Chetak

The first thing that comes to one’s mind when we say Chetak is the scooter Bajaj Chetak. In fact if you google Chetak, you will mostly see results for only Bajaj Chetak.

Chetak was the name of the Stallion that Maharan Pratap rode. It is said to be one of his favourite horses and there are a lot of paintings and statues depicting this particular horse.

Maharana Pratap was a huge man. He was more than 7 feet tall and the armour he wore weighed more than 35kg. Chetak should have carried all of this weight and still galloped. It is also said that Chetak was gifted by a a trader from Gujarat (what other profession can you expect) 😅 and the horse only listened to Maharana Pratap.

There is an interesting war strategy used by Maharana Pratap. He put an elephant trunk like structure over the horse to create the disguise of an elephant. Since it’s small, the enemies will think it’s a baby elephant and not harm it. This will be used as an opportunity to attack the enemy. The above photo depicts Chetak disguised as an elephant.

I really wonder how this strategy could work. Would you not be able to figure out the difference b/w a horse and an elephant. Also, what’s a baby elephant doing in the battle field? And why is the King sitting on it?

This is a photo of the famous battle of Haldighati. It is important because this is the last battle Chetak fought. The photo shows Man Singh (Akbar’s general) on an elephant and Maharana pratap on Chetak. While Maharana Pratap is shooting a spear on Man Singh, the elephant’s tusk tears Chetak’s legs. Another version of the story says there was a sword attached to the elephant’s trunk and that cut Chetak’s leg.

The entire battle only lasted for 3-4 hours. Some historians say there is no evidence that Chetak was the horse that Maharana Pratap rode to the battle also. Whatever, said, these stories are always nice to hear.

It is said that Chetak rode back from the battle field as it knew it won’t be able to help the king any further. It is also said that it jumped across a 22 feet canal or river on its way back.

This “horse jumping impossible distances” is a common story told for most horses that kings rode. A similar story is told about Tipu Sultan’s horse also.

Whatever said, the name Chetak is a hit. It was a hit when it was named to a horse. It was a hit when it was named to a Scooter. I think there is definitely something about the name that makes it successful. The numerology folks can probably explain why!