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Resistance of Hammir of
Ranthambore
In 1299 Alauddin had attacked Jaisalmer. However, the attack on Jaisalmer was
a mere raid as compared to the invasion of Ranthambhor. Ranthambhor lies in
the S.E. corner of Rajasthan. It is situated on a rocky plateau, 1578 ft –
above the sea level. According to Amir Khusru, it was situated at a distance
of two week’s march from Delhi and was surrounded by a massive wall three kos
in circumference. In fact Ranthambore was the first state to be selected for
the trial of strength with the Rajputs; firstly, because of its proximity to
Delhi; secondly, because of its reputed impregnability. Added to these were a
handy excuse and a justification. The Mongol rebels, Mauhammad Shah and his
brother Kehbru, the leaders of the mutiny near Jalor, had been given shelter
by the Rana of Ranthambhor. Though contemporary historian gives this fact as a
cause for the invasion, circumstantial evidence supported by later writings
unmistakably does strengthen the hypothesis.
At the time of Alauddin’s invasion, Ranthambhor was ruled by the Chauhan
prince Hammir Deva, a direct descendant of renowned Prithviraj. Muslim
invaders had repeatedly tried to establish their authority in Ranthambhor but
without success. It was attacked by Qutbuddin Aibak in 1209 and was captured
by Iltutmish in 1226, but it regained its independence soon after. In 1291
Jalaluddin Khalji had marched against it but, finding the fortress
impregnable, had given up the idea of capturing it. But Alauddin was made of a
different stuff in 1300 he ordered his two generals. Ulugh Khan, governor of
Bayana and Nusrat Khan, governor of Kara, to invade Ranthambhore with the
forces at their command. The joint armies moved towards the Rajput stronghold
and on their way captured and plundered Jhain without encountering any
resistance. Before arriving at Ranthambhor, Ulugh sent a message to the
Chauhan prince that his master bore no grudge against the Rai and if the
latter either put the fugitives to death or surrendered them to him, the
Imperial armies would return to Delhi. He further argued that when his
suppliants had not proved faithful and loyal to the Delhi Sultan who had given
them life and honour, how could they be expected to behave otherwise towards
their new patron? In the end Hammira was asked to be ready for consequences in
case he refused to act in accordance with the instructions contained in the
letter.
But Hammir was not to be cowed down. Hammir Deva was directly connected with
Prithviraj Chauhan. He was the third son of Jait Singh and because of
meritorious record had ascended the throne of Ranthambhor in 1282 in the
lifetime of his father. He declined – to betray his guests into the hands of
those who were determined to kill them. He sent word that he did not want to
court the Sultan’s enmity, but he was not afraid of it either Nayachandra Suri
writes in the Hammir Mahakavya that the Rana’s fall was due to his wrong
economic policy. Rana had given an honorarium of two lacs besides large jagirs
to Muhammad Shah & Kehbru, and burden of this liberality had weighed heavily
on the people. Hammir Prabandha also says that the Rana gave wealth and jagirs
to Muhammad Shah. To the gallant Chauhan, the promise of shelter to the Mongol
nobles as well as the ancient glory of his house formed the severest
justification for accepting the challenge of the Muslim generals. Besides he
was no ordinary king; he had annexed to dominions as far off places as
Shivapur in Gwalior and Balvan in Kota. No wonder that Jalaluddin Khalji had
returned unsuccessful from Ranthambhor.
No sooner did Ulugh Khan receive Rana Hammir’s reply than he ordered his army
to march to the destination. He encamped in the neighborhood of the fortress,
and ordered construction of entrenchments and batteries (gargach). Arrada,
gargach, marjniq and poshib frequently occur in the description of warfare in
the medieval period. The first three were stone – throwing machines pashib
raised a platform constructed by sand and other materials to scale the walls
of the fort. By this time Hammir Deva had completed his preparation for
defence. Yahya estimates that the Rai had under his command 12,000 cavalry,
many famous elephants and innumerable footmen. According to Amir Khusru, the
Raja had about 10,000 flee foot horses. The Rajpus unceasingly sent forth
missiles and Nasrat Khan died at the main gate called Nawlakhi. The Muslim
camp went into mourning at the loss of such an able commander. Upon this the
valiant Rajputs, thinking the silence in the Imperial camp as a sign of its
having been overtaken by sense of a defeat, relinggquished their defensive
position, sallied forth from the fort, and attacked the besiegers. Ulugh Khan
could not withstand impact of the onslaught and fell back on Jhain. That
Alauddin had underrated the strength of the Rajputs, was clear to everybody.
Ulugh Khan duly reported to the Sultan the death of Nusrat Khan and the
retreat of the army from Ranthambhor, whereupon Alauddin decided to march in
person to the scene of action.
The Sultan left with a large army for Ranthambhor. On the way an unsuccessful
attempt was made on his life by his nephew Ikat Khan. A little later, Umar
Khan and Mangu Khan, rose in revolt in Badaon and Avadh, and one Haji Maula
started a rebellion in Delhi. But undaunted by these events, Alauddin marched
on and arrived at Ranthambhor. The investment of Ranthambhor had proved to be
a long drawn out affair. Meanwhile, a general like Nusrat Khan had perished,
attempts on the Sultan’s life had been made, and the empire had been convulsed
with a number of rebellions. And yet Alauddin’s determination to take the fort
had not faltered in the least. The army was reduced to extreme distress, but
not a single soldier dared to desert the camp for fear of the Sultan’s
imposing a fine of three year’s pay upon him. The country around had
altogether been ruined; a sprit of despair had begun to overtake the Imperial
troops. Cut off from the capital, the soldiery was certain in its belief that
they were destined to perish under the impregnable walls of Ranthambhor. In
secret Alauddin would deliberate with his confidential nobles about the causes
of the successive revolts and the seriousness of the situation, but outwardly
be showed as if nothing of importance had happened, and pressed the siege with
great vigor. The soldiers tried to fill the moat with logs of wood but these
were burnt down by faggots hurled from the fort. This device having failed,
and finding it impossible to reach the fort wall, the Sultan’s troops
concentrated on filling a small portion of the moat with sand and stone. When
bags fell shorts they used their trousers as bags and succeeded in erecting a
high mound, which almost reached the turrets of the fort. But the defenders
kept on throwing fire and missiles and succeeded in keeping the enemy away
from the battlements for two or three weeks more. At last provisions fell
short in the fortress and, soon famine raged to such an extent that one
“grain” of rice could be purchased only for two rattis of gold. According to
Hammir Mahakavya, Sarjan Shab, who bore enmity to Hammir, and who had been won
over by Alauddin, secretly placed cowhides in the provisions – store and thus
polluted the food – grains. ‘Man can bear every atecation but that of a
starving stomach’ says Amir Khusrau, and the valiant Rajputs could not bear
the pangs of hunger. In the imperial camp, on the other hand, gold was
distributed freely among the troops to give them fresh incentive fight. When
nothing remained in the fort except hardship, despair and starvation, the
heroic act of Jauhar was performed. A blazing fire was lit and the ladies of
the Rai, headed by the chief queen Ranga Devi, perished on pyre. The remnant
of the Rajput soldiery, their nobles and the king donned saffron garments and
dashed forth to engage the enemy in a last combat. A detailed description of
Hammir’s last fight is given in the Rajput sources. According to Hammir
Mahakavya, nine brave men fought by his side in his last hour, his brother
Viram, Tak Gangadhar, foru Mongol (brothers), Kshetra Singh Parmar and two
others. After Viram had been killed and Muhammad Shah had lost consciousness,
Hammir advanced to fight. The battle raged fiercely and blood flowed on all
sides. Muhammad Shah and Kehbru, greateful to the last to the Rajput king for
his hospitality and sacrifice, fought side by side with their patron. At last
the great Rana Hammir fell, fighting gallantly on the field of battle, as yet
in the prime of his life. Isami asserts that none of the Rajaas family members
was captured alive.
The gallant fight and death of Rana Hammir has been attributed by some writers
to his persistence (Hammir Hath) but it must be admitted that Hammir was one
of those gallant sons of Rajputana who fought valiantly against Muslim invader
to save the ever-cherished independence of his motherland. Once he had given
shelter to Mongol noblemen, he could never betray them into the hands of their
enemy. Hammir fought with sublime courage, and upheld the noble traditions of
the chivalrous race to which he belonged.
Ranthambhor had capitulated on Tuesday, 11th July 1301 (3 Zilquda 700 H). Its
fall had been accelerated by the defection of Ranmal and Ratipal, two
ministers of Hammir. Ranmal, who had gone to Alauddin to settle terms on
behalf of the Rajputs, agreed to desert to the Sultan, and obtained a written
undertaking from him granting him complete amnesty. Ranmal showed the document
to his Rajputs friends and some of them together with Ratipal left the
beleaguered garrison for the royal camp. But after Alauddin had captured the
fort, he punished the faithless Rajputs, Ranmal and Ratipal, saying that when
they had not proved true to their old patron they could not be expected to be
faithful to him. But Just the contrary was the treatment he accorded to Mir
Muhammad Shah, whose wounds he ordered to be dressed. Even in pangs of death,
that valiant soldier spurned the offer of attention. He openly insulted the
Sultan for which he was trampled under the feet of an elephant. But the Sultan
could never forget the bravery and integrity of the Mongol. Noble and gave him
a decent burial.
The surrender of Ranthambhor witnessed the usual zeal for inconoclasticism and
plunder. A number of temples, chief amongst which was the temple of Yahar Deo
(Har Deva), were razed to the ground. Many “temples and houses in the city
were destroyed” and “the center of Kufr became the abode of Islam”. The
fortress of Ranthambhor together with the territory of Jhain was entrusted to
the care of Ulugh Khan, and the Sultan returned to Delhi.
After the collapse of the Chauhan résistance at Ranthambhor, Alauddin Khalji
got busy fighting against the other states of Rajputana and against the
Mongols in Punjab and near Delhi.
After the conquest of Malwa, Alauddin sent his brilliant genera Malik Naib
Kafur to the south and he himself seized an opportunity to attack Scvana.
Sevana was then in possession of Parmar Rajput chief, Satal Deva. Satal Deva
had witnessed the mighty citadels of Ranthambhor and Chittor succumb to
onslaughts of the Khalji warlord, but still he refused to submit to the Delhi
Sultan. Satal Deva was a powerful and energetic ruler, he had defeated many
Rais in battle and a number of Rajput Ravats acknowleged his suzerainty.
The Sultan marched on 2nd July, 1308 ( 13 Muharram, 708 H) to chastise the
ruler of Sevana. On arrival there, he began the investment of the fort. The
right wing of the royal army was stationed on two sides, east and west, of the
battlement; the left wing was on the north; and the center was entrusted to
the command of Malik Kamaluddin “the wolf.” A constant shower off missiles was
kept up from the manjniqs but success was not in sight for a long time. The
royal forces resorted to many stratagems, but all in vain. The Rajputs
defended the fort stubbornly, threw fire and stone from the battlement, and
for months together “breath was choked, by the sounds of the Turki flutes and
Hindu bell”. When nothing seemed to avail, says Padmanabh, a trick was
resorted to. A trait named Bhaile was induced to indicate a passage to the
royal commander through which a manjniq was carried and it discharged a cow’s
head into the lake which supplied water and their fate sealed.
The Imperial forces succeeded in escalating the battlements of the citadel,
but after great difficulty. Satal Deva tried to Flee to Jalor, but ran into an
ambush and was done to death on 10th November, 1308 (23 Rabiul Avval, 708H)
the administration of Sevana was entrusted to Kamaluddin Gurg and Alauddin
returned to Delhi.
Capture of Jalor
Now Alauddin Khalji attacked Kanhad Deva, the Chauhan Raja of Jalor. Kanhad
Deva, also known by the names of Saligram, Gokalnath & Krishna III, was the
son of Som Singh, a dependent of the Solanki Bhim Deva of Gujarat. After
Sultan Alauddin had consolidated his authority in Marwar, Kanhad Deva’s
semi-independent status was construed as contumacy and, his country was
invaded.
Nainsi described two sieges of Jalor by Alauddin. The first occurred at the
time of the royal army’s return from Gujarat in 1298 and the second in 1311.
As the Sultan himself did not lead the forces to Gujarat, the details given by
Nainsi about the siege of 1298 may not be quite accepted, as he always refers
to king’s presence there. Farishta also mentions about the expeditions to
Jalor While describing the events of the year 704 H (A.D. 1304) Farishta
writes that as the imperial general Alap Khan and Nusrat Khan were returning
from the conquest of Malwa, they arrived at Jalor and Nahar Deo (Kanhad Deva),
taking lesson from the fate of Koka (of Malwa), offered his submission to the
Sultan without a show of resistance. The other invasion according to Farishta
came of in 1308 and was the outcome of a very curious incident. One day while
Kanhad was present in the court, he heard Alauddin say that there was no one
among the Hindu Rajas who could dare challenge the might of his arms. The
remarks pricked Kanhad’s sense of pride and he picked up the gauntlet,
retorting, “If I wage a war and do not come out successful, I may be killed”.
This effrontery enraged the Sultan and he ordered an invasion of Jalor, to
which Kanhad had already slipped to make preparation for war. Hajiuddhabir, a
cotemporary of Farishta, almost repeats the story, which appears to be
incredible. It is really strange that at one time Kanhad Deva hurries to Delhi
to pay homage to the king of his own accord, professes unflinching obedience
for four years, and then suddenly adopts such an insolent attitude that he
puts himself and his subjects in extreme jeopardy. An interesting reason has
been given by Nainsi. He say that a princess of Alauddins’s harem fell in love
with Viram, son of Kanhad Deva, who was on attendance at the court in place of
his father. Padmanabh in his Kanhadde Prbandh says that she was a daughter of
Sultan Alauddin and her name was Firoza. The Sultan and the ladies of the
harem first threatened the girl to change her mind, but finding her adamant,
Alauddin insisted on Viram to marry her. The young Rajput could never think of
marrying a “Turk” girl and left for jalor, promising to return with a wedding
party (barat) after some time. The Sultan suspected a ruse on the part of
Viram and kept a Rajput prince of the house as hostage. As was expected, Viram
never returned to marry the girl and the Sultan was so much incensed at his
treachery that he invaded Jalor. Neither the reasons given by Nainsi nor by
Farishta and Hajiuddabir are convincing. The real cause of the invasion was in
all certainly the determination of the Sultan to put an end to the
independence of Jalor as was done with the other states of Rajputana.
In short, a royal force was sent to Jalor in A.D. 1311. The name of the
commander of the expedition is not known but he does not seem to have been a
brave general. The Rajputs defeated the royalists in a number of engagements
and threw them back on many occasions. One thing is certain that the battle of
Jalor was terrible, and perhaps a prolonged one. According to the Gujarati
epic romance Kanhad de Prabhandh, the contest continued for some years, and
the imperialists met with a number of reverses.
The news of the humiliating retreats put the Sultan to his mettle and he sent
a strong force under the veteran, Malik Kamaluddin Gurg. On reaching Jalor,
Kamaluddin pressed the siege with unabated vigour. According to Padmanabh, one
Sejwal was tempted by royal gold to guide the royalists to a secret entrance
into the fort-Such meanness cost him his life at the hands of his wife, but it
facilitated the task of Kamaluddin. At last Gokalnath, his son Viram Deva and
their followers were killed in a close combat and the fortress was captured.
Maldeva, a brother of Kanhad Deva, survived the massacre that followed the
fall of Jailor. Later on, he was able to secure the goodwill of the Sultan,
who appointed him to take charge of Chittor from Khizra Khan.
Nainsi’s date (1311 – 12 A.D.) of the fall of Jalor is in conflict with that
of Farishta (1308 A.D.) In 1308 the conquest of Sevana was undertaken and a
large army was sent to the Deccan also. It is, therefore, probable that Jalor
was attacked at a later date. But Nainsi’s date find corroboration in the
Tirtha Kalpa of Jina Prabha Suri who says that in Sam vat 1367 i.e. 1310,
Alauddin destroyed the temple of Mahavira at Sanchor, a place near Jalor. The
destruction of this temple must have been a part of large enterprise, namely
the invasion of Jalor. Reu also concludes that Jalor capitulated in A.D. 1311.
it appears that Jalor resisted the invasion for long, and fought for many
years before it capitulated. The brave Chauhans of Jalor had kept up the
tradition. To commemorate this victory, Alauddin had a mosque erected in the
famous fort of Songir at Jalor which is still in existence.
With the capitulation of Jalor, almost all the leading states of Rajputana
have been subdued one after the other. Ever since Sultan Alauddin had embarked
upon the conquest of Ranthambhor in 1300, till the fall of Jalor in 1311, his
armies had constantly foutht in Rajasthan. There was tough resistance to his
attacks by all Rajputs (Chauhans included) and the valour of Rajputs could not
brook the insult of giving way to the enemy. The result was that bloody
battles were fought before each and every fortress. To enumerate the various
wars in Rajputana, then, is to repeat the horrors of blood and slaughter, of
gallant fight, of glorious martyrdom. Sometimes before a single citadel the
contest prolonged for years and ended in a general massacre of its population,
accompanied by the gruesome destruction of the womenfolk in the fire of jauhar. |
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