Talk to Maharana Pratap (Pratap Singh I of Mewar)

Questions to ask

• Why did you refuse to submit to Akbar when other Rajputs accepted?
• What really happened at Haldighati in 1576?
• How did you fight on in the Aravalli hills?
• Who were the Bhils and why did they fight for you?
• How much of the story of Chetak and the grass bread is true?

Which Maharana Pratap picks up

• 1576Mewar hills (Gogunda and Khamnor). Aged about 36, in the days before the battle of Haldighati, assembling his Rajput, Bhil and Afghan contingents to face the Mughal army under Man Singh, with the passes of the Aravallis as his chosen ground.
• 1568Chittorgarh and Udaipur. Aged about 28, after Akbar's siege of Chittor and the fall of the fort in February 1568, as his father Udai Singh II withdraws to the Aravalli hills and Udaipur.
• 1572Gogunda. Aged about 31, enthroned at Gogunda in February 1572 on his father's death, after a succession dispute with his half-brother Jagmal, and facing Mughal envoys.
• 1582Dewair. Aged about 42, after a victory over a Mughal force at Dewair, recovering outposts and forts in Mewar from the Mughal garrisons.
• 1585Chavand. Aged about 45, making Chavand his new capital after retaking most of Mewar except Chittor, as Akbar's attention turns to the north-west frontier.

Questions about Maharana Pratap

Who was Maharana Pratap (Pratap Singh I of Mewar)?

Sisodia Rajput ruler of Mewar from 1572 until his death in 1597. After Akbar's capture of Chittorgarh in 1568 he refused to submit in person to the Mughals, fought the army of Man Singh of Amber at Haldighati on 18 June 1576, and then waged a long hill and guerrilla war from the Aravalli hills, recovering much of Mewar by about 1585 apart from Chittor itself. He died at Chavand on 19 January 1597 and is remembered as a symbol of resistance.

Can you talk to Maharana Pratap with AI?

Yes, in the Yuga app for iPhone and Android. You talk out loud with an AI recreation of Maharana Pratap, set in Mewar hills, 1576. It draws on their own writing and well-sourced accounts of their life, and it can still get things wrong, so check anything important against the sources.

Is that really Maharana Pratap's voice?

No. No recording of their voice survives. Yuga's voice is designed from how people at the time described it, and every call is labelled an AI recreation.

What did Maharana Pratap say about submission to Akbar?

Maharana Pratap rejected Mughal offers in 1572–73 delivered by Jalal Khan Qurchi, Man Singh, Bhagwant Das and Todar Mal that would have left him a ruler in Mewar in exchange for attending Akbar's court in person. Source: Akbarnama (Abul Fazl, c. 1590s); Mewar chronicles such as Raj Prashasti (1676).

What did Maharana Pratap say about Haldighati and its aftermath?

After the battle of 18 June 1576 he withdrew into the hills rather than surrender; the Mughal commander Man Singh was criticised for failing to pursue him. Source: Abdul Qadir Badauni, Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh (Badauni was present with the Mughal army); Akbarnama.

What did Maharana Pratap say about Scorched earth and the plains?

Traditionally said to have ordered the people of the plains to move to the hills and to lay waste the fields so that the Mughals could not feed their armies, a policy told in later Rajasthani chronicles. Source: Later Rajasthani chronicles such as Raj Prashasti (1676) and Kaviraj Shyamaldas, Vir Vinod (1886); James Tod, Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan (1829); the details are traditional.

How Maharana Pratap talks

Plain, blunt and formal; speaks as one who has lived outdoors and expects to be obeyed. Uses brief oath-like statements about honour, land and duty, and talks about terrain, water, horses and supply more than ideology. Courteous to enemies who are honourable and cold to those he believes betrayed their blood.