Skip to main content

Sisodiya: Kings, Queens and Princes (1538 - 1597)

I am back with another History post, this time it is on the wives and sons of Rana Udai Singh II of Mewar, his son and heir Maharana Pratap and Rana Amar Singh. This is a continuation of the Sisodia Family History I posted some time back. The information has been taken from Annals of Mewar by James Todd, Maharana Pratap by B.N. Rana, and Maharana Pratap by Rima Hooja. 


Udai Singh II was the son of Ranisa Karnawati and Rana Sangram Singh. He was born on 4th August 1522, at Chittorgarh and died on 28th February 1572 at Gogunda. He was the Ruler of the Sisodia Dynasty. He is believed to have 56 sons and 25 wives, apart from the many insignificant queens in his Rani Mahal. Here is a list of his main queens and their sons.

  1. Maharani Jaivanta Bai Songara of Jalore was his chief queen and consort. Her son is Maharana Pratap. He was married to her before he went to war with Banbir, as her father, Akshayraj Rao, was a friend and ally of his father, Rana Sanga. 
  2. Sajjabai Solankhini was his second wife and had two sons, Kunwar Shakti Singh (Shakta Singh Chundawat later) and Kunwar Vikram Singh
  3. Mandrechi Bai was his third queen and mother to Kunwar Jait Singh
  4. LalaBai was a controversial queen. While many suggest she was a Muslim woman who sought refuge or perhaps a Persian, she was clearly not a member of the Rajput clans. Her son was Kunwar Kahn
  5. Dheerbai Bhattiyani of Jaisalmer was probably his fifth and most favourite queen. Her sons were Kunwar Jagmal Singh, Kunwar Agar SinghKunwar Pachyad Singh and two others.
  6. Veerbai Jhalla was one of his lesser queens but gained significance as her son Kunwar Sagar Singh was handed over Chittorgarh by Akbar upon an alliance with him. Sagar, later watching his elder brother's struggle, committed suicide in the fort itself, out of guilt. Her other son was Kunwar Rai Singh.
  7. Lakhabai Jhalla was perhaps the sister of Veer Bai. Her sons were Kunwar Shardul Singh and Kunwar Rudra Singh.
  8. Other significant sons of Udai Singh who are mentioned in historical accounts are Kunwar Narayandas, Kunwar Sultan, Kunwar Lurkaran, Kunwar Maheshdas, Kunwar Chander, Kunwar Bhav Singh, Kunwar Nait Singh, Kunwar Nagraj, Kunwar Vairishaal, Kunwar Maan Singh, and Kunwar Sahibicha.
Maharana Pratap Statue, Chawand


  • Maharana Pratap had 11 wives, 17 sons and five daughters. The names of his daughters remain unknown as a secret of the Rajput household; only Champawati is mentioned in folklore, as the daughter who died trying to eat a poisonous fruit in the forest. Here is a list of his wives, their sons and the provinces they were given as Jagir by the Maharana upon his death.
  1. Maharani Ajabdeh Punwar of Bijolia, who is locally called Ajbandeh Kanwar Baisa, was the daughter of Bijolia's chieftain Ram Rakh Punwar, the 3rd Rao Sahib of Bijolia. They were married in 1557. Heir Rana Amar Singh was born in 1559. Her second son was Kunwar Bhagwan Das, who was the Maharana's eighth son.
  2. Pur Bai Solankhini had two sons, Thakur Sahas Mal Singh, Rawat of Dhariabad and Kunwar Gopal Singh
  3.  Champabai Jhati was the third queen whose sons were Thakur Kachra Singh of Jolawas, Kunwar Sanwal Das and Kunwar Durjan Singh.
  4. Jasobai Chauhan of the Bhilwara Chauhan clan was the mother of Kalyan Singh of Parsad Jagir.
  5. Phool Bai Rathore, daughter of Ram Singh, was the first son of Raja Maldeo of Marwar, who sought refuge in Mewar after opposing his father, married Kunwar Pratap as an alliance. The tales of her tryst with Akbar are false. Her cousin Maanwati Bai was, in fact, married later to Jahangir and was the mother to Shah Jahan. She had two sons, Thakur Chand Singh, his second son, who was granted the Jagir of Anjana and Thakur Shekha Singh, who was granted the Jagir of Nana and Bera.
  6. Shahmati Bai Hada had been married to Maharana Pratap, an alliance from the Hada Rajputs living in Mewar. Some also suggest her kin died at Haldighati. Her only son, Kunwar Puranmal Singh, was granted the Jagir of Mangrop Province 
  7. Kichar Ashabai Rathore, most probably a sister to Phool Bai, had two sons: Thakur Ram Singh, of Jagir Udlias and Manakari and Thakur Haathi Singh of Jagir Dhantra, Gedlya and Vias.
  8. Alemdeh Bai Chauhan had only one son, Thakur Jaswant Singh, Jagirdar of Karunda and Jalod. He also married her after her kin died at Haldighati.
  9. Ratnawati Parmar was the sister of Ajabdeh Baisa, whom he married after her death. Her son was his fifteenth son, Kunwar Maal Singh
  10. Amar Bai Rathore had his sixteenth son, Kunwar Natha Singh
  11. Lakhabai Rathore had his seventeenth and last son, Kunwar Raibhana Singh.
  12. The 5 daughters were not mentioned in any accounts with names; however, some name them as Asha Kanwar, married to RajRana Jhala Dheeda of Sadhri, Sukh Kanwar, Rama Kanwar, Rakmavati, Kusumvati and Durgavati. Their mothers remain unknown. The legend of his daughter Champabai is probably a mix-up of names with his wife, though many historians suggest that he did lose a daughter in the harsh forest life.

Amar Singh I of Mewar

  • Rana Amar Singh was born in Chittorgarh on 16th March 1559, and he died at Udaipur on 26th January 1620. He had two wives and three known issues.
  1. Aarti Bai Chauhan, belonging to the Bhilwara Chauhan clan, was the mother of heir Rana Karan Singh, born on 7th January 1584 at Chavand. Her firstborn was a daughter of Kunwarani Baisa (name unknown), married to Rao Sultan of Sirohi. 
  2. The daughter of Shallavan Tanwar of Gwalior, who was also his cousin, was married to him after her kin died at Haldighati. Her son was Rajadhiraj Suraj Mal of Shahpura



Popular posts from this blog

Chandra's Choice: The Story of Dhruvasvamini

More often than not, the private lives of kings and the existence of their queens remain in the words of bards rather than those of chroniclers. Dhruvasvamini is no different, even after being the queen of the golden age of the Indian Subcontinent. She appears in the Basarh Clay Seal as the mother of Govinda Gupta (attributed as a sibling of Kumara Gupta I) and the queen wife of Chandra Gupta II or Vikramaditya. Except for one mention of Dhruva Devi, as she is popularly known, she remains a mysterious character in the Gupta lineage, with a side mention in the dynasty’s history. Visakhadatta, a famous poet and playwright, who later wrote DeviChandraGuptam as the play capturing the life of Chandra Gupta II, captured Dhruva Devi as one of the protagonists of his story. Although some scholars attribute Visakhadatta to be under the patronage of Chandra Gupta II himself when he wrote this story, many historians debate the literary work as a historical fiction written much after his time. Tru...

Battle of Haldighati

There have been a lot of talks going on regarding  who won the Battle of Haldighati.  While some want to change what we read and say that the Maharana won it, many oppose the point with a Mughal victory. Here, I compile every account I found of the Battle and its Aftermath and make my unbiased conclusion on the topic. PS. The dates vary from book to book; I gave the ones I found in most sources. The Background: Relation with Mughals Mewar was one of Rajputana's strongest individual kingdoms, along with the likes of Marwar and Kacchawar (Jaipur). Long before the Mughals under Akbar, Mewar under Rana Sangram Singh had successfully managed to keep the "Turk Invaders" under Babar at bay, fighting 17 wars, big and small. The relationship was further questioned when, during the invasion from Saurashtra, Sanga's widow, Rani Karnavati, had written to Mughal Emperor Humayun for help, sending him a rakhi. Contrary to popular belief, Humayun had rested on his way from Gaur (Beng...

The Timurid Empress

Ruqaiya Sultana Begum  was born to Babur's second surviving son, Hindal Mirza, and his wife, Sultanam Begum, in 1542 C.E., merely a few months after Hamida Banu gave birth to the heir Jalaluddin Mohammad Akbar. She was well-versed in Persian, Urdu and Arabic and was attracted to poetry and music. Being a proud descendant of the Timurid clan, most of Rukaiya's childhood was spent in Kabul, near the Bagh E Babur, built by Babur himself. From early childhood, she had seen the struggle of her family to regain their lost power in Hind. Miniature of Rukaiya Begum as Empress In 1551 C.E., just after her father died young at a battle for Humayun, leaving her and her mother in the harem of the emperor, it was Hamida Banu who wanted the marriage of Rukaiya to her first cousin, Akbar. Theirs was the first in-house marriage of the Mughals, soon to be followed by many more in the generations to come. At the mere age of nine, she had married the crown prince, and when Humayun won back Lahore...

Etched In Stone

This historical short story is a fictitious account of Ashoka, the Mauryan Emperor and his first wife Devi, who finds no place in Magadhan History. There is another fiction about her in the blog as well. This story stemmed from a merge of two ideas, one was to mention the cave inscription found in Saru Maru that mentions Asoka spending some days there with his lover (presumed to be Devi), the other idea of how if words did not immortalise a lot of battles and achievements, the names of many great men would be lost in time. The prince stood on the edge of the cliff, looking at the horizon. Dawn arrived as the birds started leaving their nests, wings fluttering, eager to discover the world. He looked up at them, the thought of once again going back to exploring the length and breadth of his state making him feel a little restless as he eyed his healing wounds. He was left to die; his enemies wished so. Yet by some miracle of fate, as if his purposes were yet to be fulfilled, here he was ...

Brothers and Sisters of Mahabharata

The Mahabharata, one of the greatest epics of Hindu mythology, not only recounts tales of valour, destiny, and dharma but also reveals intricate relationships between siblings whose lives shaped the moral and political fabric of the narrative. The bonds between brothers and sisters in the epic are diverse: marked by affection, rivalry, loyalty, and sacrifice. These relationships, though complex, embody the human emotions that transcend divine lineage and royal blood. Satyavati and Her Lineage Satyavati and her brother Matsya were born from a miraculous union between a Cursed Nymph in the form of a fish, Adrika and the King Uparichara Vasu, whose semen the fish had consumed when it fell in the river. They were discovered by their adoptive father, King Dusharaj, the ruler of the fishermen, and thus came to be known as  Matsya Santan , meaning “children of the fish.” When the king found out about the twins, he claimed the male child as his heir and gave the girl, Satyavati, to the fis...

Kumbhalgarh Gogunda: Witness to Turmoil

Okay, so picture this: you’re winding your way up into the Aravallis, just 6km from Kelwara, and suddenly, perched on a cliff, there is a long, invincible wall in sight, that of Kumbhalgarh. I don’t just mean “oh, that’s an old fort, I mean, this is huge. Built by Rana Kumbha (that’s short for Kumbhakarna Singh of Mewar), you can actually see why it’s the second most important fort in all of Mewar. It’s got drama, secrets, heartbreak… basically, if these ancient stones could talk, they’d have more stories than your grandma. Let’s start from the beginning. After his father, Mokal, was killed, young Kumbha and his mother hid out on this very hill, plotting their comeback. But every time they tried to build here, the walls just wouldn’t stand. The king was stressed, "Do I need a new architect?!" he wondered. Cue the local priests, who sent him off to a saint in Ranakpur. The advice? Not what Kumbha wanted to hear. “You need a human sacrifice to build your fort. I’ll do it. But ...

Maharana Pratap: The Sun of Mewar

Many of you have read my fan fiction as well as historical representations of the life and times of Maharana Pratap Singh of Mewar. I provided small details of his life in many articles. But never have I ever made a separate historical post on him. It is very difficult to put together his life without the help of folklore because historical evidence is scarce. This one was requested, and hence here it goes. Needless to say, this one is very special. This is a blend of history and folklore. Leave your love. ❤️ Background and Birth: The year was 1540. Mewar was under a cloud of uncertainty. Banbir, their ruler for four years now, was a very incompetent ruler who always spent his time in luxury, drinking and dancing with girls. The crown prince Udai Singh was rumoured to have been killed by him. Chittorgarh was in darkness. Around March 1540, Mewar once again saw hope as some trusted generals, along with Kunwar Udai Singh, attacked Chittorgarh, taking Banbir by surprise. He was soon t...

Rani Padmini: The Valiant Queen

This story is a retelling of some parts of Malik Mohammad Jayasi's Padmavat, which was a historical fiction poem written in 1540, about 200 years after the siege of Chittorgarh by Allauddin Khilji. Historically, the Rajputs of Mewar didn't keep accounts of their queens, even by name, so the name Padmini or Padmavati was made up by Jayasi to represent the women of Chittor who chose the Jauhar. Historically speaking, Allauddin Khilji wanted the trade route to Surat for himself, which went through Mewar and Rana Ratan Singh, a patron of art, was not known for his military skills. So when Khilji surrounded the fort, the only way out was the Saka and Jauhar. Rani Padmini's Jauhar, as it is now popularly called, is also not the first Jauhar Khilji witnessed. The Jauhars of Ranthambore and Jaisalmer happened before he attacked Chittorgarh. Also, the act of Jauhar happened as early as the Greek invasions of Porus's state, when it is described as the "Mass immolation of Sat...

Haldighati: The Battlefield

The year was 1576 CE. Four years had passed since Maharana Pratap’s coronation as the ruler of Mewar in 1572 CE. In those years, the land simmered not just with heat but with tension. The Timurid emperor Akbar, determined to fulfil his imperial vision, had sent not one, but three peace emissaries with Man Singh and Bhagwan Das leading them, between 1573 and 1575 CE, offering reconciliation in carefully worded treaties. But the wounds of Chittorgarh’s fall in 1568 CE were fresh for Pratap. With the blood and tears of Jauhar and Saka still alive, with the thousands mercilessly killed, there would be no peace without freedom. Pratap was no ordinary king, to be driven just by his zeal. He was a strategist, steeped as much in statecraft as in pride. When Man Singh came in 1575 CE with yet another offer, he was quick to realise that Akbar was reluctant to an out-and-out battle with Mewar. Pratap chose not to appear himself, sending his heir, Amar Singh, instead, stating that kings met kings...

Shikhandi: A Tale of Identity and Revenge

Hastinapur was the most powerful empire in the north of the Vindyas, in the subcontinent once ruled by King Bharata. When its long-reigning and prosperous king Shantanu passed away in old age, he left behind his ambitious wife Satyabati, her two sons, Chitrangad and Bichitravirjaya and his first surviving son from his first wife Ganga, Devabrata, who took the lifelong oath of not being king nor marrying or having any progeny and hence earned the name Bhishma. When Chitrangad was about to ascend the throne, he died in an unfortunate accident, leaving the minor Bichitravirjaya as the only contender on the throne. Bhishma almost outspokenly took over the role of guardian to the throne of Hastinapur upon this event. However, the rules suggested that the young prince must marry before he could be crowned. Upon hearing of this, Bhishma sent his spies around the subcontinent to find eligible princesses who would not only marry the heir apparent but also be the future queen and queen mother of...