the Rana and demanded the lives of twelve of
its chiefs as a condition of its preservation. His eleven sons were
in their turn crowned as chief, each ruling for three days, while on
the fourth he sallied out and fell in battle. [570] Lastly, the Rana
devoted himself in order that his favourite son Ajeysi might be spared
and might perpetuate the clan. At the second sack 32,000 were slain,
and at the third 30,000. Finally Aurangzeb destroyed the temples and
idols at Chitor, and only its ruins remain. Udaipur city was founded
in 1559. The Sesodias resisted the Muhammadans for long, and several
times defeated them. Udai Singh, the founder of Udaipur, abandoned
his capital and fled to the hills, whence he caused his own territory
to be laid waste, with the object of impeding the imperial forces. Of
this period it is recorded that the Ranas were from father to son in
outlawry against the emperor, and that sovereign had carried away the
doors of the gate of Chitor, and had set them up in Delhi. Fifty-two
rajas and chiefs had perished in the struggle, and the Rana in
his trouble lay at nights on a counterpane spread on the ground,
and neither slept in his bed nor shaved his hair; and if he perchance
broke his fast, had nothing better with which to satisfy it than beans
baked in an earthen pot. For this reason it is that certain practices
are to this day observed at Udaipur. A counterpane is spread below the
Rana's bed, and his head remains unshaven and baked beans are daily
laid upon his plate. [571] A custom of perhaps somewhat similar origin
is that in this clan man and wife take food together, and the wife does
not wait till her husband has finished. It is said that the Sesodia
Rajputs are the only caste in India among whom this rule prevails,
and it may have been due to the fact that they had to eat together
in haste when occasion offered during this period of guerilla warfare.

In 1614 Rana Amar Singh, recognising that further opposition was
hopeless, made his submission to the emperor, on the condition that he
should never have to present himself in person but might send his two
sons in his place. This stipulation being accepted, the heir-apparent
Karan Singh proceeded to Ajmer where he was magnanimously treated by
Jahangir and shortly afterwards the imperial troops were withdrawn
from Chitor. It is the pride of the Udaipur house that it never gave
a daughter in marriage to any of the Musalman emperors, and for many
years