920 [The edition scanned] <br/>
</div>
|}
Note: This article is likely to contain several spelling mistakes that occurred during scanning. If these errors are reported as messages to the Facebook page, [http://www.facebook.com/Indpaedia Indpaedia.com] you

=Mewar: Titles of the Chiefs=

Rama had two sons, Lava and Kusa :
from the former the Rana's family claim descent. He is stated
to have built Lahore, the ancient Lohkot ; ^ and the branch from
which the princes of Mewar are descended resided there until
Kanaksen emigrated to Dwarka. The difficulty of tracing these
races through a long period of years is greatly increased by the
custom of changing the appellation of the tribe, from conquest,
locality, or personal celebrity. Sen * seems to have been the
martial termination for many generations : this was followed by
Dit, or Aditya, a term for the ' sun.' The first change in the
name of the tribe was on their expulsion from Saurashtra, when
for the generic term of Suryavansi was substituted the particular
appellation of Guhilot. This name was maintained till another
event dispersed the family, and when they settled in [216] Ahar,*
Aharya became the appellative of the branch. This continued
till loss of territory and new acquisitions once more transferred
the dynasty to Sesoda,* a temporary capital in the western moun
tains. The title of Ranawat, borne by all descendants of the
blood royal since the eventful change which removed the seat of
government from Chitor to Udaipur, might in time have super
seded that of Sesodia, if continued warfare had not checked the
increase of population ; but the Guhilot branch of the Suryavansi
still retain the name of Sesodia.

Having premised thus much, we must retrograde to the darker
ages, through which we shall endeavour to conduct this celebrated
dynasty, though the clue sometimes nearly escapes from our
hands in these labyrinths of antiquity.® When it is recollected

1 [It is the other way : Kausalya took her name from Kosala.]

2 [See p. 116 above.]

3 Sen, 'army'; kanak, 'gold.' [Kanaksen is entirely mythical. It
has been suggested that the name is a reminiscence of the connexion of
the great Kushan Emperor, Kanishka, with Gujarat and Kathiawar {BG, i.
Part i. 101).]

4 Ahar, or Ar, is in the valley of the present capital, Udaipur.

5 The origin of this name is from the trivial occurrence of the expelled
prince of Chitor having erected a town to commemorate the spot, where
after an extraordinarily hard chase he killed a hare {sasu).

6 The wila fable which envelops or adorns the cradle of every illustrious
family is not easily disentangled. The bards weave the web with skill, and
it cUngs like ivy round each modern branch, obscuring the aged stem, in
to what violence this family has been subjected during the last
eight centuries, often dispossessed of all but their native hills and
compelled to live on their spontaneous produce, we could scarcely
expect that historical records should be preserved. Chitor was
thrice sacked and destroyed, and the existing records are formed
from fragments, registers of births and marriages, or from the
oral relations of the bards.