Panna Dhai – The epitome of sacrifice.

Rajasthan has a treasure-trove of stories from its history  – of resilience, devotion and importantly, of patriotism and loyalty of the citizens, to their rulers and motherland.

One such exemplary story from the Mewar region is that of Panna Dhai.

Mewar is the south-central part of Rajasthan. The origin of the Mewar rulers started at Chittorgarh, Rajasthan with Bappa Rawal in the 7^th – 8^th century CE. In this dynasty came the valiant Sangram Singh I (popularly known as Rana Sanga), in the early 16^th century CE. Rani Karnavati was one of his queens.

Rana Sanga controlled Rajasthan, parts of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh and was so powerful that he was a terror to the Timurid invader Babur. He had kept Babur’s forces at bay and defeated them in early 1527 CE. Earlier he had crushed Ibrahim Lodi of the Delhi Sultanate and the armies of Gujarat and Malwa Sultanate as well. All this despite his handicap of losing one eye and having a paralysed leg. However, in the Battle of Khanva in the later part of 1527, luck favoured Babur as he had mechanized artillery. Rana Sanga was brutally injured and whisked away to safety. Sanga had vowed to get even with Babur after his health was restored, but was unfortunately poisoned  to death by  one of his own men in 1528 CE.

Rana Sanga had four sons,  Bhojraj Singh (who was the husband of Saint Mirabai),  Ratan Singh, Vikramaditya and Udai Singh II.  Bhojraj had died some years back. So Ratan Singh was crowned king. The rule did not last long as Ratan Singh was killed in a battle in 1531 CE.

Rani Karnavati then took over as a regent for her son Vikramaditya. She was equally fierce in defending their territory . However, in 1533 CE, when Chitthorgarh was invaded by Bahadur Shah from Gujarat, Rani Karnavati and many ladies committed Jauhar (suicide by jumping into fire) at Chittorgarh fort to save themselves from being molested by the invaders. Karnavati’s younger son Udai Singh II was just ten years old then.

Panna Dhai was the wet-nurse of Udai Singh from his birth. Dhai, meaning wet-nurse is the one who looks after the child, including feeding her own milk to the child. This was a practice in royal households. Panna’s own son named Chandan was of the same age as Udai. Panna brought up both of them with equal love and affection especially since Udai had lost both his parents. Chandan and Udai were great friends and even slept in the same room on adjacent cots.  

After Rani Karnavati’s death, her son Vikramaditya was crowned as the Rana (king). However, Vikramaditya turned out to be extremely arrogant and totally disrespectful to everyone, that the nobles of the court put him under house arrest after some months of tolerating him.

Udai Singh was too young (he was going to be 14 years). So, the court appointed one Banvir Singh as the Regent for Udai. Banvir Singh was the illegitimate son of Rana Sanga’s elder brother Prithviraj Singh who had long been sent into exile. But since there was no other eligible successor, they appointed him.

The wily Banvir saw this as the only opportunity of sitting on the throne of Mewar permanently. So, one day he murdered Vikramaditya in cold blood.

Udai Singh was the only one left, of the royal lineage. Naturally, after Vikramaditya’s murder, Panna Dhai feared for Udai’s life, unaware that soon her fear would come true.

One evening, Panna came to know from a maid who had overheard a conspiracy being hatched, that Banvir had planned to kill Udai Singh that night. Panna panicked not knowing what to do. She felt it was her utmost duty to save Udai’s life and had to act super-fast. Udai and Chandan were in deep slumber having gone to bed very early. As the night advanced, Panna sent for the maid who had informed her. With her help,  very skillfully, she lifted Udai and put him  on Chandan’s bed and Chandan on to Udai’s bed.  She also interchanged the blankets and belongings of the two.

“Go away!” she whispered to the  maid who was horror-struck as she  guessed what Panna was up to. Panna literally pushed the maid out of the back door. “Go and bring a big bamboo basket and wait here till I call you” she said in a stern whisper  shutting the door on her and  pulling the curtain.

In a few seconds, Panna could hear footsteps and low voices near the front door and when she turned around, the door swung open. Banvir walked in and stood there with the lower half of his face covered. The blade of the sword held in his hand shone like a diamond in the dim light reflecting from the only lamp lit in the far corner of the room. Panna could see Banvir’s bloodshot eyes even in the darkness. A couple of his henchmen stood outside the door.

Glaring at Panna, Banvir grunted, “Udai?”

Frozen in fear and panic, Panna’s shivering hand pointed to where Chandan was sleeping. Banvir went near the bed. Panna could not bear to see what he was doing. The next moment there was a just a muffled groan and Banvir walked out with the sword dripping with blood.

It was over. Her precious darling Chandan was gone forever. Panna could not even cry aloud. The men came in and lifted Chandan’s body and walked away. Panna heard them talking about cremating ‘the prince’ immediately.  She could not even see Chandan for one last time and shed tears. She wanted to hug Chandan and cry aloud, but alas!

Her head was reeling . She felt her heart sinking, and a terrible lump in her throat but no, there was not one moment to waste…

Panna ran and opened the back door and the maid was there with the basket. Quickly spreading a  blanket in the basket, Panna, with the help of the maid lifted Udai and placed him in a curled position in the basket and covered him with a blanket. She lifted the basket and placed it on the maid’s head. “Go to the river bank and wait for me” she said. “And don’t whisper a word to anyone. Go!”. The maid, still in terrible shock, hurried out of the room with the basket. Panna quickly packed some of Udai’s and her belongings and ran through the back door to the river bank where the maid was waiting.

In a trembling voice Panna said to the maid “In the name of Mewar, don’t you breathe a word to anyone on what happened. The future of Mewar  depends on you”. “Promise me” she said putting her palm forward. The completely shaken and dazed maid placed her palm on Panna’s and said “I promise. Take care Panna!”

Panna, with the basket on her head, walked along the river bank and disappeared into the dark night.

When the sun rose, Panna and Udai now far away from Chittorgarh had started their trek of survival, hiding and travelling through the forests of the Aravalli mountain ranges like nomads. Their only source of help for food and shelter were from the Bhils, the tribes who lived on those rugged mountains. Staying on for a few months in the mountains, the duo decided to go to Kumbalgarh, about 200 km away from Chittorgarh. Reaching Kumbalgarh, they finally got safe refuge in the Jain governor, Asha Depura Shah’s home. Udai Singh was passed off as the governor’s nephew and Panna as a maid. Under Panna’s motherly affection and guidance, and the governor’s assistance, Udai honed his skills, blossoming into a fine warrior.

In 1539 CE when Udai Singh was seventeen, a nobleman from Chittorgarh  visited Kumbalgarh.  At a reception hosted by Asha Depura Shah, the nobleman was struck by the royal demeanor of Udai. Suspecting the boy to be Udai, he went back to Chittorgarh. There, he spoke to some nobles who had seen Udai closely in his childhood. A deputation then went to Shah’s residence to investigate.

The time had come to reveal the great secret. Panna told the visiting nobles everything. The nobles, overawed at Panna’s act of sacrifice, were thrilled that the rightful heir of Mewar was safe. They immediately announced that Udai Singh was their Maharana and held his coronation at Kumbalgarh itself.

Banvir was furious, and wanted to do away with Udai Singh at the earliest. But Maharana Udai Singh waited for a year preparing himself with a large army of Mewaris and Marwaris. In 1540 CE they marched to Chittorgarh.  Banvir and  Udai’s army met at a place called Mavli. After a terrible battle, Banvir ran away, never to be seen again.

One can imagine the immense trauma and distress Panna Dhai would have undergone in the process of saving the royal lineage. Panna chose her duty as the nurse of the prince, over her duty as a mother, when she faced this conflict of duties. What clarity and fortitude!

But for Panna Dhai’s guts and mettle, the royal lineage of the Mewar Ranas would have ended long back and we would not have this beautiful city of Udaipur, built by Maharana Udai Singh!

There is a palace built at Chittorgarh fort in Panna’s memory and also a memorial built at Udaipur for her. The Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation has also instituted a national award in the name of Panna Dhai for individuals who do selfless service and sacrifice.

‘Panna’ means emerald in Hindi. A precious emerald she truly was – Panna Dhai!

Note: The picture of Panna Dhai has been generated by me using AI.