Mewar as Focus of Guhila State (Part-XV)

There is enough historical evidence to prove that in spite of the legendary supremacy of the Hadas of Uparmal in Eastern Mewar, they got politically and militarily incorporated into the Guhila State of Mewar. — Prof. Nandini Kapur Sinha 

If Mewar between the Thirteenth and Fifteenth Centuries Thakkura Dâlâ was actually located at this strategic point then the possibility of a settlement with chiefs by the state cannot be ruled out. It is evident from the record that the family had been politically integrated into the samanta hierarchy in the recent past since the genealogy of the renovator of the temple is limited to the father, and no mention is made of the grandfather either. ‘ãtala possibly was the first member in the family to have received the political title of thakkura. The presence of Pratihara chiefs at Chittaurgarh is evident from the discovery of their only record at the temple of Bhojasvami (Chittaurgarh) referring to Räjä Dharasimha, son of Räjä Päã of the Pratihära family in AD 1300. Significant changes in the Rajput components of the political structure are discerned in the fifteenth century. I feel that these were caused by the problems and the resultant preferences of the fifteenth-century state of Mewar. 

The Hädas’ of Uparmal or Pathâr

Eastern Mewar; with fertile well-watered fields, thick vegetation, and trade routes to central India; appears to have been dominated by the Hâdâs in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. As far as the Chambal, the region belonged to Mewar throughout the medieval period, and the Hâdâs are known to have acknowledged the supremacy of the râGâs of Mewar. The annals of the Hâdâs refer to the Guhilas as ‘the lords of Medapâma’. However, the claim of the Hädâs over this Uparmal region is no less legendary than that of the Guhilas over Mewar. It is significant to note the popular recognition of a small tributary of the Chambal, the Karab-kâ-Khâl as the natural landmark dividing the lands of the Hâdâs from those of the Guhilas. The Pathar resounds with the traditional tales of the Hädas who, in a very early period, established themselves in this region, where they are known to have erected twelve fortresses such as Bumaoda, Rattangarh, Dilwargarh, Kheri, Nimbahara, Nimach, Jawad, Jiran, etc. However, the Hädas were so powerful in the Uparmal region that even the local tribal population such as the Bhils were aware of their supremacy over eastern Mewar. Bumaoda still reverberates with the name and chivalry of the legendary Alu Hada.” Häda traditions also interestingly narrate the refusal by the rânâs of Chittaur of a matri- monial offer of a Häda princess, clearly indicating political rivalry be- tween the Guhilas and the Hädas of eastern Mewar (besides hinting at the lower social status of the Hadas). The Hâdâs claim to have defeated Rãòâ Mokal in the skirmish that followed the Guhila refusal to accept a State Formation in Rajasthan Hâdâ princess as a Guhila bride. A popular song commemorates the event as follows:

hamu mokal mãriyo, lale khetâ jân,
suje ratan samghariyo, ajmal arasî rân.

The song says that the bridegroom, at the spring-hunt of Arasi (Aheriâ), met Mokal, and both fought to death, Rão Sujâ killed Ratan too.

Besides traditions, discovery of the inscriptional records at Menal containing the genealogy and the prasasti of the Hâdâs of Eastern Mewar point to Hâdâ predominance in the locality. The most important of the Hadâ Inscriptions from Menal is dated AD 1390. It begins with a prasasti of the Cahamanas, the ancestors of the Hâdâs and their presiding deity, ÂúâpûraGadevi before detailing the genealogy of the Hâdâs of Bumaoda, originating from prince Harrâj.” It also significantly designates Harraj’s successors as ‘lords of Bumaodas’.78 The political links between the Hadâs of Menal (eastern Mewar) and the Guhilas can be seen in the Hadâ claim that Hâdâ Mahadeva rescued the ‘lord of Medapâma’ (dragged Kaitah) from the grasp of Sultan Uni Shah. 

The Ekalingaji Temple Dakci Gadvâra Prasasti of RâGâ Râimalla of AD 1489 narrates the military victory of RâGâ Khetâ (grandfather of RâGâ Mokal) over the Hâdâs. 

Khetâsimha, who was honest and intelligent, reduced the king of the East who took fines, and whose administration and taxation was very severe. He destroyed active and calm heroes who were between (him and the King of the East) and subdued the land after severe fightings in which the heads of the clan of the Hâdâ-Kshatris were cut off and their trunks wandered about.

Here is a contemporary record of the Guhilas of Mewar which directly refers to the Hâdâs as the kings of east and the subsequent victory over them. In fact, references to the maladministration and unpopular taxation system of the Hädas of eastern Mewar appear as justifications of the Guhila military victory over the Hâdâs and their subsequent political integration into the state of Mewar. The fact is evident from the Guhila reference to eastern Mewar as Hâdâ mandala. The conquest of Hâdâvati by MahârâGâ Kumbha (described in the Kumbhalgarh Prasasti), which evidently included the state of Bundi, would also indicate the forts held by the Hâdâs in Uparmal. Apparently, Mahârâ-Gâ Kumbha Mewar between the Thirteenth and Fifteenth Centuries had to reassert the authority of Mewar in the land of the Hadâs during his conquest of Vrndâvanti (Bundi). However, the political sovereignty of the Guhilas over the Hâdâs of eastern Mewar is directly evident in an early fifteenth-century Guhila record from Singoli, eastern Mewar. The text of the Guhila inscription runs as follows: ‘Samvat 1477 (AD 1421), the 2nd of Asoj, being Friday (Bhriguwar), Mahârâja Úri Mokalji, in order to furnish lights (Jyotiswaste) for Vijayaseni Bhavaniji (643), has granted one bigha and a half of land. Whosoever shall get aside this offering the goddess will overtake him. Thus, the annals and other evidence testify to the political incorporation of the Hâdâs of Uparmal into the state of Mewar by the early fifteenth century.

Political incorporation of the Haddâs of Eastern Mewar is likely to have necessitated Guhila social links with the Hadas. In contrast to records of the tenth century, Guhila inscriptions of the fifteenth century do not mention the lineage of their queens (Baghela and Gauda queens being exceptions). Possible clues are provided by bardic traditions. 

(To be continued ...)

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