Dariba

Dariba (दरीबा) is village in Railmagra tahsil in Rajsamand district in Rajasthan.

Dariba Inscription of 1302 AD

Sanskrit Text "संवत १३५९ वर्षे माघ सुदि ५ बुध दिने अधेह श्रीमेदपाटमंडले समस्त राजावलिसमलं कत महाराजकुल श्री रत्नसिंह्देवकल्याण विजयराज्ये नन्नियुक्त महं० श्री महणसीह समस्त मुद्रा व्यापारान्परिपंथयति....."

Dariba Inscription of 1302 AD

दरीबा शिलालेख १३०२ ई. - यह लेख कांकरोली स्टेशन से कुछ दूर दरीबा गांव के मातृकाओं के मन्दिर के एक स्तम्भ पर उत्कीर्ण है. महारावल रत्नसिंह के समय का यह संभवत: अबतक एक ही लेख उपलब्ध है. इसमें मेवाड़ को एक मंडल की संज्ञा दी है तथा रत्नसिंह को समस्त राजाओं से अलंकृत किया है. इसमें रत्नसिंह के काल का महं० श्री महणसिंह मुद्रा व्यापार सम्बन्धी मन्त्री होना अंकित है. उस समय की शासन व्यवस्था पर प्रकाश डालने में यह लेख उपयोगी है. इसमें स्पष्ट उल्लिखित है कि ऐसे अधिकारियों की नियुक्ति स्वयं राजा करते थे. लेख का मूल साथ के बाक्स में है.

Raja Ratan Singh of Chittor

Reference - Fact & fiction: Padmini through the ages by Shoeb Khan and Palak Nandi, Jan 25, 2018

The earliest mention of Rawal Raja Ratan Singh, formally referred to as Ratnasimha, as the king of Chittorgarh is found in the inscriptions on one of the pillars of a temple of a Goddess in Dariba, Rajsamand. The date mentioned in the inscription is 1301, which is two years before the fall of Chittor in 1303. The stone inscription is the oldest acknowledgement of the prince of Chittor. It only speaks about the prince and there's no mention of a queen Patmavati.

In his 1936 work, 'Udaipur Rajya Ka Ithihas', famous historian Gauri Shankar Hera Chand Ojha says that the pillar was discovered by the British Archaeology Survey Department of India in 1930. According to historians, this inscription could be an oath taken by a new employee of the [[Raja Ratan Singh], and reads: "Samastharajawlis Mangalkrit Maharaja Kul Ratan (Ratna) Singh Dev Kalyan Virajya. Tanitritahmah. Srimaharani samsasthmu draivya paraprarhth" (Kings line up before you. Oh descendants of Maharana Raja Ratan Singh. I will dutifully perform commerce duty...).

Several other historians have claimed that he ascended the throne in 1302 and have also found some coins issued by Ratnasimha.

The detailed account of the 1303 Chittor war between Turk Alauddin Khilji and Rawal Ratan Singh has been written by the former's official writer and Sufi poet, Amir Khushro, in his book 'Khazain ul-Futuh', which is an account of Khilji's military campaigns.

The book recounts Khilji's conquest of Ranthambhore (1301), including the 'jauhar' (selfimmolation) committed there, and Chittor (1303).

Khusro was in Chittor between January 1303, when the siege began, and August 1303, when Chittor finally fell. But significantly, he does not have any mention about the war resulting from Khilji's infatuation for Rani Padmini or about the 'jauhar' (self-immolation) committed by Rajput women.

The book does not also mention Ratan Singh, but only the word 'Rai', which was commonly used for a king. Here's how Khusro describes the king's surrender in his work: "On the day the yellow-faced Rai sought refuge in the red canopy from fear of the green swords, the great Emperor (May his prosperity continue!) was still crimson with rage. But when he saw the vegetarian Rai trembling with fear, like the trampled and withered grass under the imperial tent — though the Rai was a rebel, yet the breeze of royal mercy did not allow any hot wind to blow upon him."

After the siege was over, Khusro claimed that Khilji pardoned 'Rai' but ordered the killing of 30,000 others.

"The book (Khazain ul-Futuh) explained the Chittor territory as 'Heaven of Hindus', a place which had abundant resources while describing the siege of the fort city from January 1303 to August 1303," says historian Dr A K Mittal, Gorakhpur University, in his book 'Bharat ka Rajnetik' and 'Sansthan Ithihas'.

Mittal also says that the word 'Rai' was used to describe a king during the period. Khusro's account forms the basis of claims made by Rajput organizations that Khilji didn't attack Chittor for Padmini.

Other historians and scholars of the Sultanate era—Khajawa Sadr Nijami, Maulana Sadruddin Offi, Minhaj Siraj Tajudin Iraqi, Saifuddin, Fakruddin and Imamudin Raza and Abdul Haqim—are also silent on Padmini. Meanwhile, the same period saw the penning of epic love sagas 'Laila-Majnu' and 'Sheeren-Farhad'.

While it remains an undisputed fact that Rajputs ruled over Chittor before 1303 and from 1336 to 1557, Rani Padmini or any other queen does not find any mention in the Rajput history of Mewar.

References

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