The author of ‘Achaldas Khichi re Vachanika’ is

Correct — option (4), Charan Shivdas.

Ganga Ram Garg's An Encyclopaedia of World Hindi Literature (1985) credits the Achaldas Khichi ri Vachnika to Shivdas Gadan. It calls the work a poem in Dingal, a small narrative in rhyming prose and verse, with 119 verses and prose-sets.

Garg says it describes the attack of Sultan Hoshang Ghori of Mandu on Achaldas Khichi of Gagrongarh, Achaldas's fight to the death, and the jauhar of the women in the fort. He calls the poet a contemporary of Achaldas and probably his court poet.

The Sahitya Akademi's Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature also gives the author as Sivdas Gadan and calls the work a Charan poem. S. P. Sen's Historical Biography in Indian Literature (1979) lists it among famous vachanikas with Shivdas as author.

The author is option (4), Charan Shivdas.

The idea to remember: Achaldas Khichi ri Vachanika = Shivdas Gadan, a Charan poet, on the fall of Gagron.

Why the others are wrong

• (1)
  Gopaldan Kaviya — Garg dates Gopal Dan Kaviya to 1815–85, nearly four centuries after the siege of Gagron that the vachanika describes. He was born at Udaipura near Sikar.

  Garg credits him with the Lavarasa, a eulogy of the Kurmavansh, along with the Shikharvanshotpatti and Krishna-Vilas. Gopaldan Kaviya is the author of the Lavarasa.

• (2)
  Kesari Singh Barahat — Garg dates Kesri Singh Barhat to 1872–1941 and calls him a revolutionary and nationalist poet, which rules him out for a work on a fifteenth-century siege.

  Garg says that because of his Chetavani ra Chungatya, 13 sorthas addressed to Maharana Fatehsingh of Mewar, the Maharana did not attend the Delhi Durbar of 1903. Kesari Singh Barahat is the author of the Chetavani ra Chungatya.

• (3)
  Ram Nath Kaviya — Garg dates Ram Nath Kaviya to 1801–79, nearly four centuries after the siege of Gagron that the vachanika describes. He also names him as the father of the poetess Saman Bai (1825–85).

  Garg credits him with the Pabuji ra Sortha, 32 verses on the deeds and death of Pabuji Rathore, and the Karuna Bavni. Ram Nath Kaviya is the poet of the Pabuji ra Sortha.

A vachanika is a form of Rajasthani composition in rhyming prose mixed with verse. S. P. Sen's volume quotes L. P. Tessitori: each phrase or sentence, long or short, must rhyme with the next, and verses such as duhas and chhappaya kavittas are mixed in.

Sen lists famous vachanikas, including the Achaldas Khichi ri Vachanika of Shivdas and the vachanika of Ratan Singh Maheshdasot by Khidiya Jagga. That later work celebrates Ratan Singh's death at the battle of Ujjain; the Sahitya Akademi encyclopaedia dates it to 1658.

The Sahitya Akademi encyclopaedia lists vachanika with khyata, vat and vigat among the names of Rajasthani historical prose.

Key facts

• Garg (1985): the Achaldas Khichi ri Vachnika is a Dingal poem by Shivdas Gadan, with 119 verses and prose-sets.
• The Sahitya Akademi encyclopaedia dates the work to about 1425 and the battle to 1423, saying the poet describes what he witnessed.
• Garg dates the composition later, to around 1430–35, and calls Shivdas a contemporary, probably the court poet, of Achaldas.
• A Comprehensive History of India, Vol. V dates Hoshang Shah's siege of Gagron to 13–27 September 1423.
• Tessitori, quoted by S. P. Sen, describes vachanika as prose in which each phrase or sentence rhymes with the next.

Common traps

• Taking the hero for the author: Achaldas Khichi is the ruler of Gagron the work is about; Shivdas Gadan wrote it.
• Mixing two vachanikas: the one on Ratan Singh Maheshdasot and the battle of Ujjain is by Khidiya Jagga, not Shivdas.
• Fixing one date for the fall of Gagron: A Comprehensive History of India gives September 1423, the Imperial Gazetteer (1908) about 1428.

UnlockIAS will link similar questions from RAS Pre 2021 and 2013 here once those papers are published on this site.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Achaldas Khichi ri Vachanika describes an attack on which fort?

  • (a)Ranthambhor
  • (b)Chittor
  • (c)Gagron
  • (d)Jalor
  Answer(3) — Garg says the work describes Sultan Hoshang's attack on Achaldas Khichi of Gagrongarh and the jauhar in the fort. Options (1), (2) and (4) are not the fort the work describes.
• practice — not a real PYQ

  Kesari Singh Barahat's Chetavani ra Chungatya was addressed to which ruler?

  • (a)Maharana Fatehsingh of Mewar
  • (b)Maharaja Ganga Singh of Bikaner
  • (c)Maharaja Umaid Singh of Jodhpur
  • (d)Maharaja Sawai Madho Singh II of Jaipur
  Answer(1) — Garg says the 13 sorthas were addressed to Maharana Fatehsingh of Mewar, who then did not attend the Delhi Durbar of 1903. Options (2), (3) and (4) are not the addressee Garg names.