Panna Dhai

The Mewar royal nurse Panna Dhai (c.1510-1555) who in 1536 sacrificed her own son Chandan to save the infant Udai Singh II (born 1522, future founder of Udaipur) from the assassin Banbir who had killed Udai Singh's father Vikramaditya Singh and sought to extinguish the Sisodiya royal line. Panna substituted her sleeping son for Udai Singh in his cradle, allowing Banbir to kill her son while she smuggled Udai Singh to safety at Kumbhalgarh under Rawat Ashadhji's protection. Udai Singh grew up to retake Chittor from Banbir in 1540 and founded Udaipur in 1559. Panna Dhai's sacrifice is one of the central Mewari royal narratives of maternal fidelity.