Rana Kumbha was one of the greatest Maharanas (not Maharajas mind you!, Maharanas were warriors first, kings later) of Sishodia Rajputs of Mewar. His victory tomb at Chittaurgarh is a testimony of his military might as it of his fort builing apetite. He defeated and then allowed Sultan Mahmud, King of Malwa to go scott free. This simple, magnanimous gesture would have serious repercussions in history later, some of it, not so welcome.
Panna Dhai sacrificed her own son by switching babies and the enemy soldiers killed Panna's son mistaking him to be the royal heir Udaisingh. Panna ran away with the heir and the royal lineage was saved. History has many such humble figures whose simple, yet courageous acts have shaped the course of kingdoms and kings.
Rana Pratap, is the most famous Maharana of Mewar, whose self-respect and spirit of freedom is matched by very few figures in history. His advesary, no small figure himself, the great moghul Akbar, had the highest regards for this Maharana. Rana Prataps popularity is matched only by his legendary horse Chetak. There are paintings depicting how an elephant's mask was put on Chetak to give him a look of elephant to match to the elephant of Rana Mansingh (Akbar's general, who fought with Rana Pratap at Haldighati and was humiliated by both words and the sword). Chetak saved Rana's life and was a lion in the battle and is a household name in India, and not just because of the Bajaj Scooter named after it.
We started for Udaipur, at our own casual pace today, after being rejuvenated by the beauty of Aravali mountains.Mountains, even in the arid land of Rajasthan, retain their charm and beauty and have similar effect on the Traveler.
'One has to stop comparing them to Himalayas though' I told Sachin.The ride was very pleasant, green fields basking in the sun, farmers tilling their fields with bullocks, village girls going to school, women carrying water pots in head for cooking and drinking. The sun was rising and so was the heat of the day, but we were in anticipation of the beautiful lakes of Udaipur.
We reached Udaipur, 80kms away, around noon. We headed straight to Hotel Jaiwana Haveli, where I had stayed before and had made friends with the young owners-managers Yash and Harsh who were called 'Banna' (local for raja or chieftain). Our thundebird needed some servicing to thunder again. Harsh directed us to a good Royal Enfield mechanic, to whom he sent his own RE.
Harsh helped us with the itinerary - City Palace for the grandeur and richness in vulgar display, Vintage car showroom for for ticking off an item on list, Monsoon Palace for sunset and then back to Pichola and Hotel Ambrai for dinner.
I had been to Ambrai last time as well, with parents and did the unthinkable - offered my father some of the fine wine they had in half-jest, half-seriousness. Rest is unmentionable! My father hurled at me the choicest of abuses in all four languages he is fluent in - Oriya, Hindi, English and silence!!
Sachin was unstoppable at the Ambrai, clicking several hundreds of his thousands of photographs taken on this trip. The view was magnificent and lights of the palaces and hotels danced on the Lake Pichola in sheer playfulness and mischief. The dinner was royal and the wine was divine. This time I did not have my family around and had an uninitiated Sachin to taste the wine from Argentina - Malambo. We could not finish the wine and carried it along with us on the bike all the way to Jaipur.
We settled the bill after a discussion with the manager on Rajasthan's cruel tax system which made the wine more pricious! We returned to our Lal Ghat Guest House and I jumped into our bed, to get ready for the next day's long journey to Jaipur (for sure) or Delhi (I was not even thinking of this option). We planned to visit Chittaurgarh fort en route.
No comments:
Post a Comment