Top 10 Most Decisive Battles Fought In History of Rajasthan

Top 10 Most Decisive Battles Fought In History of Rajasthan:-Rajasthan, the land of kings has always been a land of glory. Its palaces and forts are reminders of the many kingdoms that historically vied for the region. out of many some were the battles which had a remarkable impact in the history of Rajasthan. here are top 10 of them

10) Battles of Tarain (1191)

It was a series of two battles fought between Muizz-al-din of Ghurid empire and Prithviraj Chauhan of chauhan rajput empire. Rajput army with the strength of 3,000 elephants and 300,000 cavalry and infantry met with an army 120,000 armored men commanded by Muizz-al-din at Tarrain (a place near thanesar). In the first battle it was a stunning rajput victory as a result they took over Bhatinda in Punjab but in the second battle fought at the same spot the result was in favour of ghurid empire and  they took Bihar province in 1193 eradicating Buddhism in that area with a decisive win over rajputs.

9) Battle of Malpura (1800)

The battle of Malpura was fought between the Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh of  Jaipur and Daulat Rao Sindhia of Gwalior. It was the result of a crisis between the governments of the two sides.  Burden of more money on Rajput kings annoyed the Gwalior state.

On 15 March, the Jaipur Raja had entered his tents at Sanganer, while twelve days earlier the Jodhpur Raja had proclaimed war against the Marathas and sent a cavalry corps to the assistance of Jaipur. General Perron, who was jealous of Lakhwa’s authority, set out from Aligarh to interpose in the quarrel with Pratap Singh, ostensibly as a mutual friend. Lakhwa’s decision was quick. Hearing of the war preparations and advance of the Jaipur Raja from his capital, he assembled his own troops and took post four miles south of Malpura, a town about fifty-five miles south-west of Jaipur. Planning to surprise the Jaipur army, Lakhwa Dada set his troops in motion at four o’clock early in the morning of 16 April.

Marathas by their incessant and well-directed fire of the artiller, finally succeeded in coming to close action with the enemy, of whom great numbers immediately gave away. Swai Pratap Singh retired to Jaipur with his army but all his camp and baggage and guns were captured. And thus, Lakhwa Dada had gained for Mahadji Scindhia a victory rivalling that of Merta ten years earlier.

8) Battle of Dholpur (1519)

the lodi dynasty has always been an enemy with the Rajput confederates, to avenge the defeat in battle of khatoli, with all the preparations he could make Ibrahim Lodi marched against Rana Sanga of mewar.

when Rana Sanga heard of the approaching Lodi army he started marching towards them, both the army came in sight of each other at Dholpur. the lodi army was much more organised with 30,000 horsemen led by their respectful warriors namely Hussain Khan zar Baksh, Mian Khan, Khanan Farmuli, Mian Maruf, Mian Makhan, Said Khan Furat.

The Rajput army despite being very less in number as compared to lodi army, slaughtered them and pushed them back to bayana. This fierce battle sent a word to the world about the bravery of Rajputs.

7) Battle of Nagaur (1455)

After the death of Feroz khan, sultan of Nagaur from the family of Gujarat, his elder Shaams Khan son took the throne while the younger one, Mujahid Khan deposed him and decided to take his life and throne. Shaams then fled to Chittor for shelter and help and this where heroic Rajput Rana Kumbha came into the act. Kumbha embraced this opportunity of taking out Nagaur . he agreed for allegiance with Shaams khan on the condition that part of the battlements of the fort will be demolished.

Rana Kumbha marched with a large army to nagaur, defeated Mujahid Khan and returned to Mewar. but later on, Shaams khan didn’t destroyed the fort instead he started fortification of fort. Kumbha rode to Nagaur again and  defeated Shaams khan.  The Maharana now demolished the fortification of Nagaur and thus carried out his long-cherished design

The gate you can find in Kumbhalgarh, with an image of Hanuman known as “Hanuman pol” is the gate he took off from the fort of nagaur.

6) Siege of Mandsaur (1520)

This was the biggest seige of Gujarat and Malwa sultanate on the Rajput confederates. Malik Ayaz of Gujarat sultanate led a massive army of 100,000 cavalry and  100 war elephants and another army led by Qiwam-ul-mulk consisted 20,000 cavalry and 20 war elephants, they advanced to Mewar with the intention of taking Mewar under the islamic sultanate.

The sultans army ravaged Dungarpur and moved forward for Banswara, on the way they faced a small resistance by the rajputs in the hills. the army moved to the fort of Mandsaur which was then, under control of Mewar’s king Rana Sanga. the governor of the fort Asoka mal was killed in combat. As soon as Maharana heard about the seige in Mandsaur he left Chittor for Mandsaur along with the support of Medini Rai, Raja Sihadi, and Tomar Raisen with thousands of cavalry.

both the sides were having a large number of troops the bloodiest battle was about to be faught but Malik ayaz backed off in consequence of ill feeling and no advancements were made. for this decision he was often called a coward.

5) The siege of Chittor (1303)

After suppressing the Mongol invasions using brutal force, Khilji began the expansion of his empire by the subjugation of Gujarat in 1299 CE and then Ranthambhor in Rajastan in 1301 CE. After these invasions, Khilji turned his attention towards Chittorgarh in Mewar, Rajasthan, ruled by Ratan Singh. There are believed to be two reasons behind why Kihilji attacked Chttorgarh. The first was that Khilji was enraged at Ratan Singh for not letting his armies march through Mewar to reach Gujarat and as legend had it, Alauddin Khilji had heard of the ethereal beauty of Queen Padmini, Ratan Singh’s wife and he wanted her to be part of his harem.

Alauddin Khilji first demanded to have a glance of Rani Padmini in the mirror who was famous throughout the region for her beauty. with the allowance of Rani, khilji was allowed to have a look through mirror at Rani Padmini. mesmerised by her beauty he was determined to secure her for his harem. later on he also demanded Ratan singh to accompany him to Delhi, this was a trick and Ratan Singh was captured by Alaudin, camped outside the fort.

Upon hearing this news, Rajput generals, Gora and Badal, decided to trick Khilji and had word sent to Khilji that Padmini would be sent to him the following morning. The next morning at daybreak 150 palanquins left Ratan Singh’s fort onwards to Alauddin’s camp. The palanquins stopped before the tent in which Ratan Singh was being held captive and Ratan Singh who thought that Queen Padmini had come in the palanquins was extremely embarrassed. But to his surprise, not his queen but armed soldiers came out of the palanquins. the men freed Ratan Singh and escaped towards Chittorgarh using Khilji’s horses.

when Khilji heard of Ratan Singh’s escape he decided to storm the fort of Chittor and Ratan Singh along with the Rajput rulers of nearby regions whom Rani Padmini sent a rakhi to ask for help gathered to fight against the army of Alauddin Khilji. It was an unequal battle in which the rajput army  was defeated and Rani Padmini along with the other women of the fort committed Jauhar as they knew it was an impossible battle for the Rajputs.

After this grand victory Alauddin Khilji entered the fort, but was horrified to see only ashes and bones of the dead women.

4) Battle of Rajasthan (712-740 A.D)

The battle of Rajasthan is actually a local term used to describe the series of battles fought  by the armies of  Bappa Rawal, Vikramaditya II of chalukya dynasty, Nagabhata of Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty against the rising Arab power of Umayyad and Abbasid caliphate  led by Junayd Ibn abd-al Rahman al-Murri .

The Arab expansion was at its peak when they had a control over middle east, north Africa and southern Europe including Spain everything they touched came in their control. but when this powerful army faced the resistance of western Indian rulers things were different and the boundaries of the Arabian empire was limited to Sindh.

It was a decisive win for the Indian rulers and the reason why India is not a complete Islamic country.

3) Siege of Chittor (1567/1568)

The Rajput began to emerge as a dominant power after the defeat of the Lodi dynasty. In october 1567, Emperor Akbar led a massive army 80,000 soldiers equipped with cannons, swivel guns, matchlocks and well trained 5,000 war elephants. Akbar knew that attacking Chittorgarh Fort directly would end in the defeat of Mughals because of Rajput’s support to Maharana Pratap in the event. He ordered a siege of the fort of Chittor from all sides to cut off supplies from outside to demoralize the Rajputs.

The fort was well fortified and its walls seems to be rising from with the stone of mountain, Akbar’s cannons and mortars were unable to damage the fort from a lower height so he ordered the soldiers to build a mountain right in front of fort which can be still found as mohur hill or sikkar pahad  (mohur or sikkar means coin, the reason it was called coin hill is because every soldier was awarded one coin for one load of mud dumped) with the sufficient height of the hill Akbar’s army was able to fire cannons and mortars into the fort but it wasn’t enough to break the stone wall of the fort. after this failed attempt Akbar tried to dig a hole beneath the earth and breech the fort that also didn’t worked out and also killed few of Akbar’s men.

Akbar’s army was suffering and Akbar finally decided to lay siege on the fort with 60,000 men and somehow luckily Akbar himself got a shot on Rajput commander Jaimal which demoralised the Rajput army. it took 4 months for the mughal siege to sack the fort of Chittorgarh and  About 25,000 people were massacred who helped the resistance, the women immolated themselves by the rite of jauhar.

 The Rajput king Udai singh II escaped the fort with his family Akbar then ordered the heads of his enemies to be displayed upon towers erected throughout the region, in order to demonstrate his authority and his victory over the Chittorgarh.

2) Battle of Haldighati (1576)

The most glorious battle, the battle that is pride of Mewar and Rajasthan The Battle of Haldighati was fought in Haldighati, Rajasthan on 18 or 21 June 1576 for around four hours between Rana of Mewar, Maharana Pratap and Mughal Emperor Akbar’s forces led by Man Singh I. Mughal army had 40,000 soldiers while Rana had 22,000 arround half as compared to Mughal army. Pratap’s army was divided into a Harawal (front portion) led by Hakim Khan Sur, Chadrawal (back portion) led by Rao Poonja(Bheel General), left adjacent led by Jhala Mansingh, and south (right) adjacent led by Ramshah Tanwar (Ruler of Gwalior). Pratap himself was in the centre of the formation along with his minister Bhamashah and brother Tarachandra. An infantry of Bheels were stationed in the surrounding mountains.

the battle was fought in a traditional way between horses and elephants as Mughals couldn’t bring artilleries in rough terrain. the Rajputs were at an advantage. their impetuous attack led to a crumbling of the Mughal left and right wings and put pressure on the center until reserves, but a rumor of Akbar’s arrival turned the tide, and resulted in a Rajput retreat. The heat, and fear of ambush in the hills, resulted in the Mughals deciding not to pursue the Rajputs into the hills. Thus this battle failed to break the existing stalemate. After the battle and Akbar captured many Rajput forts including the Mewari capital Udaipur.

Though the outnumbered Rajputs lost the battle but the songs and stories of this epic battle will be sung for ages to come as this was the perfect example of bravery of Rajputs.

1) Battle of Khanwa (1527)

This battle fought between the Rajput confederates and the mughal Empire was the 2nd most decisive battle fought in history of modern India after the battle of Panipat. The reason this battle is the most decisive battle in history of Rajasthan is because this was the reason that led to consolidation of Mughal empire in India.

Initially, Rajput Maharana Sanga of Mewar saw it as an opportunity to defeat Ibrahim lodi of the lodi dynasty who was the ruler of India and so he pledged an allegiance with Babur and the plan was that Babur will attack Delhi and Rana Sanga will attack Agra which was in control of lodi Dynasty. Ibrahim Lodi was succesfully defeated at Delhi by Babur but no move was made by Rana Sanga and hence he breached the agreement. Babur knew that Rajputs were a threat to Mughal empire and soon he started hearing news of Sanga marching towards Agra with the allegiance of mahmud Lodi of Lodi dynasty.

The Battle of Khanwa took place at Khanwa, near Fatehpur-Sikri, on 16 March 1527. Babur was much familiar with the battlefield as this has always been his strategy to examine the battleground thoroughly before the battle to get the full advantage from it.  a strong offensive-defensive formation had been prepared by Babur. Rajput army was much more in numbers arround 1,00,000 with 500 war elephants compared to mughals 68,000 but what Rajput army lacked was 50 modern artileries and matchlocks which played a vital role in deciding the fate of the war. Rana Sanga, fighting in a traditional way, attacked the Mughal army’s flanks. The carts and matchlockmen were ordered to advance, hemming in the Rajputs and their allies. Despite putting up a gallant fight, Rana Sanga and his allies suffered a disastrous defeat. after a great victory Babur ordered a tower of enemy skulls to be erected not only to show off the victory but also to threaten the other enemies.

The Battle of Khanwa demonstrated that RajpThe Battle of Khanwa demonstrated that Rajput bravery was not enough to counter Babur’s superior generalship and organizational skills. Babur himself commented: “Swordsmen though some Hindustanis may be, most of them are ignorant and unskilled in military move and stand, in soldierly counsel and procedure”.

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