As his grandfather Baber before him, he had many bitter
battles with them, for no other Indian people had opposed him so
vigorously as they. Their domain blocked the way to the south, and
from their rugged mountains and strongly fortified cities the Rajputs
harassed the surrounding country by many invasions and destroyed
order, commerce and communication quite after the manner of the German
robber barons of the Middle Ages. Their overthrow was accordingly a
public necessity.
The most powerful of these Rajput chiefs was the Prince of Mewar who
had particularly attracted the attention of the Emperor by his support
of the rebels. The control of Mewar rested upon the possession of the
fortress Chitor which was built on a monstrous cliff one hundred and
twenty meters high, rising abruptly from the plain and was equipped
with every means of defence that could be contrived by the military
skill of that time for an incomparably strong bulwark. On the plain at
its summit which measured over twelve kilometers in circumference a
city well supplied with water lay within the fortification walls.
There an experienced general, Jaymal, "the Lion of Chitor," was in
command. I have not time to relate the particulars of the siege, the
laying of ditches and mines and the uninterrupted battles which
preceded the fall of Chitor in February, 1568.
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