Chetak
dark-coloured equestrian statue on a marble plinth
Maharana Pratap on Chetak, commemorative statue in Moti Magri Park, Udaipur
Specieshorse
BreedKathiawari horse
Sexmale
Died1576
Rajsamand, Rajasthan
Nation fromMewar
OwnerMaharana Pratap

Chetak or Cetak is the name given in traditional literature to the horse ridden by Maharana Pratap at the Battle of Haldighati, fought on 18 June 1576 at Haldighati, in the Aravalli Mountains of Rajasthan, in western India.[1]: 45 

The story

Detail from Battle of Haldighati by Chokha of Devgarh, 1822, showing the attack by Pratap, mounted on Chetak, on the leader of the Mughal forces, Man Singh of Amber, who is in a howdah on an elephant

Historical sources do not name the horse ridden by Maharana Pratap at the Battle of Haldighati on 18 June 1576, nor do they attribute any unusual feat or achievement to it.[1]: 45 

According to tradition, the horse was called Chetak. The Danti Charan traders from Surendranagar district of Kathiawar are said to have presented two Kathiawari colts, one of which was Chetak, to Rana Pratap.[2] It is believed that Pratap chose him based on the spirit displayed by Natak when he was tested for swiftness of response.[3][4] Although wounded, Chetak carried Pratap safely away from the battle, but then died of his wounds. The story is recounted in court poems of Mewar from the seventeenth century onwards. The horse is first named Cetak in an eighteenth-century ballad, Khummana-Raso.[1]: 45  The story was published in 1829 by Lieutenant-Colonel James Tod, a colonial officer who had been political officer to the Mewari court, in the first volume of his Annals and Antiquities of Rajast'han or the Central and Western Rajpoot States of India.[1]: 46 [5]: 339  His account was based on the Khummana-Raso, and became the most commonly followed version of the tale.[1]: 45  In it, the horse is named Chytuc, and is once referred to as the "blue horse". Pratap is at one point called the "rider of the blue horse".[5]: 339 

The story spread beyond Rajasthan, to Bengal and elsewhere. There, Pratap was seen as a symbol of resistance against invasion and, by extension, of nationalist resistance to British colonial occupation.[1]: 47 

Commemoration

The Chetak Smarak at Haldighati

Several statues and monuments to Pratap and Chetak have been raised. An equestrian statue was placed in Moti Magri Park in Udaipur by Bhagwant Singh of Mewar (r. 1955–1984);[1]: 47 [6] another overlooks the city of Jodhpur.[1]: 47  The Chetak Smarak at Haldighati in Rajsamand District marks the spot where Chetak supposedly fell.[7]

The helicopter HAL Chetak (which is a licensed model of the Aérospatiale Alouette III)[8] and the scooter Bajaj Chetak (which was based on the Vespa Sprint) are named after the horse.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Elizabeth Thelen (2006). Riding through Change: History, Horses and the Reconstruction of Tradition in Rajasthan (senior thesis). Seattle, Washington: University of Washington. Accessed April 2017.
  2. ↑ Chandra, Yashaswini (22 January 2021). The Tale of the Horse: A History of India on Horseback. Pan Macmillan. ISBN 978-93-89109-92-4.
  3. ↑ Gadhvi, Priyvrat (26 May 2020). "Historical References To The Horse In India - A research of the history of the horse in India, with a focus on the Kathiawari breed". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. ↑ Ghose, Indrani (31 July 2022). "Story of Chetak, Horse of Maharana Pratap". i Share. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
  5. 1 2 James Tod (1829). Annals and Antiquities of Rajast'han or the Central and Western Rajpoot States of India, volume I of II. London: Smith, Elder.
  6. ↑ Maharana Pratap Memorial. Udaipur India. Accessed April 2017.
  7. ↑ Chetak Samadhi. Archaeological Survey of India, Jaipur Circle. Accessed April 2017.
  8. ↑ https://vertipedia.vtol.org//aircraft/getAircraft?aircraftid=453
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