RAS question
Rao Chandrasen of Marwar is sometimes called 'the Pratap of Marwar' because he:
Correct answer: (B) Never submitted to Mughal authority and lived in exile.
Rao Chandrasen of Marwar is called the Pratap of Marwar because he refused to submit to Akbar's Mughal authority and spent much of his life resisting from exile.
Explanation
Rao Chandrasen ruled Marwar from 1562 to 1581, but his reputation rests less on territorial power than on refusal. Testbook says he was known as the Maharana Pratap of Marwar because he challenged the Mughal Empire and did not submit to Emperor Akbar. While his brothers Udai Singh and Ram Singh accepted Mughal suzerainty, Chandrasen continued resistance from the hills and deserts of Marwar. His life in exile, including movement through difficult regions and eventual death at Siwana, is the reason the comparison with Maharana Pratap works: both are remembered for choosing hardship and sovereignty over comfortable submission.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) He is not remembered by this title for defeating Akbar; his reputation rests on resistance and refusal to submit, not a victory over Akbar.
- (C) Fort-building does not explain the epithet, and Chandrasen is associated here with exile rather than a phase of construction or consolidation.
- (D) He did not earn the title by expanding Marwar; he lost territory and continued resistance from Marwar's hills and deserts.
Concept
This tests Rajput resistance to Mughal expansion in Rajasthan, especially the difference between submission, suzerainty and armed resistance. It recurs in RAS because Marwar-Mughal relations are a standard theme in Rajasthan medieval history.