UPPSC 2022 Prelims GS Paper-I · Question 129 of 150

Correct — D, Marwar. Jaita and Kumpa — the paper spells them Jayata and Kumpa — were Rathore commanders of Marwar, the Rajput kingdom centred on Jodhpur, and they served Rao Maldeo Rathore. Sher Shah Suri marched on Marwar from early 1543 with a very large Afghan army, and rather than risk a straight fight he worked on Maldeo's nerve, having forged letters dropped where they would be found so as to suggest that Maldeo's own nobles were about to defect. The ruse worked and Maldeo pulled back from the field. Jaita and Kumpa refused to go with him. Holding that their ancestors' land had to be defended whatever the king did, they charged Sher Shah's centre with the few thousand men who had stayed, and both were killed in the action that followed, at the Battle of Sammel — also called Giri Sumel — in January 1544. The Afghans won, but at a cost that shook Sher Shah, and his remark afterwards is the reason this episode is remembered and the reason the question is phrased as it is: 'for a handful of millet, I almost lost the Empire of Hindustan.' The sequel confirms how narrow the victory was. Khawas Khan occupied Marwar for Sher Shah, but after Sher Shah's death at Kalinjar on 22 May 1545 Maldeo retook Jodhpur by July 1545 and recovered his territory.

• (a)Malwa — Sher Shah did take Malwa, in 1542 — the governor at Gwalior submitted without a fight and the Malwa sultan fled to Gujarat, so the province was annexed without a battle worth the name. That is precisely the opposite of the Marwar campaign, and no commanders from Malwa earned the tribute recorded here.
• (b)Mewar — The strongest distractor, because Mewar is the Rajput state most students think of first — the Sisodia kingdom of Chittor of Rana Sanga and later Maharana Pratap. But Jaita and Kumpa were Rathores serving Rao Maldeo, and the Rathore kingdom is Marwar, not Mewar. Keep the two clans and capitals apart: Sisodias at Chittor and Udaipur in Mewar, Rathores at Jodhpur in Marwar.
• (c)Bundelkhand — Bundelkhand belongs to a different chapter of the same reign. Sher Shah died there, on 22 May 1545, from an explosion while besieging Kalinjar. That connection is real enough to make the option tempting, but it has nothing to do with Jaita and Kumpa, who fell in Marwar more than a year earlier.

Sher Shah Suri ruled as Sultan of Hindustan from 1540 to 1545, having driven Humayun out and founded the Sur Empire in the gap between the first and second phases of Mughal rule. His five years produced an administration the Mughals later built on: the first standardised silver rupiya of 178 grains, the rebuilding and extension of the Grand Trunk Road with sarais and wells along it, and a land-revenue system organised through sarkars and parganas with defined officers for civil administration and collection. His military record is usually told through Chausa and Kannauj against Humayun; the Marwar campaign of 1543-44 is the episode where that record nearly broke. Rao Maldeo Rathore had made Marwar the strongest Rajput power of the day, and Sher Shah chose stratagem over battle against him.

Rajputana questions are answered by getting the clan-to-state map right, because the personal names are unfamiliar and the states are easily swapped. Fix three pairs and most questions in this area fall out: Sisodias in Mewar with Chittor and Udaipur, Rathores in Marwar with Jodhpur, and Kachhwahas in Amber with Jaipur. Jaita and Kumpa are Rathore names, which points to Marwar before you know anything else about them. The second thing to carry is the anecdote itself, because examiners set this episode for the quotation rather than for the battle: a commander who wins and then says he nearly lost an empire 'for a handful of millet' is describing how poor and unrewarding the country he had just taken was, and how nearly its defenders had undone him. Note also the spelling drift — Jaita appears as Jayata or Jeta, Kumpa as Kunpa — so recognise the names by shape rather than by exact transliteration.

• Jaita and Kumpa were Rathore commanders of Marwar under Rao Maldeo Rathore; both were killed leading a charge against Sher Shah's centre at the Battle of Sammel (Giri Sumel) in January 1544.
• Sher Shah advanced on Marwar from early 1543 with 80,000 cavalry against Maldeo's force and induced Maldeo to withdraw by planting forged letters suggesting his nobles would defect.
• After the costly victory Sher Shah is reported to have said, 'for a handful of millet, I almost lost the Empire of Hindustan.'
• Sher Shah Suri reigned 1540-1545 and died on 22 May 1545 at Kalinjar Fort in Bundelkhand, from an explosion during the siege; Maldeo recovered Jodhpur by July 1545.
• Sher Shah's administrative legacy includes the standardised silver rupiya of 178 grains, the rebuilt Grand Trunk Road with sarais and wells, and a revenue structure of sarkars and parganas.

• Answering Mewar because it is the best-known Rajput state. Jaita and Kumpa were Rathores of Marwar; Mewar is Sisodia country.
• Letting Bundelkhand pull you in because Sher Shah died at Kalinjar. That was in May 1545, more than a year after Sammel and in a different campaign.
• Treating Sammel as a straightforward Afghan victory. Sher Shah won by stratagem, lost heavily, and said as much afterwards — which is exactly the point the question is testing.

UPPSC asks medieval Rajasthan through people and places — which commander, which ruler, which state — and expects the clan-to-kingdom mapping to be automatic. UPSC works the same period through institutions and consequences instead: Sher Shah's revenue and currency reforms, the road network, and how much of it Akbar inherited. Prepare the episode for UPPSC and the administration for UPSC.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Battle of Sammel (Giri Sumel), fought in January 1544, was between Sher Shah Suri and

  • (a)Rana Udai Singh of Mewar
  • (b)Rao Maldeo Rathore of Marwar
  • (c)Raja Bharmal of Amber
  • (d)Qadir Shah of Malwa

  Answer(b) Rao Maldeo Rathore of Marwar — Maldeo withdrew after Sher Shah planted forged letters, and his commanders Jaita and Kumpa fought on and died.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Sher Shah Suri died in 1545 while besieging the fort of

  • (a)Rohtasgarh
  • (b)Chittorgarh
  • (c)Kalinjar
  • (d)Ranthambore

  Answer(c) Kalinjar — he was fatally injured in an explosion during the siege and died on 22 May 1545.