Shaktawat: Sisodia Faction and the Chundawat Rivalry in Mewar — RAS 2026

Study Material

Paper Prelims

Unit 1

1. The Shaktawat-Chundawat rivalry in Mewar was a Sisodia noble factional feud over military precedence in the haraval, or vanguard, of the Mewar army.
2. The rivalry weakened Maharana Bhim Singh's court by splitting the durbar and leaving him helpless before his own jagirdars.
3. The feud reached its peak under Maharana Bhim Singh, while the Chundawats pressed for expelling the Marathas from Mewar and the Shaktawats resisted.
4. The political vacuum drew in Mahadji Sindhia's deputy Ambaji Ingle, whose 16 April 1791 settlement squeezed 64 lakh rupees from the Chundawats, of which Mahadji retained 48 lakh.
5. The same feud later opened Mewar to the Pindari Amir Khan and formed the backdrop to Princess Krishna Kumari's suicide on 21 July 1810.
6. The rivalry ended in Bhim Singh's 13 January 1818 treaty with the British.

Key facts

The political vacuum drew in Mahadji Sindhia's deputy Ambaji Ingle, whose 16 April 1791 settlement squeezed 64 lakh rupees from the Chundawats, of whi…
The same feud later opened Mewar to the Pindari Amir Khan and formed the backdrop to Princess Krishna Kumari's suicide on 21 July 1810.
The rivalry ended in Bhim Singh's 13 January 1818 treaty with the British.

Key Points at a Glance

1
The Shaktawat-Chundawat rivalry in Mewar was a Sisodia noble factional feud over military precedence in the haraval, or vanguard, of the Mewar army.
2
The rivalry weakened Maharana Bhim Singh's court by splitting the durbar and leaving him helpless before his own jagirdars.
3
The feud reached its peak under Maharana Bhim Singh, while the Chundawats pressed for expelling the Marathas from Mewar and the Shaktawats resisted.
4
The political vacuum drew in Mahadji Sindhia's deputy Ambaji Ingle, whose 16 April 1791 settlement squeezed 64 lakh rupees from the Chundawats, of which Mahadji retained 48 lakh.
5
The same feud later opened Mewar to the Pindari Amir Khan and formed the backdrop to Princess Krishna Kumari's suicide on 21 July 1810.
6
The rivalry ended in Bhim Singh's 13 January 1818 treaty with the British.

What was the Shaktawat-Chundawat rivalry in Mewar?

The Shaktawat-Chundawat rivalry in Mewar was a Sisodia noble factional feud over military precedence in the haraval, or vanguard, which weakened Maharana Bhim Singh's court and helped expose Mewar to Maratha, Pindari and British pressure.

The Shaktawats formed one of the two great baronial factions of Mewar's Sisodia nobility, locked in a quarrel with the rival Chundawat sardars over precedence in the vanguard (haraval) of the Mewar army. The core point for RAS is that this was not a minor clan dispute; it shows how jagirdar politics could hollow out royal authority in late eighteenth-century Mewar. According to the Census 2011 District Census Handbook for Udaipur, the district that includes the old Mewar capital recorded a total population of 30,68,420.

Peak Under Maharana Bhim Singh

The feud reached its peak under Maharana Bhim Singh (1778-1828).
The Chundawats pressed for expelling the Marathas from Mewar.
Shaktawat resistance split the durbar and left Bhim Singh helpless before his own jagirdars.

Maratha Settlement

The vacuum drew in Mahadji Sindhia's deputy Ambaji Ingle.
Ambaji Ingle's 16 April 1791 settlement squeezed 64 lakh rupees from the Chundawats.
Of this, Mahadji retained 48 lakh.

Later Fallout

The same feud later opened Mewar to the Pindari Amir Khan.
The feud forms the backdrop to Princess Krishna Kumari's suicide on 21 July 1810.
It ended in Bhim Singh's 13 January 1818 treaty with the British.