BADNORE

BADNORE


INTRODUCTION

The Maharajas have all gone and so have the times. What remains are ruins from the past, legacies of a bygone era. Yet, history was made here and for those who recognize this, much still remains to be seen. The little village of Badnore in Rajasthan is one such testimony.

LOCATION

Badnore is situated in the Indian state of Rajasthan around 90 km from Ajmer. This little village is associated with many legends and stories of bravery and sacrifice. The place is connected by a good network of roads to other places in the region.

HISTORY

Nestling amidst one of the oldest mountain ranges in the world, the Aravalis, at a height of 2,100 feet, Badnore was originally known as Vardhanpur. Though established eons back, it is still uncertain as to whose initiative it was. From the local ballads, one gathers that a particular Parmar king, by the name of Badna, had founded the village of Badnapur in 845 BC, which later came to be known as Badnore. However, this is perhaps only folklore with no element of truth in is as there is no written evidence to support it. As derived from ancient texts, it is more likely to have been founded by Raja Harsha Vardhan of Kannauj.

Surrounded by the Chauhans in the east, the Parmars in the south, and the Solankis in the west who remained constantly at war with each other, Badnore obviously remained in the hands of the victor, till captured by the Mughals.

Maharana Kumbha gained supremacy over the land in 1490 and to commemorate his victory, he built the temple of Kushala Mata and the Kushal Sagar Lake, now known as Vinodsagar. A perpetual ground for the clash of different clans, it was ultimately the Rathores who held permanent sway over Badnore.

Rao Jaimal, grandson of Rao Dudaji and brother of the legendary poetess Mirabai, is the most revered name in the history of this region. He was granted Badnore in 1554 by Maharana Udai Singh of Udaipur with 1,000 other villages. His short though extremely eventful reign was marked by many decisive battles and jubilant victories. In the year 1567, when Akbar decided to attack Chittor, the fort was guarded by Rao Jaimal himself, the Maharana having shifted to Udaipur. It was a gory battle that lasted for several months, where very often Akbar himself came close to death. Jaimal, wounded in the course of battle, was unable to mount a horse. Instead, astride a soldier's shoulders with swords flashing in both his hands, he put up a fine show of bravery and finally succumbed to his fatal wounds.

It is an established fact that Akbar, extremely impressed by Jaimal and Patta (another soldier of similar repute), installed their life-size statues at the main entrance of Agra fort. The statues were shifted to Delhi when Akbar changed his capital where later they were destroyed by Aurangzeb's virulent fanaticism.

In a recent excavation, a more than 2,000-year-old inscription has been found very near the village, proving the strategic location of the region on an ancient trade route. The engraved letters on the rock are of Ashoka-Brahmi script, prevalent around the third century BC.