RAS question
The Mewar kingdom's capital was shifted from Chittorgarh to Udaipur by which ruler?
Correct answer: (D) Maharana Udai Singh II.
Maharana Udai Singh II shifted the Mewar kingdom's capital from Chittorgarh to Udaipur.
Explanation
Maharana Udai Singh II is the ruler linked with this shift because he founded Udaipur in 1559 and moved Mewar's political centre there from Chittorgarh in the context of Akbar's threat and the later fall of Chittor. The Rajasthan government's Udaipur page states that Udaipur was founded by Rana Udai Singh and that, after Chittor fell to Akbar in 1568, the capital of Mewar became Udaipur. Udaipur's location, protected by the Aravalli Hills, made it naturally safer. So the question is testing the founder-capital link: Chittorgarh was the older Mewar capital, while Udaipur became the new capital under Udai Singh II.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Maharana Kumbha is wrong because the founding of Udaipur and the capital shift are attached to Maharana Udai Singh II, not to Kumbha.
- (B) Maharana Sanga is wrong because the capital-transfer context is Akbar's pressure on Chittorgarh and Udai Singh II's founding of Udaipur, not Sanga.
- (C) Maharana Pratap is wrong because the official source mentions him as a later Udaipur-born ruler remembered for fighting Akbar in 1576, while the founding and shift are credited to Udai Singh II.
Concept
This tests the RAS history theme of Mewar's political geography: how Chittorgarh and Udaipur functioned as capitals in response to Mughal pressure. It recurs because Udai Singh II, Akbar, Chittorgarh and Udaipur form a compact, high-yield chronology for Rajasthan medieval history.