Chavand, Maharana Pratap’s Last Capital

01Capital in the hills

After Haldighati in 1576 Pratap lived for years on the move in the hills, while Mughal armies held the plains and the forts. By the mid-1580s, with the Bhil chiefs of the Aravallis beside him, he took the Chappan country in the south, drove out its chief, and made Chavand his seat. Here he built a modest palace on a hillock and a temple to Chamunda Mata, the goddess of his house. From Chavand his men went out to win back village after village, until by his death only Chittor, Mandalgarh and the country around them remained in Mughal hands.

02Death, and a school of painting

Pratap died at Chavand on 19 January 1597. He was cremated a few kilometres away at Bandoli, where his chhatri stands by a stream. His son Amar Singh I was crowned here and ruled from Chavand through years of renewed Mughal attack. The court at Chavand kept painters, and a Ragamala set made here in 1605 by the artist Nisardi is counted as the first dated work of the Mewar school. The palace walls on the hillock are in ruins; the Chamunda temple is still in worship.

The life of this place