The Life of Maharana Pratap and His Lessons on Leadership

“Leaders have defined purposes, politicians have ambitions, leaders turn vision into reality, bosses turn Opportunity into prosperity, employers define success in their own growth while leaders define success in the growth of their people, their community and their nation.”

Maharana Pratap-The Greatest Warrior and a Legendary Leader

It’s very difficult to define a leader and what’s even more difficult and rare is to find a true leader today. A great leader cultivates a winning culture and incorporates the prerequisite skills in his behavior that defines him as a true leader and helps him win the trust of his people. Whenever leadership is discussed, the LIFE and lessons of Maharana Pratap spontaneously arouse on the way. The King of Mewar, a great warrior, legendary leader and an endearing emperor of his people Rana Pratap is renowned for his valour and sacrifices. Born on May 9, 1540, Pratap was the eldest son of Udai Singh II, founder of Udaipur, and the 54^th ruler of Mewar in the line of Sisodia Rajputs, in the state of Rajasthan, India. After the demise of his father, he ascended the throne and soon became the ‘Mighty Maharana’ for his people. His selfless love for the honor of his motherland and his indomitable courage for freedom and wellbeing of his people paved the way for him to become Maharana from Rana; and the way was full of thorns and hurdles.

Let’s see how the heroic qualities of Pratap make him different from all other leaders ever existed:  

A Rock’s Will Against the Mighty Opponent

Akbar, the greatest of Mughal emperors, had an ambitious dream, the dream of conquering Mewar, the DREAMof becoming the Jahanpanah of Hindustan, the dream of submission of Maharana Pratap, the strongest and most fearsome warrior India has ever seen, but Akbar died saying wistfully that his dream remained just a dream. The pages of History that were written with the blood of Mewar reveal that Pratap wasn’t just a name; it was an epitome of valour, determination and martyrdom. His undying love for his motherland, leadership skills and military prowess laid the foundation of his victory against a formidable army of Mughals and a sensitive human in him made him an invincible king of Mewar.

How to Prepare for Adversities

Great leaders are always aware of the Challenges and adversities and they invest a part of their time and energy to insure their people against catastrophe. They believe in rising above the turmoil and work out a strategy, they implement meticulously and emerge triumphant. Rana Pratap had all these qualities to fight back the sudden and repetitive attacks of Mughals. Renowned for his Guerilla warfare, Maharana’s prowess to fight battles left the Mughal soldiers flabbergasted and despite being double the size of Mewar military they could not capture him. After repetitive attacks he was running out of resources but he didn’t lose hope and ramped up his efforts towards a decisive victory to fulfill his commitment to his people. When Rana refused to surrender to Akbar, he was left isolated geographically and politically by other Rajput chiefs but he kept waiting for right moment to recover his lost territory and he succeeded the battle of Dewair.

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How to Fight with Minimal Resources

A leader knows his strengths and flaws very well and can distinguish between intelligible consumption and expenditure. Pratap was alienated from all Rajput kings and he knew he couldn’t expect any support from them. Despite his minimal resources the Mughal Army could never find him a sitting duck as Pratap had a well fortified intellect to thwart all the Mughal attacks. He was highly skilled in military strategies and guerilla warfare so the Mughals could never withstand him for a longer period. The thickly wooded foothills of Aravali had witnessed a massive bloodshed in the battle of Haldighati which began on 18 June, 1576 between Rana Pratap with a force of 3000 cavalry and 400 Bhil archers and the sizeable Mughal army comprising 10,000 soldiers, led by Man Singh of Amber. It was a fierce fight inflicting many casualties on Mewar army yet remained indecisive. Hoodwinking Man Singh and his soldiers Rana Pratap managed an escape with the help of his most faithful horse, Chetak who lost his life after being injured in his last Effort to save Rana and the battle proved a deadlock between Akbar and Rana Pratap.  

Wars, pandemic, terrorism, internal & external threats and other natural disasters assess the leaders of a country and it’s always the courage, intent and a perfect planning that work more efficiently and effectively than delusive promises and unorganized supplies and resources. Working on bigger goals with broader vision can safeguard many with minimal resources.

Winning the Trust of People

For a leader it’s very important to balance his deeds and diction. If any difference is witnessed, people start losing trust in him. A leader must have an expanded vision so that he can accommodate the wellbeing of his people and sustain their faith in him. The adage,’ action speaks louder than words’, was proven by Maharana Pratap; he was resolute and unswerving in his refusal to submit to Akbar and left all the luxuries and comforts of Royals for the sake of freedom of his people. He resolved not to live a royal life until he regained his kingdom from Mughals. His sacrifices had lasting impact on his people and Bhamashah, an affluent businessman turned up to Rana and donated all his wealth to meet out the military expenses and replenish the resources. It was such a huge fund that could maintain an army of 25000 soldiers for 12 years without any other sources. On just one call, his people were ready to abandon everything and willingly set to sacrifice their life for the sovereignty of Mewar.

Leaders Believe in Loyalty and Equality

For a great leader his loyalty towards his people becomes his sole religion and the only aim of life. It is said that Akbar had offered half of the Hindustan to Pratap in lieu of his submission to Mughal Empire but for Rana, the valour of his men and honour of the women of Mewar were his utmost priority and he guarded that till his last breath. He preserved the pride of his land and respected everyone irrespective of caste and creed. He treated the rich and the poor, the weak and the strong and the men and Women equally; he never discriminated on the basis of the categories in the society prevailing those days. His army comprised all the castes and he was always a source of inspiration for them.

A leader responds to his people’s needs and cries promptly and finds solutions to their problems to console them in their distress. The practices of Favoritism can destroy even the strongest system and this lesson of Maharana’s life is very important for today’s leaders to become a source of strength and comfort to their society at large.

Leaders have the Best Strategy and Planning to Combat

A leader turns into a role model for thousands and they like to emulate him. A leader’s conduct is a constant inspiration for his people. When thinking is clear and precise the actions yield perfect results and Pratap was the exemplary leader who had such qualities. The struggle he had undergone after the battle of Haldighati turned him into a great leader and warrior. Finally the Mewar army witnessed the dawn that they were waiting for long. 16 September, 1582, the day of the battle of Dewair on the occasion of Vijayadashmai when Rana Pratap conquered his territory and fulfilled his commitment to his people and his soil  but very few know about this victorious day in his life as this fierce battle is nowhere mentioned in our History books. We should read our History to Discard Distory that we have been taught in our schools. Rana Pratap finalized a valley situated between Udaipur and Ajmer as the battlefield and attacked the Mughal army. Rana killed the Mughal commander and won the battle. This battle resulted into one of  the biggest surrender in the known history of India where 36000 Mughal soldiers surrendered to Rana Pratap.  

Historian Satish Chandra states, "Rana Pratap's defiance of the Mughal Empire, almost alone and unaided by the other Rajput states, constitutes a glorious saga of Rajput valour and the spirit of self-sacrifice for cherished principles.

The LIFE of Maharana Pratap and his lessons on leadership give an inspiration to all those who see a leader in them. A very important point to be remembered here is a leader's life is never his own, his life belonged to his people, his team who support him, trust him and have their unwavering faith in him.

Father’s Love is Infinite as Sky & Unfathomable as Ocean

A couple of days ago I was reading a piece of news about an arduous act undertaken by an old father to meet his daughter who lived 90 km away from him. The emotional story touched me so deeply that it all appeared as a Bollywood movie flashback drawing me towards the castle of memories of my childhood with my father. My heart was filled with immense love, respect and adoration for these heroes who are called fathers. They are living legends who are always ready to tunnel through any hazards to soothe their children during the difficult phases of their life. The story is of a desperate father from the state of Madhya Pradesh, India, who wanted to see his pregnant daughter but due to the corona curfew, he could not avail any bus to travel 90 km to Karsarpura from Sendhwa, his hometown. The 75-year-old father decided to walk and started his journey on May 18 and covered 70km distance on foot by the evening before he met a constable in Kharagone who offered him food and then dropped him at his daughter’s house on his two-wheeler. The elderly man proved it that a father’s love is visible in many shades and he can go to any extent for the well-being of his children.  A father’s love is eternal, beyond the richest treasures of the world, and the strongest shield around children.

Most of us, especially Gen X and Millennials have seen our fathers, compromising their comforts and limiting their expenses to save every single penny to give a good life to their children. Certainly harsh reprimands and angry looks on academic reports and study hours were essentials of daily diet and children had grown immune to that. Occasional slaps, thrashing and kicks (please allow me to be a little gender biased here: only boys needed this) were the effective measures during counseling sessions of more notorious siblings and believe me children never suffered depression or mental anxiety. The most possible reasons might be either children were so adept at handling pressure of humiliation or they didn’t know what it was. Without any formal trainings or degrees those days’ fathers were the best Clinical Psychologists. Fathers were on scooters, sometimes on bicycles but always an ideally contented and the most protective figure of the family structures. They were neither jovial nor ambitious, their ambition was only to get their children educated at their best and placed at good positions. They never had a shopping-list; I must say they just hated it. A wardrobe with hardly half a dozen pairs of stitched shirt-pants, one safari suit and a pair of leather shoes were considered their signature collection and a possession, good enough to maintain their enviable life style. Fathers were truly not as cool looking guys as today’s fathers are, they actually looked as if born as fathers; true gentlemen of good old days, with sincere and stern looks so that no child can put any undue demand (children were so intelligent that they knew which request will be granted and when it should be put forth), less talkative as it was customary; the tradition of being friendly with children didn’t exist those days and Sunday outing was not a social norm in most of the families. 

With this quintessential fatherly attitude, one thing was definitely cool about them and that is they are the most amazing, generous and caring fathers of all generations. They never pampered but loved unconditionally, they never expressed their expectations but left no stone unturned in fulfilling their children’s demands(only genuine), they were least enthusiastic to spend family time but never forgot to caress children’s forehead if they had a bad day or weren’t physically well. Their love had something very peculiar in it; as they never seemed to be loving but failed to hide their tears if children were going out to stay in hostels for higher studies. So strange it was! No?

Interesting Read on Parenting: As Parent You Preach or Perform?

Father is an ocean of love and a sky of infinite blessings.

It’s beautifully quoted, “A father’s tears and fears are unseen, his love is unexpressed, but his care and protection remain as a pillar of strength throughout our lives.” We often think of the love, care, and attention of mother but fathers always take a back seat when it comes to sing and celebrate love of Parents. Generally father’s tenderness, patience, caring and nurturing their young ones is shadowed by the sacrifices of motherhood and deters the male from being accepted as intensely loving and primary caregiver for their children. But a father’s heart knows it very well that his love for his children helps them feel more secure physically, emotionally, mentally and intellectually. A father is always the first influencer and a role model for children and his contribution to the lives of his kids is no less than their mother. A father introduces a wider variety of approaches of dealing life; they encourage risk-taking and problem-solving capabilities in children which result in a Strong Emotional Immunity in them.

The mother brings life and love; the father brings strength and vigor to the young ones and that makes the best combination of the art of parenting, a father’s love is irreplaceable, unfathomable, and unique in its own way because only father’s love doesn’t expect anything in return from his children. He remains always on the giver’s side without letting anyone know what struggles he is going through. This altruistic quality and strength is bestowed only upon them by God. And that makes me say that they are truly the living Gods for their children, their persistence and sweat bring the fragrance of success and prosperity in children’s life. Father Teaches righteousness and discipline that turns a tender heart into a strong fighter, he brings out the rebel in us who can stand for right and oppose wrong. I am proud to say that my father is my Super Hero; if any small good I have done to my life to make it worth living that’s because of my father and I am sure you must be feeling the same.

Strong Emotional Immunity Can Guard Against Any Illness

Life presents us a gamut of emotions through happiness, experiences, memories, lessons and achievements. We flow with the flow of all such events but the problem arises when unknown emotions and feelings engulf us and we fall prey to such situations as we don’t know how to deal with them. Today when we look around, we find all these situations haunting and daunting us and we experience that illness never comes alone; it always creeps into life with fear: fear of death, fear of financial loss and fear of losing emotional stability. There are so many moments and emotions which we never want to accept despite knowing that these are inevitable to happen and many a time beyond our control, for example; casualty in family, losing job, failures at personal and professional level, divorce and accidents. Though we hear such news for others on daily basis but we think that it would never happen with us and suddenly when an unpleasant situation occurs, we fail to confront it and become a victim of our emotions and reactions to such painful situations.

Let’s start with a very common example of getting irritated when stuck in a traffic jam or informed about absence of house help for the day. We get angry and lose our calm on such petty issues despite knowing that these things are of least importance and relevance in our life at a broader level then why can’t we become panic while struggling with an unprecedented pandemic in our life; let’s start accepting that it’s perfectly okay if we feel stressed, it’s perfectly fine if we are scared and it’s perfectly normal to feel depressed; these all are human emotions and we can’t escape them. The only way we can help is to understand that pandemic is an external factor and whatever is going in me is an internal one. None can control and wipe out all the outside disturbances but each one can channelize the internal factors that weaken the emotional immunity and make a person vulnerable to other ailments.

Emotional immunity is a wider term pertaining to human’s ability to respond to their emotions in a sensible way. It’s very difficult to manage the flow of emotions and react in a composed manner as most of the time human behaviour is controlled by impulsive reactions to certain emotions. A good emotional health determines a person’s controlled and optimistic behaviour in difficult and unexpected situations so looking at the current scenario it’s imperative to maintain physical as well as emotional health.

How to Boost Emotional Immunity  

Strong emotional immunity can guard against any illness and only an emotionally healthy person can help others to boost their emotional immunity. Let’s read how we can make a difference.

Maintaining a Healthy Routine:

The first thing you do in the morning determines your whole day so start your day with a positive ‘me time’ for yourself, stay away from distractions like mobile phone, TV or internet. Dedicate your morning hour to exercise, yoga, pranayam and meditation so that whole day you feel happy and energetic. Food and breathing habits play a pivotal role in maintaining emotional and physical health. To keep mind, body and soul in a perfect alignment the intake must be taken care of. The way we breathe and we eat impacts the functioning of our body. So, focus on both. Avoid eating junk food and refined carbs and increase consumption of nutrient rich foods. A healthy and enriching lifestyle will help you rediscover your own self and boost your emotional immunity. Spending time with nature will be cherry on the cake so manage your time to admire the beauty of sunrise and feel the vibrations of life and positivity around plants and blossoming flowers. 

Interesting Read on Parenting: As a Parent You Preach or Perform

Parents can Help Boost Children’s Emotional Immunity:

There is a beautiful story of the famous scientist, Thomas Alva Edison who is known for his invention of electric light bulb and more than 1000 patents in his name. When Thomas was a primary school student he was given an envelope for his mother by his teacher. When Thomas handed over the envelope to his mother she opened and found a letter inside. While reading the letter, tears started gushing from her eyes and she told Thomas that he was a genius and none of the teachers in the school was capable of teaching such a bright student so he would not attend the school any more. She told that she was crying out of happiness and she would take the responsibility of teaching his son. Hearing this Thomas was so excited that he started learning faster under his mother’s supervision who herself was a teacher. Years passed and Thomas became a great scientist. One day while searching for some papers in an old cupboard he found the same envelope which was given by his teacher, with great curiosity he opened and started reading the letter. The letter said,” Your child is mentally weak and can’t be taught with other students in the class. Kindly don’t send your ward to school.”

The story reveals how parents play a vital role in boosting children’s emotional immunity. Had the mother told Thomas about the letter would he have been one of the greatest scientists ever? Certainly not, so parents should always act like a Strong Support System to nurture and care the emotional health of their children.

Importance of Good Friends:

American writer and motivational speaker Jim Rohn says, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” None can doubt on the fact that your friends shape your personality, teach you life skills and help you succeed the battles of life. Good friends always give a better opinion and encourage decision making that helps you win your self-doubts and insecurities. Sometimes they make fun of you by their sarcastic remarks which is an important factor in boosting your emotional immunity. Their sunny talks are effective enough to help you deal with any failure or loss. The best part of healthy friendships is both the sides get benefited in a mutual and symbiotic relationship so never leave your friend alone when he/she is in need.

A sudden surge in number of suicides has been observed during the second wave of the pandemic. These suicides were the result of emotional shock after losing the loved ones and in most of the cases the victims themselves were either battling with the disease or undergoing post covid recovery. Most of the Illnesses are stress-induced as they disturb the mind-body-soul alignment and leave debilitating effects on the patient. But an improved emotional immunity will help us believing that we are not helpless creatures destined to suffer from vagaries so to surrender to the wrath of an invisible, vicious virus. During such harrowing situations let’s work together to build strong emotional immunity to help ourselves and others. Try to counsel if you see any such person in your vicinity and boost his emotional immunity so as to get him ready to fight the challenges. If you can save and strengthen a life that will be the biggest gratitude you ever pay to the universe.

Helping The Helpless - A Way To Fulfill The Duty To Divine

The opening lines of the first section ‘The Burial of the Dead’ of The Waste Land; says ‘April is the cruellest month’. T S Eliot, the poet has given voice to the collapse of civilization and portrayed the devastated world after the First World War. After almost 100 years the line has proven true once again with the apocalyptic April which has traumatized everyone by the devastating superspreader coronavirus. New strategies and medical research to fight against the pandemic were on the anvil when the second wave attacked us more fiercely and left us all shattered.  Patients waiting for medical support, kin standing in queues for oxygen cylinders, medicines and beds and black marketing of life saver injections and fraud are giving the gruesome picture of India’s shambolic response to the second wave of the global pandemic.

Helping The Helpless Is The Supreme Duty To Divine

While people are making advantages of this catastrophe the era witnesses thousands who have turned up as angels in such times of distress and agony, helping the needy and the deprived ones. Young volunteers, social media groups and many societies are helping hundreds of Covid patients getting beds and medicines. One of the heroes who has touched many hearts is an auto-rickshaw driver, Javed Khan from Bhopal. Javed has sold his wife’s jewellery to get his auto improvised as an ambulance to ferry the Covid patients and set an example that you need not be wealthy to help others; you just have to have good intentions and altruistic attitude.

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Helping arouses hope and hope makes the sufferings and difficulties bearable. If we hope that tomorrow will be better, we can easily bear a hardship today. When we get involved in acts of benevolence and become generous to others, it takes our mind off despondency and gives us the much needed impetus to cope with feelings of anxiety, fear and negativity.

Joy of Giving is Greater than Joy of Receiving:

Everyone is going through an emotional mayhem these days and it feels there’s no respite. We try to keep us happy and positive thinkers yet failing to do so because the suffering around us is restraining us; which is a clear sign of being human, yes, we cannot detach ourselves from others’ pain and agonizing circumstances because we all are humans and we get affected to see people losing their loved ones. And the best solution to keep calm and contented is to lend a helping hand; to reach out to someone who is in dire need and you can fulfill that. Joy of giving is always greater than joy of receiving because it purifies our mind, gifts us a sense of contentment and makes us realize our worth as a humane. We see so many organizations working relentlessly to save lives, if you feel you can add one hand, espouse the larger cause and cultivate the sense of self-sufficiency.

Charity Begins at Home:

As explained by Mother Teresa, one of the greatest humanitarians of the 20^th century, “Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time and always start with the person nearest you.” So don’t think how many people you can reach but find the person around you who is in need, or deprived. Helping humans is our duty to divine and that’s the only way to connect to the almighty in true sense. If we can help the destitute, we can bring peace to our life as it leads to greater happiness, less stress, better pain management and good health. Helping the people around connects us with the community and volunteering time and energy for the depressing helps us reduce loneliness and ISOLATION

Helping others fulfills the purpose of life:

Extending a helping hand to someone enhances an individual’s sense of fulfillment as it makes you feel rewarded and blissful. Only an enriched and empowered (not in terms of wealth) person can give, can support and can empower others; a poor or empty mind (even if having riches of the world) can never fill anyone’s heart as dark cannot remove the darkness; it’s always the light that illuminates and brightens everything. So be the light of someone’s life, be the strength of a weaker individual and be the hope of gloomy eyes and that will certainly fulfill the purpose of your life and give glory to your identity without any external validation.

“We have no choice about how we enter the world but we can decide upon a thousand about our exit and these choices create opportunities to fill the emptiness of life and suggest ways to make it blissful.”

So dear Readers always have an empowered faith in yourself that you can help others, you can bring positivity and happiness to others and you can become a perfect reason of a smile on a sad face. Imagine the gratification you receive which is beyond any reward and think of the contentment you cherish forever after seeing people overwhelmed while pouring their countless blessings for what you have done to them.