MAHARANA PRATAP

Born: May 9, 1540 in Kumbhalgarh, Rajasthan
Father's Name: Maharana Udai Singh II
Mother's Name: Rani Jeevant Kanwar
Died: January 29, 1597 in Chavand

Maharana Pratap was born on May 9th 1540 in Kumbhalgarh, Rajasthan. His father was Maharana Udai Singh II and his mother was Rani Jeevant Kanwar. Maharana Udai Singh II ruled the kingdom of Mewar, with his capital at Chittor. Maharana Pratap was the eldest of twenty-five sons and hence given the title of Crown Prince. He was destined to be the 54th ruler of Mewar, in the line of the Sisodiya Rajputs.

Maharana Pratap

Over the next half-century, most other Rajput rulers allowed themselves to be wooed the Mughals; Mewar alone held out. In 1567 Emperor Akbar decided to teach it a lesson: he attacked Chittorgarh razed it to the ground. Five years later Maharana Pratap (reigned 1572-97) came to rule Mewar - a king without a capital. He continued to defy Akbar, and in 1576, confronted the imperial armies at Haldighati.

The battle ended in a stalemate and Maharana Pratap and his followers withdrew to the craggy hills of Mewar, from where they continued to harrass the Mughals through guerilla warfare for the next twenty years. Maharana Pratap made his descendants vow that they would not sleep on beds, nor live in palaces, nor eat off metal utensils, until Chittorgarh had been regained.In fact, right into the 20th century the maharanas of Mewar continued to place a leaf platter under their regular utensils and a reed mat under their beds in symbolic continuance of this vow.