Rāo Māldeo, A.D. 1532-62, or 1568-69.

The year of Maldeo’s installation he redeemed the two most important possessions of his house, Nagor and Ajmer. In S. 1596 he captured Jalor, Siwana, and Bhadrajan from the Sandhals; and two years later dispossessed the sons of Bika of supreme power in Bikaner. Mewa, and the tracts on the Luni, the earliest possessions of his house, which had thrown off all dependence, he once more subjugated, and compelled the ancient allodial tenantry to hold of him in chief, and serve with their quotas. He engaged in war with the Bhattis, and conquered Bikampur, where a branch of his family remained, and are now incorporated with the Jaisalmer State, and, under the name of Maldots,[[14]] have the credit of being the most daring robbers of the desert. He even established branches of [25] his family in Mewar and Dhundhar, took, and fortified Chatsu, not twenty miles south of the capital of the Kachhwahas. He captured and restored Sirohi from the Deoras, from which house was his mother. But Maldeo not only acquired, but determined to retain, his conquests, and erected numerous fortifications throughout the country. He enclosed the city of Jodhpur with a strong wall, besides erecting a palace, and adding other works to the fortress. The circumvallations of Merta and its fort, which he called Malkot, cost him £24,000. He dismantled Satalmer, and with the materials fortified Pokaran, which he took from the Bhattis, transplanting the entire population, which comprehended the richest merchants of Rajasthan. He erected forts at Bhadrajan, on the hill of Bhimlod, near Siwana, at Gundoj, at Rian, Pipar, and Dunara. He made the Kundalkot at Siwana, and greatly added to that of Phalodi, first made by Hamira Nirawat. He also erected that bastion in Garh Bitli (the citadel of Ajmer) called the Kotburj, and showed his skill in hydraulics by the construction of a wheel to bring water into the fort. The chronicler adds, that “by the wealth of Sambhar,” meaning the resources of this salt lake, he was enabled to accomplish these works, and furnishes a list of the possessions of Jodhpur at this period, which we cannot exclude: Sojat, Sambhar, Merta, Khata, Badnor, Ladnun, Raepur, Bhadrajan, Nagor, Siwana, Lohagarh, Jaikalgarh, Bikaner, Bhinmal, Pokaran, Barmer, Kasoli, Riwaso, Jajawar, Jalor, Baoli, Malar, Nadol, Phalodi, Sanchor, Didwana, Chatsu, Lawen, Malarna, Deora, Fatehpur, Amarsar, Khawar, Baniapur, Tonk, Toda, Ajmer, Jahazpur, and Pramar-ka-Udaipur (in Shaikhavati); in all thirty-eight districts, several of which, as Jalor, Ajmer, Tonk, Toda, and Badnor, comprehended each three hundred and sixty townships, and there were none which did not number eighty. But of those enumerated in Dhundhar, as Chatsu, Lawen, Tonk, Toda, and Jahazpur in Mewar, the possession was but transient; and although Badnor, and its three hundred and sixty townships, were peopled by Rathors, they were the descendants of the Mertias under Jaimall, who became one of the great vassals of Mewar, and would, in its defence, at all times draw their swords against the land which gave them birth.[[15]] This branch of the house of Jodha had for some time been too powerful [26] for subjects, and Merta was resumed. To this act Mewar was indebted for the services of this heroic chief. At the same time the growing power of others of the great vassalage of Marwar was checked by resumptions, when Jaitaran from the Udawats, and several other fiefs, were added to the fisc. The feudal allotments had never been regulated, but went on increasing with the energies of the State, and the progeny of its princes, each having on his birth an appanage assigned to him, until the whole land of Maru was split into innumerable portions. Maldeo saw the necessity for checking this subdivision, and he created a gradation of ranks, and established its perpetuity in certain branches of the sons of Ranmall and Jodha, which has never been altered.

Inhospitable Conduct of Rāo Māldeo to Humāyūn, A.D. 1542.

Attack on Mārwār by Sher Shāh, A.D. 1544.

Attack by Akbar, A.D. 1558-62.

In 1625 (A.D. 1569), Maldeo succumbed to necessity; and in conformity with the times, sent his second son, Chandarsen,[[19]] with gifts to Akbar, then at Ajmer, which had become an integral part of the monarchy; but Akbar was so dissatisfied with the disdainful bearing of the desert king, who refused personally to pay his court, that he not only guaranteed the free possession of Bikaner to Rae Singh, but presented him with the farman for Jodhpur itself, with supremacy over his race. Chandarsen appears to have possessed all the native pride of the Rathor, and to have been prepared to contest his country’s independence, in spite of Akbar and the claims of his elder brother, Udai Singh, who eventually was more supple in ingratiating himself into the monarch’s favour. At the close of life the old Rao had to stand a siege in his capital, and after a brave but fruitless resistance,[[20]] was obliged to yield homage, and pay it in the person of his son Udai Singh, who, attending with a contingent, was enrolled amongst the commanders of ‘one thousand’; and shortly after was invested with the title of Mota Raja, or ‘the fat Raja,’ by which epithet alone he is designated in the annals of that period.[[21]]

Chandarsen, with a considerable number of the brave vassals of Maru, determined to cling to independence and the rude fare of the desert, rather than servilely follow in the train of the despot. When driven from Jodhpur, they took post in Siwana, in the western extremity of the State, and there held out to the death. For seventeen years he maintained his title to the gaddi, and divided the allegiance of [29] the Rathors with his elder brother Udai Singh (though supported by the king), and stood the storm in which he nobly fell, leaving three sons, Ugarsen, Askaran, and Rao Singh, who fought a duel with Rao Surthan, of Sirohi, and was slain, with twenty-four of his chiefs,[[22]] near the town of Datani.

Maldeo, though he submitted to acknowledge the supremacy of the emperor, was at least spared the degradation of seeing a daughter of his blood bestowed upon the opponent of his faith; he died soon after the title was conferred on his son, which sealed the dependence of Maru. His latter days were a dismal contrast to those which witnessed his conquests in almost every part of Rajputana[part of Rajputana], but he departed from this world in time to preserve his own honour untarnished, with the character of the most valiant and energetic Rajput of his time. Could he have added to his years and maintained their ancient vigour, he might, by a junction with Partap of Mewar, who single-handed commenced his career just as Maldeo’s closed, have maintained Rajput independence against the rising power of the Moguls.[[23]]

Maldeo, who died S. 1625 (A.D. 1569), had twelve sons:

1.Ram Singh, who was banished, and found refuge with the Rana of Mewar; he had seven sons, the fifth of whom, Keshodas, fixed at Chuli Maheshwar.
2.Raemall, who was killed in the battle of Bayana.
3.Udai Singh, Raja of Marwar.
4.Chandarsen, by a wife of the Jhala tribe; had three sons, the eldest, Ugarsen, got Binai; he had three sons, Karan, Kanji, and Kahan.
5.Askaran; descendants at Junia.
6.Gopaldas; killed at Idar.
7.Prithiraj; descendants at Jalor.
8.Ratansi; descendants at Bhadrajun.
9.Bheraj; descendants at Ahari.
10.
11.
12.		Bikramajit
Bhan
——		No notice of them [30].