The ‘Great Mother’ was propitious. The parent of ‘Hope’ was soon enabled to resume her journey for Idar, whose chief received them with open arms, and assigned lands for their support. Here they had been some time when the Rana’s prime minister passed through Idar from a pilgrimage to Satrunjaya.[[21]] A violent storm would have thrown down the tent in which was his wife, but for the exertion of some of the brothers; and the minister, on learning that it was to the near kin of his sovereign he was indebted for this kindness, invited them to Udaipur, taking upon him to provide for them with their own proper head, which they declined without a special invitation. This was not long wanting; for Amra [358] was then collecting the strength of his hills against the king, and the services of the band of brothers, his kinsmen, were peculiarly acceptable. The first act of duty, though humble, is properly recorded, as ennobled by the sentiment which inspired it, and the pictured scene is yet preserved of Bala and Jodha collecting logs of wood for a night fire in the mountain bivouac for their kinsman and sovereign. In the more brilliant exploit which followed Bala took the lead, and though the lord of Bhainsror was in camp, it was Bala who obtained the leading of the vanguard: the commencement of that rivalry of clanship from whence have resulted some of the most daring, and many of the most merciless deeds in the history of Mewar. The right to lead in battle belonged to the Chondawats, and the first intimation the chieftain had of his prince’s inconsiderate insult was from the bard incessantly repeating the ‘birad’ of the clan, until ‘the portal of the ten thousand’ of Mewar deemed him mad. “Not so,” replied he; “but it is, perhaps, the last time your ears may be gratified with the watchword of Chonda, which may to-morrow be given as well as the Harawal to the Saktawats.” An explanation followed, and the assault of Untala ensued, which preserved the rights of the Chondawats, though nobly contested by their rivals. The vassal of Bakrol carried the tidings of the successful assault to the Rana, who arrived in time to receive the last obeisance of Bala, whose parting words to his prince were seized on by the bard and added to the birad of the clan: and although, in sloth and opium, they now “lose and neglect the creeping hours of time,” yet whenever a Saktawat chief enters the court of his sovereign, or takes his seat amongst his brother chiefs, the bards still salute him with the dying words of Bala:
"Dūna dātār.
Chauguna junjhār,
Khurāsān Multān ka āggāl."[[22]]
Then passing the hand over his moustache, for a moment the escalade of Untala flits before his vision, where Bala, Achalis, Jodha, Dilla, and Chaturbhan, five of the seventeen sons of Sakta, fell for the maintenance of the post of honour [359]. Bhanji soon after performed a service which obtained him the entire favour of his prince, who, returning from Ratlam, was insulted by the Rathors of Bhindar, which was punished by the Saktawat, who took the town by assault, expelling the aggressors. Amra added it to his fief of Bhainsror, and since the latter was bestowed on the rival clan, Bhindar has continued the chief residence of the leader of the Saktawats. Ten chiefs[[23]] have followed in regular succession, whose issue spread over Mewar, so that in a few generations after Sakta, their prince could muster the swords of ten thousand Saktawats; but internal feuds and interminable spoliation have checked the progress of population, and it might be difficult now to assemble half that number of the ‘children of Sakta’ fit to bear arms.
Renewed Attack by Jahāngīr. Battle of Khāmnor.
This son, tutored by the great Mahabat Khan, fared no better than Parvez; he was routed and slain. But the Hydra was indestructible; for every victory, while it cost the best blood of Mewar, only multiplied the number of her foes. Seventeen pitched battles had the illustrious Rajput fought since the death of his father: but the loss of his experienced veterans withered the laurels of victory, nor had he sufficient repose either to husband his resources or to rear his young heroes to replace them. Another and yet more mighty army was assembled under Prince Khurram, the ablest of the sons of Jahangir, and better known in history as Shah Jahan, when emperor of the Moguls.
Again did the Rana with his son Karan collect the might of their hills; but a handful of warriors was all their muster to meet the host of Delhi, and the ‘crimson banner,’ which for more than eight hundred years had waved in proud independence over the heads of the Guhilots, was now to be abased to the son of Jahangir. The Emperor’s own pen shall narrate the termination of this strife.
"My chief object, after my visit to the Khwāja [the tomb of Mu’īnu-d-dīn Chishti, the saint of Ajmer] was to put a stop to the affair of the rebel Rānā. On this account I determined to remain myself at Ajmīr and send on Bābā Khurram, my fortunate son. This idea was a very good one, and on this account, on the 6th of Day [tenth month of the solar year] at the hour fixed on, I dispatched him in happiness and triumph. I presented him with a qabā (outer coat) of gold brocade with jewelled flowers and pearls round the flowers, a brocaded turban with strings of pearls, a gold woven sash with chains of pearls, one of my private elephants called Fath Gaj, with trappings, a splendid horse, a jewelled sword, with a phūl katāra (dagger). In addition to the men first appointed to this duty under the leadership of Khān A’zam, I sent 12,000 more horse with my son, and honoured their khil’at (wearing robes of honour) leaders."[[28]]
On 14th Isfandārmuz [twelfth month of the solar year] "a representation came from my son Bābā Khurram that the elephant ‛Ālam Gumān [‘arrogant of the earth’], of which the Rānā was very fond, together with seventeen ‛Ālamgumān other elephants, had fallen into the hands of the victorious army."[[29]] Jahāngīr rode this elephant on the second day of the New Year, which began on 21st March 1614.[[30]]