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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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=Mewar 01: Origin of the Guhilot princes of Mewar=
We now proceed to the history of the States of Rajputana, 
and shall commence with the Annals of Mewar, and its princes. 
==Titles of Mewar Chiefs: Descent from the Sun== 
These are 
styled Ranas, and are the elder branch of the Suryavansi, or 
' children of the sun.' Another patronymic is Raghuvansi, 
derived from a predecessor of Rama, the focal point of each scion 
of the solar race. To him, the conqueror of Lanka,1 the genea
logists endeavour to trace the solar lines. The titles of many of 
these claimants are disputed ; but the Hindu tribes yield unani
mous suffrage to the prince of Mewar as the legitimate heir to 
the throne of Rama, and style him Hindua Suraj, or ' Sun of the 
Hindus.2  He is universally allowed to be the first of the ' thirty	
six royal tribes ' ; nor has a doubt ever been raised respecting 
his purity of descent. Many of these tribes 3  have been swept 
away by time ; and the genealogist, who abhors a vacuum in his 
mystic page, fills up their place with others, mere scions of some 
ancient but forgotten stem. 

==Stability of Mewar State==
With the exception of Jaisalmer, 
Mewar is the only dynasty of these races ' which has outlived 
eight centuries of foreign domination, in the same lands where 

1 Said to be Cfeylon ; an idea scouted by the Hindus, who transfer Lanka 
to a very distant regfon. [The latter is certainly not the common belief.] 
2 This descendant of one hundred kings shows himself in cloudy weather 
from the surya-gaukhra, or ' balcony of the sun.' 
3 See History of the Tribes. 
[212] conquest placed them. The Rana still possesses nearly the 
same extent of territory which his ancestors held when the con
queror from Ghazni first crossed the ' blue waters ' 1 of the Indus 
to invade India ; while the other families now ruling in the north
west of Rajasthan are the relics of ancient dynasties driven from 
their pristine seats of power, or their junior branches, who have 
erected their own fortunes. This circumstance adds to the 
dignity of the Ranas, and is the cause of the general homage 
which they receive, notwithstanding the diminution of their 
power. Though we cannot give the princes of Mewar an ancestor 
in the Persian Nushirwan, nor assert so confidently as Sir Thomas 
Roe his claims to descent from the celebrated Porus,2 the opponent 
of Alexander, we can carry him into the regions of antiquity 
more remote than the Persian, and which would satisfy the most 
fastidious in respect to ancestry. 
==Origin of the Rajputs==

In every age and clime we observe the 
same eager desire after distinguished pedigree, proceeding from 
a feeling which, though often derided, is extremely natural. The 
Rajaputras are, however, scarcely satisfied with discriminating 
their ancestors from the herd of mankind. Some plume them
selves on a celestial origin, whilst others are content to be demi
celestial ; and those who cannot advance such lofty claims, 
rather than acknowledge the race to have originated in the 
ordinary course of nature, make their primeval parent of demoniac 
extraction ; accordingly, several of the dynasties who cannot 
obtain a niche amongst the children of the sim or moon, or trace 
their descent from some royal saint, are satisfied to be considered 
the offspring of some Titan {Daily a). These puerilities are of 
modern fabrication, in cases where family documents have been 
lost, or emigration has severed branches from the parent stock ;' 
who, increasing in power, but ignorant of their birth, have had 
recourse to fable to supply the void. Various authors, borrowing 
from the same source, have assigned the seat of Porus to the Rana's 
family ; and coincidence of name has been the cause of the 
family being alternately elevated and depressed. Thus the 
incidental circumstance of the word Rhamnae being found in 
Ptolemy's geography, in countries bordering on Mewar, furnishes 
our ablest geographers 1  with a reason [213] for planting the 
family there in the second century ; while the commentators 2  
on the geography of the Arabian travellers of the ninth and tenth 
centuries ' discover sufficient evidence in " the kingdom of Rahun, 
always at war with the Balhara sovereign," to consider him (not
withstanding Rahun is expressly stated " not to be much con
sidered for his birth or the antiquity of his kingdom ") as the 
prince of Chitor, celebrated in both these points. 

The translator of the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, following 
D'Anville,4  makes Ozene (Ujjain) the capital of a Porus 5 who sent 
an embassy to Augustus to regulate their commercial intercourse, 
and whom he asserts to be the ancestor of the Rana. But to 
show how guarded we should be in admitting verbal resemblance 
to decide such points, the title of Rana is of modern adoption, 
even so late as the twelfth century ; and was assumed in conse
quence of the victorious issue of a contest with the Parihara 
prince of Mandor, who bore the title of Rana, and who surrendered 
it with his life and capital to the prince of Mewar. The latter 
substituted it for the more ancient appellation of Rawal ; 6  but 
it was not till the thirteenth century that the novel distinction 
was generally recognized by neighbouring powers. 

1  D'Anville and Rennell. [The Rhamnae have been identified with the 
Brahui of Baluchistan (McCrindle, Ptolemy, 159). Lassen places them on 
the Nerbudda.] 
2 Maurice and others. 
3  Relations anciennes des voyageurs, par Renaudot. 
4 D'Anville {Antiquites de I'Inde) quotes Nicolas of Damascus as his 
authority, who says the letter written by Porus, prince of Ozene, was in the 
Greek character. 
5 This Porus is a corruption of Puar, once the most powerful and con
spicuous tribe in India ; classically written Pramara, the dynasty which 
ruled at Ujjain for ages. [This is not certain (Smith, EHI, 60, note).] 
6  Rawed, or Raul, is yet borne as a princely title by the Aharya prince of 
Dungarpur, and the Yadu prince of Jaisalmer, whose ancestors long ruled 
in the heart of Scjrthia. Raoul seems to have been titular to the Scandi
navian chiefs of Scythic" origin. The invader of Normandy was Raoul, 
corrupted to Rollon or Rollo. [The words, of course, have no connexion : 
Rawal, Skt. rajakula, ' royal family.'] 
Although we cannot for a moment admit the Rahun, or even the Rhamnae of 
Ozene, to be connected with this family, yet Ptolemy appears 
to have given the real ancestor in his Baleokouroi, the Balhara 
monarchs of the Arabian travellers, the Valabhiraes of Saurashtra, 
who were the ancestors of the princes of Mewar.1 
Before we proceed, it is necessary to specify the sources whence 
materials were obtained for the Annals of Mewar, and to give some 
idea of the character they merit as historical data [214]. 

==Sources of the History==

For many years previous to sojourn
ing at the court of Udaipur, sketches were obtained of the genea
logy of the family from the rolls of the bards. To these was added 
a chronological sketch, drawn up under the eye of Raja Jai Singh 
of Amber, with comments of some value by him, and which served 
as a ground-work. Free access was also granted to the Rana's 
library, and permission obtained to make copies of such MSS. as 
related to his history. The most important of these was the 
Khuman Raesa,2  which is evidently a modern work founded upon 
ancient materials, tracing the genealogy to Rama, and halting at 
conspicuous beacons in this long line of crowned heads, particu
larly about the period of the Muhammadan irruption in the tenth 
century, the sack of Chitor by Alau-d-din in the thirteenth 
century, and the wars of Rana Partap with Akbar, during whose 
reign the work appears to have been recast. 

The next in importance were the Rajvilas, in the Vraj Bhakha, 
by Man Kabeswara ; 3  and the Rajratnakar,4  by Sudasheo Bhat : 
both written in the reign of Rana Raj Singh, the oj^ponent of 
Aurangzeb : also the Jaivilas, written in the reign of Jai Singh, 
son of Raj Singh. They all commence with the genealogies of the 
1  The Balhara kings, and their capital Nahrwala, or Anhilwara Patan, 
have given rise to much conjecture amongst the learned. We shall, before 
this work is closed, endeavour to condense what has been said by ancient 
and modern authorities on the subject ; and from manuscripts, ancient 
inscriptions, and the result of a personal visit to this ancient domain, to set 
the matter completely at rest. [See p. 122 above.] [" Hippokoura, the royal 
seat of Baleo Kouros " {Periplus, vhi. 83). Baleo Kouros has been identified 
with Vilivayakura, a name found on coins of the Andhra dynasty (BO, i. 
Part ii. 158 ; McCrindle, Ptolemy, 179).] 
2  Khuman is an ancient title of the earlier princes, and still used. It was 
borne by the son of Bappa, the founder, who retired to Transoxiana, and 
there ruled and died : the very country of the ancient Scythic Khomani. 
3  Lord of rhyme. 4  Sea of gems. 
family, introductory to the military exploits of the princes whose 
names they bear. 

The Mamadevi Prasistha is a copy of the inscriptions 1  in the 
temple of ' the Mother of the Gods ' at Kumbhalmer. Genea
logical rolls of some antiquity were obtained from the widow of an 
ancient family bard, who had left neither children nor kindred to 
follow his profession. Another roll was procured from a priest 
of the Jains residing in Sandrai, in Marwar, whose ancestry had 
enjoyed from time immemorial the title of Guru, which they held 
at the period of the sack of Valabhipura in the fifth century, 
whence they emigrated simultaneously with the Rana's ancestors. 
Others were obtained from Jain priests at Jawad in Malwa. 
Historical documents possessed by several chiefs were readily 
furnished, and extracts were made from works, both Sanskrit 
and Persian, which incidentally mention the family. To these 
were added traditions or biographical anecdotes furnished in con
versation by the Rana, or men of intellect amongst his chiefs [215], 
ministers, or bards, and inscriptions calculated to reconcile dates ; 
in short, every corroborating circumstance was treasured up 
which could be obtained by incessant research during sixteen 
years. The Commentaries of Babur and Jahangir, the Institutes 
of Akbar, original grants, public and autograph letters of the 
emperors of Delhi and their ministers, were made to contribute 
more or less ; yet, numerous as are the authorities cited, the 
result may afford but little gratification to the general reader, 
partly owing to the unpopularity of the subject, partly to the 
inartificial mode of treating it.