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Battle of Haldighati

Coordinates: 24°53′32″N 73°41′52″E / 24.8921711°N 73.6978065°E / 24.8921711; 73.6978065
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Mughal-Rajput wars

Painting of the traditional account of the battle by Chokha of Devgarh, 1822
Date18 June 1576
Location
Khamnor (Haldighati), Rajsamand district, Rajasthan (near Nathdwara)
24°53′32″N 73°41′52″E / 24.8921711°N 73.6978065°E / 24.8921711; 73.6978065
Result Rajputs won[1]
Belligerents
Mewar Mughal Empire
Commanders and leaders
Strength
3,000 cavalry
400 Bhil Archers
Unknown number of elephants		 10,000 men
Unknown number of elephants[2]
Casualties and losses
1,600 dead or wounded 150 dead
350 wounded
Battle of Haldighati is located in Rajasthan
Battle of Haldighati
class=notpageimage|
Location within Rajasthan

The Battle of Haldighati was a battle fought on 18 June 1576 between cavalry and archers supporting the Rana of Mewar, Maharana Pratap, and the Mughal emperor Akbar's forces, led by Man Singh I of Amber. The Mughals were the victors and inflicted significant casualties among the Mewaris but failed to capture Pratap, who escaped.[3]

The siege of Chittorgarh in 1568 had led to the loss of the fertile eastern belt of Mewar to the Mughals. However, the rest of the wooded and hilly kingdom was still under the control of the Rana. Akbar was intent on securing a stable route to Gujarat through Mewar; when Pratap Singh was crowned king (Rana) in 1572, Akbar sent a number of envoys entreating the Rana to become a vassal like many other Rajput leaders in the region. When the Rana refused to personally submit to Akbar, war became inevitable.

The site of the battle was a narrow mountain pass at Haldighati near Gogunda in Rajasthan. Maharana Pratap fielded a force of around 3,000 cavalry and 400 Bhil archers. The Mughals were led by Raja Man Singh of Amber, who commanded an army numbering around 10,000 men according to Persian sources, Mewari sources give an account of 80,000 Mughal troops against the 20,000 strong Mewari army. While both accounts differ significantly in total numbers, they agree on the point that the Mughal army outnumbered the Mewari troops by a factor of four to one. [4] After initial successes by the Mewari army in battle, the tide slowly turned against them. In a fierce battle in which Pratap found himself wounded, he called a tactical retreat. A few of his men under Jhala Man Singh covered the retreat in a rearguard action.[5]

Background

After his accession to the throne, Akbar had steadily settled his relationship with most of the Rajput states, with the exception of Mewar, acknowledged as the leading state in Rajasthan[citation needed]. The Rana of Mewar, who was also the head of the distinguished Sisodia clan, had refused to submit to the Mughal. This had led to the siege of Chittorgarh in 1568, during the reign of Udai Singh II, ending with the loss of a sizeable area of fertile territory in the eastern half of Mewar to the Mughals. When Rana Pratap succeeded his father on the throne of Mewar, Akbar dispatched a series of diplomatic embassies to him, entreating the Rajput king to become his vassal. Besides his desire to resolve this longstanding issue, Akbar wanted the woody and hilly terrain of Mewar under his control to secure lines of communication with Gujarat.[6][7]

The first emissary was Jalal Khan Qurchi, a favoured servant of Akbar, who was unsuccessful in his mission. Next, Akbar sent Man Singh of Amber (later, Jaipur), a fellow Rajput of the Kachhwa clan, whose fortunes had soared under the Mughals. But he too failed to convince Pratap. Raja Bhagwant Das was Akbar's third choice, and he fared better than his predecessors. Rana Pratap was swayed sufficiently to don a robe presented by Akbar and sent his young son, Amar Singh, to the Mughal court. This was, however, deemed unsatisfactory by Akbar, who wanted the Rana himself to submit to him in person. A final emissary, Todar Mal, was sent to Mewar without any favourable outcome. With diplomacy having failed, war was inevitable.[6][7]

Prelude

Rana Pratap, who had been secure in the rock-fortress of Kumbhalgarh, set up his base in the town of Gogunda near Udaipur. Akbar deputed the Kachhwa, Man Singh, to battle with his clan's hereditary adversaries, the Sisodias of Mewar. Man Singh set up his base at Mandalgarh, where he mobilised his army and set out for Gogunda. Around 14 miles (23 km) north of Gogunda lay the village of Khamnor, separated from Gogunda by a spur of the Aravalli Range called "Haldighati" for its rocks which, when crushed, produced a bright yellow sand resembling turmeric powder (haldi). The Rana, who had been apprised of Man Singh's movements, was positioned at the entrance of the Haldighati pass, awaiting Man Singh and his forces.[a][9] The battle commenced three hours after sunrise on 18 June 1576.[10]

Army strength

Mewari tradition has it that the Rana's forces numbered 20,000, which were pitted against the 80,000-strong army of Man Singh. While Jadunath Sarkar agrees with the ratio of these numbers, he believes them to be just as exaggerated as the popular story of Rana Pratap's horse, Chetak, jumping upon Man Singh's war elephant.[11] Jadunath Sarkar gives the Mughal army as 10,000 strong.[4] Satish Chandra estimates that Man Singh's army consisted of 5,000–10,000 men, a figure which included both the Mughals and the Rajputs.[9]

According to Al Badayuni, who witnessed the battle, the Rana's army counted amongst its ranks 3,000 horsemen and around 400 Bhil archers led by Punja, the chieftain of Merpur. No infantry are mentioned. Man Singh's estimated forces numbered around 10,000 men.[4] Of these, 4,000 were members of his own clan, the Kachhwas of Jaipur, 1,000 were other Hindu reserves, and 5,000 were Muslims of the Mughal imperial army.[4]

Both sides possessed war elephants, but the Rajputs bore no firearms. The Mughals fielded no wheeled artillery or heavy ordnance, but did employ quite a number of muskets.[4]

Army formation

Rana Pratap's estimated 800-strong van was commanded by Hakim Khan Sur with his Afghans, Bhim Singh of Dodia, and Ramdas Rathor (son of Jaimal, who defended Chittor). The right wing was approximately 500-strong and was led by Ramshah Tanwar, the erstwhile king of Gwalior, and his three sons, accompanied by minister Bhama Shah and his brother Tarachand. The left wing is estimated to have fielded 400 warriors, including Bida Jhala[b] and his clansmen of Jhala. Pratap, astride his horse, led some 1,300 soldiers in the centre. Bards, priests, and other civilians were also part of the formation and took part in the fighting. The Bhil bowmen brought up the rear.[12]

The Mughals placed a contingent of 85 skirmishers on the front line, led by Sayyid Hashim of Barha. They were followed by the vanguard, which comprised a complement of Kachhwa Rajputs led by Jagannath, and Central Asian Mughals led by Bakhshi Ali Asaf Khan. A sizeable advance reserve led by Madho Singh Kachhwa came next, followed by Man Singh himself with the centre. The Mughal left wing was commanded by Mulla Qazi Khan (later known as Ghazi Khan) of Badakhshan and Rao Lonkarn of Sambhar and included the Shaikhzadas of Fatehpur Sikri, kinsmen of Salim Chisti. The strongest component of the imperial forces were stationed in the pivotal right wing, which comprised the Sayyids of Barha. Lastly, the rear guard under Mihtar Khan stood well behind the main army.[13]

When army commingled with army
They stirred up the resurrection-day upon earth.
Two oceans of blood shocked together:
The soil became tulip-coloured from the burning waves.

A depiction of the traditional account of the battle by the painter Chokha, c. 1810 – c. 1820.[15]

Battle

The attack of the Rana led to the crumbling of the Mughal army's wings and centre. Abul Fazl says that the Mughal army was forced to retreat in the initial phase of the battle, however they soon rallied near a place called Rati-Talai (later called Rakt Talai).[16] Abul Fazl also says that this place was close to Khamnor while Badayuni says that the final battle took place at Gogunda.[16] When the battle got intense, Mihtar Khan spread a rumour about the arrival of the Emperor's army,[17] this raised the morale of the Mughal army and turned the battle in their favour, while also adversely affecting the Mewar army. The Mewar nobles upon finding the day lost, prevailed upon the Rana to leave the battlefield. A Jhala chieftain called Man Singh took the Rana's place and donned some of his royal emblems by which the Mughals mistook him for the Rana. Man Singh Jhala was eventually killed, however his act of bravery gave the Rana enough time to safely retreat.[16]

Casualties

There are different accounts of the casualties in the battle.

  • According to Jadunath Sarkar, the contemporary Mewari sources counted 46% of its total strength, or roughly 1,600 men, among the casualties.[c]
  • According to Abul Fazl and Nizamuddin Ahmed, 150 of the Mughals met their end, with another 350 wounded while the Mewar army lost 500 men.[19]
  • Badayuni says that 500 men were killed in the battle, of which 120 were Muslims.[19]
  • Later Rajasthani chroniclers have raised the casualties to 20,000 in order to emphasize the scale of the battle.[19]

There were Rajput soldiers on both sides. At one stage in the fierce struggle, Badayuni asked Asaf Khan how to distinguish between the friendly and enemy Rajputs. Asaf Khan replied, "Shoot at whomsoever you like, on whichever side they may be killed, it will be a gain to Islam."[20][21] K.S. Lal cited this example to estimate that Hindus died in large numbers as soldiers for their Muslim masters in medieval India.[22]

Aftermath

With Rana Pratap able to make a successful escape, the battle failed to break the deadlock between the two powers. Subsequently, Akbar led a sustained campaign against the Rana, and soon, Goganda, Udaipur, and Kumbhalgarh were all under his control. Pressure was exerted by the Mughals upon the Rana's allies and other Rajput chiefs, and he was slowly but surely both geographically and politically isolated. The Mughals' focus shifted to other parts of the empire after 1579, which allowed Rana Pratap to recover much of the lost territory in the western parts of his kingdom.[23] Chittor and the rest of eastern Mewar continued to remain under Mughal control.[18][24]

Reception

According to Satish Chandra, the Battle of Haldighati was, at best, "an assertion of the principle of local independence" in a region prone to internecine warfare.[25] Honour was certainly involved. But it was the honour of Maharana Pratap at stake, not Rajput or Hindu honour.[26]

Notes

  1. ^ Sarkar and a few other sources prefer to call the spur Haldighat rather than Haldighati.[8]
  2. ^ Sarkar also names him Bida Mana.
  3. ^ According to Sarkar, "On the generally accepted calculation that the wounded are three times as many as the slain, the Mewar army that day endured casualties to the extent of 46 per cent of its total strength." Assuming that the total strength being spoken of here is 3,400, 46% would give a figure of 1,564 which has been rounded to 1,600.[18]

References

  1. ^ https://theprint.in/theprint-essential/why-battle-of-haldighati-between-maharana-pratap-and-akbar-is-controversial-445-years-later/677733/
  2. ^ "Akbarnama by Abu'l Fazl". Archived from the original on 13 September 2017. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  3. ^ Jacques, Tony (2006). Dictionary of Battles and Sieges. Greenwood Press. p. 428. ISBN 978-0-313-33536-5. Archived from the original on 26 June 2015. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  4. ^ a b c d e Sarkar 1960, p. 77.
  5. ^ Singh, Kesri (2002). Maharana Pratap: The Hero of Haldighati. Books Treasure. p. 80-81.
  6. ^ a b Sarkar 1960, p. 75.
  7. ^ a b Chandra 2005, pp. 119–120.
  8. ^ Sarkar 1960, pp. 75–77.
  9. ^ a b Chandra 2005, p. 120.
  10. ^ Sarkar 1960, p. 80.
  11. ^ Sarkar 1960, p. 77–78.
  12. ^ Sarkar 1960, pp. 78–79.
  13. ^ Sarkar 1960, p. 78.
  14. ^ Abu'l-Fazl. "PHI Persian Literature in Translation". persian.packhum.org. Archived from the original on 13 September 2017. Retrieved 15 July 2017.
  15. ^ Royal Asiatic Society.
  16. ^ a b c Hooja, Rima (2006). A History of Rajasthan. Rupa & Company. pp. 469–470.
  17. ^ Chandra, Satish (2006). Medieval India: From Sultanat to the Mughals Part - II. Har Anand. p. 120.
  18. ^ a b Sarkar 1960, p. 83.
  19. ^ a b c Hooja, Rima (2018). Maharana Pratap: The Invincible Warrior. Juggernaut. p. 117. ISBN 9789386228963. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
  20. ^ Smith, Akbar the Great Mogul, pp.108–109.
  21. ^ Lal, Studies in Medieval Indian History, pp.171–172.
  22. ^ Lal, Kishori Saran. Indian Muslims:Who Are They. New Delhi. ISBN 8185990107. ch. 5. Factors Contributing to the Growth of Muslim Population.
  23. ^ Chandra 2005, pp. 121–122.
  24. ^ Vanina, Eugenia (October 2019). "Monuments to Enemies? 'Rajput' Statues in Mughal Capitals". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. 29 (4): 683–704. doi:10.1017/S1356186319000415. ISSN 1356-1863.
  25. ^ Chandra 2005, pp. 121.
  26. ^ Eraly 2000, p. 144.

Sources

Mughal-era historians on the battle

(Rana Pratap is referred to as Rana Kika in many of these sources.)

Others

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