ebook PDF - Maharana Pratap by Sri Ram Sharma PDF OCR

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

FOREWORD
INTRODUCTION
1. EARLY HISTORY OF MEVVAR
2. EARLY LIFE AND ACCESSION TO THE THRONE
3. India in 1572; Alternatives before Pratap
4. THE TRIAL
5. THE BATTLE OF HALDI GHAT
6. THE IMPERIAL INVASION OF MEWAR
7. THE CAPTURE 0F KUMBHALGARH AND AFTER
8. THE LAST EXPEDITION TO MEVVAR, REVERSAL OF IMPERIAL POLICY
9. THE RAJPUT CONQUEST OF MEVVAR.
10. CHARACTER.
11. BIBLIOGRAPHY.

FOREWORD

Prof. Sri Ram has written a spirited account of Pratap Singh, the Rana of Mewar, who defied \the might of Akbar. Indomitable courage, the protection of his\ jungles and ravines and the 19—loyal assistance of the Bhils—themselves conquered by his ancestors—enabled the Rana to resist the armies of what was then the most powerful
Empire in the world and to scorn an alliance, matrimonial or feudal, with the Great Moghal.

The author hesitates for a moment whether to class this heroic figure with others like Hereward the Wake, who have used some
geographical advantage to lead a forlorn hope in refusing to accept inevitable changes. On the whole he concludes that ’Pratap was rather
a harbinger of organized reaction against the domination of Delhi.” .

However that may be, the story makes good reading. Colonel Tod was the first to write it in English, and every subsequent
account must start with his Annals of Mewar. In doing 50, Prof. Sri Ram has by no Means followed blindly the lead of that account
written a century ago. Rather he has searched all the sources he could find, whether in Persian or Hindi, and for every point and incident he
quotes his authority.

In this way this little book gains in value for the student of history, who is not satisfied with a romantic story, but wishes to know what were the actual facts on which the romance is based and how those facts can be determined.
Then only is he in a position to study their, general historic importance.

It is more important to stress this point, because it would appear that Indian historians have sometimes started with romances and used them as if they were reliable sources of information. Sometimes a literary fictitious “history” masquerades as a true one.

If the author of a historical novel has made a careful study of his subject, the novel contains much that is true like Kingsley’s Hereward the Wake. But no historian would quote Kingsley’s book as a source of evidence. When the writer allows his imagination a freer rein, still greater is the danger in regarding a good story as a good history.
Even after a critical study of the evidence Rana Pratap stands out as a valiant figure.