Hello friends, today I am really excited to share the Biography on Historical King who kept his kingdom unconquered through his military skills. He was none other than Maharana Pratap, the protector of Mewad.
Introduction to Maharana Pratap History
We are so fortunate that we have real heroes of nation that continuously encourage youth.
Maharana Pratap History is very important in the History of India. He makes us realize the importance of freedom and we should fight for it. Furthermore, He was always an ideal person who sacrificed his whole life for the nation.
Let’s start with the meaning of Maharana,
Maharana was a Rajaputi title used for kings in Rajasthan, assumed as a sign of pride, perseverance, gallantry.
Rather, Rajasthan state was known for the land of heroes, as there were so many freedom fighters who fought for their motherland.
Therefore, the History of India remains incomplete without reading History of Rajasthan. Above all, Mewar was a Historical state where the rule of Sisodia dynasty was there since the medieval period of History.
Sisodiya Dynasty
Most noteworthy, the Origin of the Sisodia dynasty in Rajasthan was assumed as dynasty from Prabhu Shri Ram in Ramayana. Mewar state was famous from during the reign of Maharana Kumbha, Maharana Ratan Singh, Maharana Pratap. Maharana Pratap Singh was a very popular and famous freedom fighter in the History of India.
Childhood of Maharana Pratap
The cold war with Envious Traitors
As expected, Pratap was very valiant from his childhood. His stepmother always tried to keep Pratap away from the throne.
Pratap was very humble, brave, and his clean character made him very favourite among people. Because of his popularity, envious peoples always tried to kill him.
There were also traitors inside in his family. They always tried to remain anonymous. Pratap had so much faith in his family. One of his brother Shakti Singh was also envious, and he had never matched up with Pratap.
The first battle of Pratap
Likewise, Pratap was always enthusiastic about battles and he fought his first battle when he was just 14 years old.
Marriage
According to tradition, Pratap married to Ajabdi Baisa in childhood. Ajabdi Bai was a daughter of a commander in the durbar of Udai Singh- II. Pratap had to marry several times in his life for political alliance.
Battle of Chittorgarh
The encirclement of Chittorgarh by Mughal troops in 1568 is one of the big battles of Maharana Pratap. Due to lack of food supply for a long time, worse conditions inside of the fort.
So, instead of dying due to lack of food, Pratap and his troops decided to fight against Mughal. Rajput people knew it as “Saka”. In the battle, Mughal troops are several times the Rajput troops.
Though they fought the battle furiously. Due to the number difference, they had to take shelter in the Aravali hills. Though Chittorgarh and Mewar did not remain in their kingdom, there was the region around Aravali hills that came under in his Kingdom.
Maharana Pratap History at Udaipur
Glorious Johar Kund & Brave Women who remained Unconquered
Wives of courtiers and their maids jumped into the fire well. Rajput royal people made this tradition because of tyrannic behavior that used to happen after losing a war. According to Rajput royal tradition, they called it “Johar”. They sacrificed their lives to keep their self-esteem, pride, cherished principles.
As mentioned in History, inside the Chittorgarh fort there were around 30,000 people slaughtered. After this war, the emergency royal treasury was used to prepare new troops, purchase new weapons, and develop their new capital.
According to some people and books, they give the title Akbar-The Great. I want to ask those people was Akbar really great? If he was really great, then why did he kill those innocent peoples?
In particular, I especially want to mention that, despite being cruel, some people wrote books that were written to make Akbar so great. Like the biography of Akbar, Akbarnama was written by the court historian, Abul Fazl.
Now please you decide, had Akbar given him the freedom to write anything he wants? Of course, as it was his autobiography, but still, if he did anything wrong, it should be mentioned in the book.
So, if we really get into the depth of Indian History, then you will conclude, Akbar-The Peak of Cruelty and Maharana Pratap – The Great.
Real History has always remained hidden from the world. We really need to disclose real history before actual evidence vanishes.
Battle of Haldighati
Akbar always wanted to bow down Maharana Pratap in front of him. He sent several Rajput envoys to Udaipur durbar to convince Pratap. Every time he refused to come under the Mughal influence with some arguments.
Akbar had planned to separate Rajputs and use them in the upcoming battles as a chess piece. As he realized that’s not possible, he declared war against Maharana Pratap.
Why is it named as Haldighati Battlefield?
They named Haldighati after the yellow land, which appears like the color of turmeric and turmeric. Turmeric is called “Haladi” in Hindi. One more feature of this land is well-known for its hilly area. Hilly areas are known with the word “Ghati.” Hence, it’s called Haldighati. Because war happened in a hilly place that avoided direct confrontation war.
Maharana Pratap knew they did not have a large number of troops, so he planned to fight that battle in the Haldighati area. This war technique was known as Guerrilla Warfare. Later, these enemy war tactics were called Ganimi Kava in Marathi. Later, this technique of war was much more successfully used by Chhatrapati Shivaji Bhosale against the Mughals.
Importance of Udaipur
The Udaipur Fort was difficult to capture. Because on all sides of Udaipur there were hills surrounding it. It’s made the fort naturally difficult to conquer. Haldighati was also located in these hills.
Kumbhalgarh Fort
Forces leaders & commanders
Haldighati Battle is one of the famous battles fought by Maharana Pratap and Akbar. Man Singh-I led Mughals on behalf of Akbar. The battle began on 18th June 1576.
Maharana Pratap and his colleagues commanded Rajput forces. In contrast, Man Singh-I commanded Mughal forces.
Hakkim Khan Suri, Bhim Singh Dodiya, Ramdas Rathor, Bida Jhala, Bhama Shah, Ram Shah Tonwar, Tarachand, and Bhill Archer commander Punja were knights on the side of Maharana Pratap.
Hakkim Khan Suri was a Pathans from Iran. He had to take revenge on the Mughals, regarding his forefather.
Importance of Haldighati battle in Indian History
It is an ideal example of Hindu and Muslim joint struggle against the demonic Mughal rule. Haldighati was a hill where at most two people could pass through that pass, which was likely a favorable condition for Pratap.
Maharana Pratap fought that battle with courage. According to IndianHistorians, he had probably around 3400 troops and the Mughals had around 10,000 troops.
Attack of Maharana Pratap on Man Singh
Certainly, there was one incident that came when Maharana Pratap’s loyal horse named “Chetak” climbed on with its hooves on the proboscis of a war elephant of Man Singh-I, Pratap used to attack Mann Singh-I with a spear, but his stroke hit the elephant driver instead.
This attack was so powerful that the spear went through an elephant driver and pierced into umbrella of Man Singh-I. His luck saved Chief General Man Singh-I. For the second attack, there was no time for Maharana Pratap because Mughal forces encircled him.
Instantaneously, a similar looking soldier, Bida Jhala replaced Maharana Pratap. Bida Jhala took royal crown from Maharana quickly and told him to escape from the battlefield.
As Maharana Pratap had to continue his campaign against Mughal, he escaped from the battlefield in a fully wounded situation.
Loyal Chetak: The companion Horse of Pratap
While riding a horse out of battle, some Mughal troops followed Rana Pratap. Here came an incident regarding his faithful, loyal horse. A horse popularly known as “Chetak”. In battles, in order to take down horse-riders, it was very common to attack horses, elephants, camels.
The Mughal forces also attacked Chetak several times during the war. Hence, Chetak also totally gets injured during battle. One leg of Chetak was seriously wounded and unable to bear his own weight anymore. At that time, he really needed attention and rest to recover.
Forgetting his excruciating pain, Chetak was carried his master away at least 2 miles from the battlefield. After that, Chetak crossed a flooded river by jumping over it and saved its master. But, Chetak fell down and died due to that extreme step.
At this incident, Maharana Pratap sorrowed because Chetak was his favorite colleague from the start of his journey. As a result of the war, Pratap took shelter and lived in the hilly area for some time. But, Rana used Guerrilla Warfare techniques and continued the battle with the Mughals.
The dynasty of Maharana Pratap had one secret treasury protector from his ancestors. His name was Bhamasha Kawadiya, who protected the royal treasury from several generations. The ancestors of Mewad did that to face and recover from such a critical situation.
Akbar had some Agenda’s from the battle of Haldighati
Certainly, Akbar wanted to kill or capture Maharana Pratap. He wanted to capture Udaipur because it came under trading path from Gujarat to Delhi.
Ram Pol of Kumbhalgarh Fort
Practically, Mughals won the battle at the end, but they got nothing out of it. As certainly, Maharana Pratap had totally destroyed the aims of Akbar. You probably asked why? As an answer to the first wish, I don’t need to tell, right?
Still I want to clarify that how wishes of Akbar remained unfulfilled.
In a very short period of time, Maharana Pratap again captured several forts and Udaigarh fort under his control.
Features of Chittorgarh
- As Chittorgarh was the capital of Mewar state. This fort had an influence on fertile Mewar land.
- Also, this fort has fortified walls around it, and it was just impossible to break.
