Sisodia

The Sisodias are a Solar Rajput clan offshoot of Mewar's Guhila dynasty, named for Sisoda, settled by Rahapa, son of twelfth-century Guhila king Ranasimha. When Alauddin Khalji of Delhi stormed Chittorgarh in 1303, the Guhila line nearly perished in the last stand and jauhar; in 1326 Rana Hammir of the Sisodia branch retook and rebuilt Mewar, founding maharanas ruling it five centuries.

Successors warred with neighbouring sultans. Rana Kumbha (from 1433) raised Chittor's Tower of Victory; Rana Sanga made Mewar the leading Rajput power before falling to Babur at Khanua in 1527. Chittor fell to Bahadur Shah in 1535 and Akbar in 1568, and Udai Singh II moved the capital to Udaipur.

Udai Singh's son Pratap fought the Mughals from the hills, losing Haldighati in 1576 but recovering much of Mewar. The Sisodias were the last Rajput dynasty to submit to the Mughals, in 1615, and alone among the great Rajput houses never gave daughters to the imperial harem; Shivaji's Bhonsles and the Rana ministers of Nepal claimed Sisodia descent.