History of Mewar | RAS Mains 

The word "Mewar" is vernacular form of "Medapata", the ancient name of the region. Mewar or Mewad is a region in the south-central part of Rajasthan state of India. 

Mewar:

• Mewar or Mewad is a region in the south-central part of Rajasthan state of India. 
• It includes the present-day districts of Bhilwara, Chittorgarh, Pratapgarh, Rajsamand, Udaipur, Pirawa Tehsil of Jhalawar District of Rajasthan, Neemuch and Mandsaur of Madhya Pradesh and some parts of Gujarat.
• For centuries, the region was ruled by Rajputs. 
• The princely state of Udaipur emerged as an administrative unit during the period of British East India Company governance in India and remained until the end of the British Raj era.
• The Mewar region lies between the Aravali Range to the northwest, Ajmer to the north, Gujarat and the Vagad region of Rajasthan to the south, the Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh state to the southeast and the Hadoti region of Rajasthan to the east.

Etymology:

• The word "Mewar" is vernacular form of "Medapata", the ancient name of the region. 
• The earliest epigraph that mentions the word "Medapata" is a 996–997 CE  inscription discovered at Hathundi (Bijapur). 
• The word "pata" or "pataka" refers to an administrative unit. According to the historian G. C. Raychaudhuri, Medapata was named after the Meda tribe, which has been mentioned in Varāhamihira's Brihat-Samhita. 
• The 1460 Kumbhalgarh inscription associates the Medas with Vardhana-giri (modern Badnor in Mewar region). 
• Historian Sashi Bhusan Chaudhuri associates the ancient Medas with the modern Mer people.
• The 1285 CE (1342 VS) Mount Abu (Achaleshwar) inscription of the Guhila king Samarasimha provides the description of the military conquests of his ancestor Bappa Rawal (Bappaka): 

History of Mewar:

• Ancient names of Udaipur(mewar) were Shivi, Pragawaat, Medpaat etc.
• Since it was controlled by Mev or Mare tribe people, it was named Medpaat(Mewar).
• When Rana Udai singh made udaipur the capital of Mewar, it started being called as Udaipur  also. 
• The history of Mewar is the most glorious among all states of Rajputana.
• Udaipur is also the oldest dynasty in Rajputana.
• The descendant of Kush, son of Ramchandra established the Guhil dynasty in 556 AD. They ruled it till the integration of Rajasthan to form a state.
• This is the only dynasty in the world, which has ruled for such a long period.
• Even when all other kings could not maintain their freedom, the rulers of this dynasty faced all the problems and still upheld their freedom and glory.
• This is the reason why they are still called ‘Hinduja suraj’.
• Even when they bowed down to Mughals, these rulers never went to the Mughal courts and they never established marriage relations with the Mughals. 
• The writings on Udaipur state symbol ‘Jo Dridh rakhe Dharm ko tahi rakhe Kartar’ very well explain their fight for freedom and Dharma. 
• The knowledge of history of Mewar, starts from the time of Guhil(Guhaditya).
• Guhaditya established the Guhil dynasty in 556 AD.
• After Guhaditya, the son of  Mahendra-II, Bappa Rawal became the king of mewar
• The real name of Bappa Rawal was Kaalbhoj.
• In 734 AD Bappa Rawal annexed Chittor fort from Maurya king Maan.
• At that time, the capital of Guhils was Nagda.
• Bappa died in Nagda.
• Mewar prospered during the reign of Bappa Raval’s descendant Allat. 
• Aahad was a famous city and a big business centre at that time .
• Allat made Aahad his second capital.
• It is also believed that Allat started the first bureaucratic system in Mewar.
• During the reign of Guhil ruler Shakti Kumar(977-993 AD), King Munj, the Parmar ruler or Malwa annexed Chittor.
• The descendants of Munja , king Bhoj constructed the ‘Tribhuvan Narayan Shiv Temple’, which is now called the Siddheshwar temple. 
• King Bhoj stayed in Chittor from 1021-1031 AD.
• Until the mid 11th century, Mewar was ruled by Parmars.
• Later on Chalukya king Siddhraj annexed a large part of Mewar and Malwa.
• Guhil ruler Ransingh, also called as Kransingh became the ruler of Mewar in 1158.   
• Kshem singh, the son of Ransingh, gave birth to the Rawal dynasty of Mewar.
• Rahap, another son of Ransingh, established Sisod village and gave birth to the Rana lineage and they were called Sisodias.
• Kshem singh had two sons, Samant singh and Kumar singh.Samant singh became the ruler of Mewar in 1172, but the neighbour or Mewar and Chauhan king Kitu (Kirtipal) of Nadaul(Gondwana district of jodhpur) annexed Mewar from Samanat singh.
• Kumarsingh, the younger son of Kshem singh, defeated Kirtipal and gained control over Mewar again in 1179.
• Jaitrasingh(1213- 1253 AD), the son of Kumarsingh,  was a brave and famous ruler.
• During the reign of Jaitrasingh, the Sultan of Delhi, Shamsuddin Iltutmish, attacked Nagda and caused great loss to them. 
• So as a result, Jaitrasingh made Chittor the capital.

Administrative structure:

• At the time of the 1901 census, the state was divided into 17 administrative subdivisions - 11 zilas and 6 parganas, the difference between a zila and pargana being that the latter was larger and broken up into further subdivisions. 
• Further, there were 28 principal jagirs and 2 bhumats.
• Each zila was administered by a hakim, a state official, supported at each tehsil (a zila sub-division) by an assistant hakim.

Land tenure in Mewar State:

• The principal forms of land tenure in the state were jagir, bhum, sasan, and khalsa. 
• Jagirs were grants of land made in recognition service of a civil or political nature. 
• Jagirdars, the holders of jagir, usually paid a fixed annual tribute called chhatund on an annual basis, and nazarana on the succession of a new Maharana. 
• On the death of a jagirdar, the jagir reverted to the Maharana until the late jagirdar successor was recognised by the Maharana.
• Those holding bhum tenures paid a small tribute or nominal quit-rent (bhum barar), and were liable to be called on for local service. 
• Sasan (also known as muafi) holders were not liable for payments to the Maharana but taxes were sometimes recovered from them. 
• Khalsa (crown lands) holders were cultivators who were undisturbed in their possession as long as they continued to pay land revenue. 
• As of 1912, 38% of the land revenue of the State was from khalsa land, the rest from other forms of tenure.

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