<!--QuoteBegin-Swamy G+Oct 9 2008, 06:02 AM-->QUOTE(Swamy G @ Oct 9 2008, 06:02 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->I have a question. Often Americans talk about how George Washington refused the throne when he was offered one; how he could have been a King yet he chose not to be one.
I am sure we have several from our Indic fold. The first name that comes to my mind is Gautam (a.k.a The Buddha). Any others?
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There are several. One that I recently heard of is that of the half-uncle of Maharana Kumbha, prince Chanda, a great warrior still beloved and remembered by the sisodiyas for his virtues and manly courage.
Rana Lakha was the then King of Mewar and his eldest and ablest son Chanda the yuvarAja. Once when the court was in sitting, a marriage proposal arrived from the ruler of Mandor, for the hand of the princess of that house for Chanda the heir of Mewar. Incidentally when the envoy was announced, Chanda was not in court at the moment, and his aged father received the envoy and remarked in a jest that let Chanda come and accept the coconut himself, for such a thing was not sent for an old fellow like himself.
Obviously only meant to be a lighter laugh, and enjoyed both by the courtiers and the Brahmana envoy, however when Chanda heard of it he refused to accept the proposal, saying if his father, even in fun, had considered the proposal for himself it is is unfit for him to accept.
When he did not give in, after much discussion, the King was angered, and demanded Chanda to choose between rejecting the marriage proposal from Mandore and the kingdom of Mewar, for it was an insult to the house of Mandore to return the coconut.
Chanda denounced his natural right to become the next Rana, and instead chose to remain the General and the first Rajput of any prince that king elected to become the next Rana. And so it happened that the kingdom went to Prince Mukul in 1398, the father of Maharana Kumbha, while Chanda, a brave and ablest Rajput, although doing selfless service to Mewar, was eventually forced to exile from Mewar to become a General in the army of Mandu. Sisodiyas remember the event as having done more harm to Mewar than any of Mughal invasions.
I am sure we have several from our Indic fold. The first name that comes to my mind is Gautam (a.k.a The Buddha). Any others?
[right][snapback]88959[/snapback][/right]
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
There are several. One that I recently heard of is that of the half-uncle of Maharana Kumbha, prince Chanda, a great warrior still beloved and remembered by the sisodiyas for his virtues and manly courage.
Rana Lakha was the then King of Mewar and his eldest and ablest son Chanda the yuvarAja. Once when the court was in sitting, a marriage proposal arrived from the ruler of Mandor, for the hand of the princess of that house for Chanda the heir of Mewar. Incidentally when the envoy was announced, Chanda was not in court at the moment, and his aged father received the envoy and remarked in a jest that let Chanda come and accept the coconut himself, for such a thing was not sent for an old fellow like himself.
Obviously only meant to be a lighter laugh, and enjoyed both by the courtiers and the Brahmana envoy, however when Chanda heard of it he refused to accept the proposal, saying if his father, even in fun, had considered the proposal for himself it is is unfit for him to accept.
When he did not give in, after much discussion, the King was angered, and demanded Chanda to choose between rejecting the marriage proposal from Mandore and the kingdom of Mewar, for it was an insult to the house of Mandore to return the coconut.
Chanda denounced his natural right to become the next Rana, and instead chose to remain the General and the first Rajput of any prince that king elected to become the next Rana. And so it happened that the kingdom went to Prince Mukul in 1398, the father of Maharana Kumbha, while Chanda, a brave and ablest Rajput, although doing selfless service to Mewar, was eventually forced to exile from Mewar to become a General in the army of Mandu. Sisodiyas remember the event as having done more harm to Mewar than any of Mughal invasions.