Rana Pratap, also known as Maharana Pratap was the brave Rajput King of Chittor. He was a living example of Rajput valor, perseverance and chivalry. Throughout his life, Rana Pratap fought against Mughal aggression. The unfortunate events of Saka and Jauhar at Chittor had a deep impact on the heart of Rana Pratap. He had a hatred for Akbar who was responsible for merciless killings and vowed never to bend down to the Mughal rule.

Maharana Pratap the greatest patriot of mewar rajasthan :

Rana Pratap

Maharana Pratap was born to Rani Jeevant Kanwar on 9^th of May, 1540. Maharana Udai Singh 2 was his father, who was the ruler of Mewar. Maharana Udai Singh had 25 children and Pratap was the eldest amongst them. He was given the tile of crown Prince and would be the 54^th ruler of Mewar. In 1567, Chittor was invaded by Mughal forces under Akbar. Maharana Udai Singh 2 had to flee with his family to Gogunda. At that time Rana Pratap was only 27 years old and he wanted to fight the Mughals but was convinced by the elders to leave Chittor along with his family.

On 28^th of February, 1572, Rana Pratap became the Maharana of Mewar. Akbar tried several diplomatic methods to convince Rana Pratap to sign a treaty with him, but failed every time. Akbar finally decided to send his army under the command of Raja Man Singh against Rana Pratap. In 1576, a fierce battle was fought between Rana Pratap’s army and the Mughals. Although the Bhil tribes of the surrounding areas helped Rana Pratap in the battle against Mughal army, they were hugely outnumbered by Akbar’s men. The Mughal army had numerical advantage over the army of Rana Pratap.

There were only 20,000 Rajput warriors against 80,000 men of Mughal army. Rana Pratap and his Rajput warriors fought valiantly, but could not defeat the Mughals due to their number. Rana Pratap was deeply injured and was saved by his faithful steed Chetak. Pratap was unconscious and was taken away from the battle zone by Chetak. This is how Rana Pratap managed to survive to fight another day. He continued his struggle against the Mughals all his life and finally died due to injuries in a hunting accident.