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In 1568, during the reign of Pratap's father Rana Udai Singh II, Chittaur, the capital of Mewar, was conquered by the Mughal Emperor Akbar. Udai Singh had left Chittaur in the care of Jaimal, a Mertiyo Rathore and Jaimal's nephew Fateh. Maharana Pratap wanted to stay back for the defence of Chittaur but Mewar nobles convinced him to leave. Akbar had demanded Jaimal's daughter's hand in marriage. Unlike other Rajputs during this chapter of Rajput history, Jaimal refused and chose his honour above his safety. Because of this incident, many famous ballads have been written in Rajasthan ("Jaimal-Fateh") and are sung all over Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. There was a Jauhar and Jaimal and Fateh died in the saka. After taking control of the city, Akbar ordered the death of 30,000 unarmed inhabitants of the city.
When Chittaur fell, Udai Singh moved the capital to his residence at Udaipur, in a more defensible location in the foothills of the Aravalli Range. In 1572 after Udai Singh's death, Pratap became Rana of Mewar with the support of the elder nobles. Udai Singh wanted his son Jagmal to ascend the throne but Mewar nobles favored Pratap, the eldest son. It was a beginning of a life long battle for the retaking of Chittaur. Chittaur is seen by most Hindus across the world as a sacred site, due to the amount of human blood (all communities)and sacrifice that has been witnessed there.It was because of the unwavering public reverence that this historic fort commanded that the name KHIJRABAD given to it by Ala-ud-din-Khilji after his victory in 1303 and AKBARABAD given by Akbar after his victory in 1567 never gained public acceptance. In contrast to it, the holy-triveni-sangam-kumbha-mela city PRAYAAG became ALLAHABAD and the historic-trading city KARNAWATI became Ahmedabad, but the grateful populace continued calling Chittaurgarh by its revered name!
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Haldighati