even of them cheerfully headed
sorties on eleven following days, and were slain, until only Ajeysi, the
youngest, was left alive. Then the Kana prepared for the end. He sent the
boy Ajeysi with a small band by a secret way, and he escaped to Kailwarra,
so that the royal race of Chitor should not become extinct. Then the women
of the city, with the noble Padmani at their head, accepted the Johur;
"the funeral pyre being lighted within the great subterranean retreat,"
they steadfastly marched into the living grave rather than yield
themselves to the will of the conqueror. All being now ready for the last
act of the hideous drama, the Rana caused the gates to be opened, and with
his valiant remnant of an army fell upon the foe only to perish to a man,
and then, and not till then, did the victorious Alla set foot of a
conqueror within Chitor, where now no living thing remained to stay him
from razing her deserted temples to the ground. The palace of Padmani
alone was spared in this, the first "saka" of Chitor.[2]

The wrecked stronghold remained an appanage of the Mogul until Hamir, who,
though not the direct heir of Ajeysi, had gained the chieftainship through
his valour, and who, having married a ward of the Hindu governor of Chitor,
by her help regained possession of the fortress.

Defeating the Emperor Mahmoud, Hamir entered Chitor in triumph, and once
again the standard of the Sun floated over its blood-stained rocks. The
Emperor Mahmoud himself was led captive into Chitor, and kept prisoner
there for three months until he regained his liberty by surrendering
Ajmere, Rinthumbore, Nagore, and Sooe Sopoor, with fifty lacs of rupees
and a hundred elephants. By this victory Hamir became the sole Hindu
prince of power in India; and the ancestors of the present lords of Marwar
and Jaipur brought their levies and paid homage, together with the chiefs
of Boondi, Abu, and Gwalior.

Then ensued for Chitor a period of splendid prosperity, during which rose
many noble buildings, amongst the ruins of which the great Tower of
Victory still soars supreme. This splendid monument[3] was raised to
commemorate the victory gained by Koombho over Mahmoud, King of Malwa, and
the Prince of Guzzerat, who in A.D. 1440 had formed a league against
Chitor. The Rana met them at the head of 100,000 troops and 1400 elephants,
and overthrew them, and the commemorative tower was begun in 1451 and
finished in ten years.

The State of Mewar reached t