The Nobles of Udaipur, commonly known as the Umraos, were the chiefs and feudatories of the Kingdom of Mewar.
Background
Udaipur was the premier princely state in the province of Rajputana and covered an area of 12,941 square miles. Of this, nearly one-third, that is about 4,313.67 square miles, consisted of estates, which were held by nobles of the state. These nobles enjoyed rights and privileges that were held by no other nobles in Rajputana. For example, their individual durbars mirrored that of the Maharana, they showed few signs of vassalage at the durbars of the other rulers, and, in the durbar of the Maharana, chief nobles ranked above the Yuvaraja, or the heir apparent. The reason for the last two rights and privileges is that, when Amar Singh I made peace with Jahangir, he insisted that he and his successors would never be required to attend the imperial durbar in person, and that their only act of submission was to receive the imperial firman, or decree, whenever a new ruler came to the throne, and that too outside the walls of his capital. As such, the heirs of the state attended the imperial durbar, but they never did so as rulers. At his court, Jahangir had placed Amar's heir Karan Singh II at his right hand, above all the other rulers of India. To make up for the heir attending the durbar of the Mughal Emperor, the chief nobles of the state were granted, by the Maharana, rank above his heir. For these reasons, nobles of the state regarded themselves, and were generally treated, as superior in rank to nobles at other durbars; in fact, they were even allowed to sit almost as equals with the rulers of other states. For example, when Bajirao I visited Jaipur, Sawai Jai Singh II shared his gadi, or throne, with him. Bajirao then made room for the then Rawat of Salumbar, one of the leading nobles of Mewar, who was accompanying him, on the same gadi. On the other hand, when Bajirao was visiting Udaipur, instead of arguing with the Maharana over where he should sit, he claimed the special privilege of being a Brahmin, which allowed him to spread his cloth in front of the throne. The seating arrangement of the nobles in the durbar was determined by the rank of their house: those seated to the right of the Maharana were called badi ole, while those seated to the Maharana's left were known as munda-barobur. In order to ensure that the nobles who were seated on the left did not feel inferior, they used to sit parallel to the throne, thus munda-barobur, that is, head at the level of the face of the Maharana. Rajvis, or the relatives of the Maharana, used to sit at a lower level, i.e. in front of the throne.
Types Nobles of Mewar were categorised into three categories, namely: Solah-ke-Umrao, Battis-ke-Umrao, and Gol-ke-Sardar. During the reign of Amar Singh II, the nobles were arranged into these categories. According to an estimate, it is believed that nobles belonging to the first category had annual incomes of around Rs 100,000, those in the second category had around Rs 50,000, and those in the third category had around Rs 20,000.
Most of these nobles belonged to the following dynasties: Sisodia, Jhala, Parmar, Chauhan, Dodiya, Rathore, and Solanki.
Solah-ke-Umrao Solah-ke-Umrao were called so because their number was originally sixteen, and in the course of time it increased. But the number of seats in the durbar remained the same, that is, sixteen, and the nobles who were later added to this class could take a seat in the durbar only when some old nobles of this rank were absent. They formed the advisory council of the state, and it is from their rank that commanders of the army, ministers of the state and ambassadors to the other durbar were selected. Some of these nobles were close kin of the Maharana himself. They were nobles of the first class. Heir of the Maharana and his nearest relatives used to sit below these nobles.
Solah-ke-Umrao were: #NameDynastyClanSubclanNote (s)Source1Bari SadriJhalaAjja, following the failure of his efforts to depose Ranoji from the throne of Halvad, which he had usurped, came to Mewar with his brother Sajja. There, the two were cordially received by Sanga and entered his service. Ajja, in due course of time, fought on the side of Sanga in the battle of Khanwa against Babur. In the battle, when Sanga fell unconscious, Ajja was called to take Sanga's place on his elephant, and fight. Ajja obliged, gallantly fought and died on the battlefield. In lieu of his meritorious services to Mewar, this estate was conferred on his son, Siha. Many of the successive chieftains of this estate died in the service of Mewar, including Man Singh (Mana or Bida). Man, in the battle of Haldighati, to save the life of Pratap Singh I, took his place in the battle, donned his royal insignia, fought, and died. In memory of this incident, the Raj Rana is permitted to bear the royal insignia of the House of Mewar.2BedlaChauhan PurabiaRao of Bedla and Rawat of Kotharia claim descent from Prithviraj Chauhan. The ancestors of the two had taken refuge at Chitor after the conquest of Delhi by Muhammad Ghori. Ramchandra of Bedla had, on numerous occasions, attended Jagat Singh and Raj Singh at the durbars of Jahangir and Shahjahan, and received khillats, elephants, horses, jewels and other gifts from both Emperors. A daughter of his, by the name of Dev Kanwar, married Amar Singh II and was the mother of Sangram Singh II.3Kotharia4GhaneraoRathoreMertiaThis jagir was originally granted to a descendant of Dudaji, who had been expelled from his jagir of Merta because of his conflict with the ruler of Marwar. When, in later days, Ari Singh II of Mewar transferred Godwar to Vijay Singh of Marwar in lieu of military help against his refractory nobles, this jagir was also transferred to Marwar. There, the proprietor of Ghanerao received all the honours due to him in Mewar. His seat is still kept unoccupied in the durbar of Mewar. Given the fact that several of the ancestors of the Thakur of Ghanerao had shed their blood in defence of Kumbalgarh, he, when attending the durbar of the Maharana, was received with a war cry, i.e., Remember Kumbalgarh, and was presented with a khillat.5SalumbarSisodiaChundawatKandhalwatChunda, the ancestor of the Rawats of Salumbar and elder son of Lakha, had, after becoming annoyed by his father, renounced his right to the throne of Mewar in favour of his younger brother Mokal. In lieu of this, however, Chunda retained for himself and his descendants the following rights: first place in the councils of the state, and that his symbol, the bhala, would always be attached to the signature of the Maharana in all grants. Thus, the Rawat also claims the office of hereditary councillor, and had attempted to have this claim recognised by the East India Company in their treaty of 1818 with the Maharana, but failed. At the installation of the new Maharana, the Rawat draws blood from his own thumb, does his tilak, girds the sword around his waist, touches the ground thrice, and hails him as the Maharana.6BijolianPanwarThe proprietor of the estate held the title of Rao Sawai and claimed descent from the Raos of Jagner. The progenitor of the family, Ashoka, came to Mewar during the reign of Sanga and was granted this estate.7ADeogarhSisodiaChundawat SangawatSanga, a son of Siha, the Rawat of Amet, was granted this estate.BBegunMeghawatThe original recipient of this estate was Govind Das, a son of Khengarji, the Rawat of Salumber.8DelwaraJhalaThe family of Raj Rana of Delwara is descended from Sajja who came from Halvad to Mewar with his brother Ajja. Sajja was granted this estate by the Maharana and was killed during the siege of Chittorgarh by Bahadur Shah.9AAmetSisodiaChundawatJaggawatWhen Vikramaditya was killed by Banvir, Chunda's great-grandson Jagga took Vikramaditya's son Udai Singh II to safety and seated him on the throne. Jagga's son Patta bravely fought against Akbar during the siege of Chittorgarh and was killed. Patta's son Karn Singh was granted this estate in recognition of Patta's gallantry.BMejaWhen Prithvi Singh II, the Rawat of Amet, died without any male issue, the succession to his rank, title, and dignity was contested by Chattar Singh of Jeelola and Amar Singh of Bemali. Since Chattar was the original adopted son and nearest kin of the deceased Rawat, Swarup Singh nominated him as his successor. However, Shambhu Singh permitted Amar Singh to occupy the seat of the Rawat of Amet in the durbar. Swarup later conferred on Amar the title of Rawat and granted him the estate of Meja.10GogundaJhalaKanah Singh, a son of Shatrusal Singh, who in turn was a son of Man Singh II, the Raj of Delwara, was granted this estate after his father was killed fighting against the Mughals near Gogunda.11KanoreSisodiaSarangdevotThe founder of the family was Ajja, the second son of Lakha.12BhindarShaktawatThe family of the proprietor of Bhindar claims descent from Shakti Singh.13BadnoreRathoreMertiaThe Thakurs of Badnore are descended from Rao Duda, a younger son of Rao Jodha of Jodhpur, who was the founder of Merta and the Mertia family. Jaimal of this family emigrated to Mewar in the time of Udai Singh and fought on the side of Mewar against the Mughal troops and was killed during the siege of Chittorgarh.14ABansiSisodiaShaktawatAchalawatThe family of the Rawat of Bansi claims descent from Achal Das, a son of Shakti Singh.BBhainsrorgarhChundawatKrishnawat The family of the Rawat of Bhainsrorgarh is descended from Lal Singh, second son of Kesri Singh, the Rawat of Salumber. Lal Singh was granted this estate by Ari Singh II, along with the title of Rawat and a seat among solah-ke-umraos, for killing Ari's uncle Nath Singh of Bagore, with whom Lal had exchanged his turban and pledged friendship.15AParsoliChauhanThis estate was granted in 1656 to Kesri Singh, a younger son of Ramchandra of Bedla, by Raj Singh, in recognition of his great valour shown in many battles.BKurabadSisodiaChundawatKrishnawatThe founder of the family was Arjun Singh, a son of Kesri Singh, the Rawat of Salumber.16AsindThe founder of his family was Ajit Singh, a son of Arjun Singh, the Rawat of Kurabad. Ajit received a grant of a gorkhya estate comprising fourteen villages from Bhim Singh, when he had, on his behalf, signed the treaty of 1818 with the East India Company. As Ajit had no male issue, he had adopted Dule Singh from Satola, who, previous to his adoption, had received the title of Rawat and several villages, including Asind. Dule Singh was later raised to the position of a first-class sardar with a place among the solah.17SardargarhDodiyaIn 1383, when Rana Lakha's mother was on a pilgrimage in Gujarat, she was attacked by a gang of robbers, and Rao Siha came to her aid. Siha was killed in the skirmish. In recognition of this, Lakha bestowed Nand Ras, Badnore, and Masuda on Dhawal Singh, son of Siha, and created him a noble of the first class. A descendant of Dhawal, Sardar Singh, founded the Sardargarh.A & B = Aik Baithak, i.e. the two held an equivalent rank, seat or status. Either one was invited to the durbar on an alternating or rotational basis according to an established roster.
Battis-ke-Umrao Battis-ke-Umrao were so called because their number was originally thirty-two, which in the course of time increased. They were nobles of the second class. The nobles of this rank were required to maintain their attendance in Udaipur on a regular basis, and it was from their rank that faujdars, who were responsible for border security, were appointed; for this purpose, they had small bands of sepoys under them.