Then to the Rana appeared
the guardian goddess of the city, who warned him that "if twelve who wear
the diadem bleed not for Chitor, the land will pass from the line." Now
the prince had twelve sons, and, in obedience to the goddess and in hope
of eventually saving their dynasty, eleven 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.
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