During the 300-year of Mughal’s tyrannical rule in India, very few rulers refused to accept their suzerainty. Out of those few, a minuscule percentage opposed them with full authority. Rana Raj Singh was one of them. Legends have it that Aurangzeb; one of the most brutal tyrants was traumatized just by listening to his name.
An able administrator and warrior who had contempt for Mughal tyranny:-
Born on 24th September 1629, Rana Raj Singh was the Maharana of Mewar Kingdom of Udaipur, Rajasthan. He showed early signs of being a brave and able administrator. After witnessing the humiliation of Rana Jagat Singh by Mughals, he developed an extreme contempt for the foreign Islamic rule and vowed to never bow his head in front of them.
To beautify his kingdom, Rana Jagat Singh got the dilapidated Chittor fort renovated. But this caused such a blow to the Mughal emperor, that he not only threatened to attack Mewar but also forced Rana Jagat Singh to apologize. Rana Raj Singh was also a witness to this insult, and he could never forget this insult.
Saving the dignity of Rajkumari Charumati:
Rana Raj Singh is credited with saving the dignity of Rajkumari Charumati, who was forcibly being taken to Mughal courts. Folklores say that when Princess Charumati’s doli was being taken to Agra by Aurangzeb’s soldiers, Rana Raj Singh, an expert in guerrilla warfare, suddenly cut loose on the Mughals with a small but strong contingent, and took away Princess Charumati from their captivity.
First of all, entering the lion’s den and challenging him is no small matter, but this great task was successfully done by Rana Raj Singh without any problem and also protected the chastity of princess Charumati of Kishangarh. Aurangzeb was raging with anger, but he restrained the spirit of vengeance for some time by taking a sip of blood.
No one could ever think of collecting Jaziya from Rana Raj Singh:
When Shivaji Raje challenged Alamgir to take Jaziya from Rana Raj Singh, he did not say it without any substantive backing. Such was the skill and might of Rana Raj Singh that Aurangzeb’s armies were defeated not once but thrice by Ranaji’s warriors.
Continued waging victorious battles against Mughals even during his old age:
Meanwhile, during the last years of the 1660s, many unprecedented works took place. First of all, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj came out safely from Agra, throwing dust in the eyes of the Mughals, meanwhile, rebellion rained in Marwar, when Maharaja Jaswant Singh and his trusted general Durgadas Rathore raised their flag against the Mughal Sultanate.
At this very moment, the wife of Marwar Raj Jaswant Singh sought help from Mewar, as Mewar was her birthplace. Apart from this, after years there was a glory of self-respect in Mewar, and this time also no one left empty-handed from the court of Rana Raj Singh. When Aurangzeb got information about this, he sent his armies to attack Udaipur, the capital of Mewar.
But by the time the Mughal army reached Udaipur, it appeared to be deserted. Not even one bird was flying there. The Mughal prince Akbar was thinking of resting for some time that suddenly Ranaji’s army broke down like a thunderbolt, and then the Mughals were crushed, due to which Prince Akbar had to run away with his tail.
Rana Raj Singh was a master of Guerilla warfare:
The Mughals had made such attacks three times, but due to guerrilla warfare, the Mughals were heavily ravaged. Not only this, when Aurangzeb destroyed the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi complex, the idol of Shrinathji was somehow taken out, but the problem was who would protect this idol? When no one agreed, Mewarraj came forward, and he respectfully installed Shrinathji in Mewar.
But the dubious nature of luck took away this glory from us. Just as the goodness of Rana Kumbh pricked like a prong to many, similarly the valour of Rana Raj Singh pricked like a prong to those who saw India as a slave. Their conspiracies finally succeeded, and the great warrior died of poison in 1680, the same year when Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, the father of Hindavi Swarajya had left this world.
This story is about reviving the pride of Mewar, this story is about the origin of India’s second freedom struggle, this story is about the protection of chastity, this story is about the upliftment of culture. Blessed is Rana Raj Singh, and blessed is the land of India, where such heroes were born.
