View source for Mewar: Titles of the Chiefs


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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/>
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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.