Rana Sanga

Sanga was born to the Sisodia king Rana Raimal in 1482.[4] He was a grandson of Rana Kumbha. Sanga became the ruler of Mewar after a battle for succession with his brothers.[5] He lost his one eye in combat with his elder brother Prithviraj. It was during his rule that Mewar reached its pinnacle in power and prosperity.[4]

As the ruler of Mewar, he united the warring clans of Rajputana and formed a powerful confederacy, uniting the Rajputs after a period of 300 years. Babur, the founder of the Mughal Empire, says in his memoirs that Rana Sanga was the most powerful sovereign in Hindustan when he invaded it, and that "he attained his present high eminence by his own valour and sword." Eighty thousand horses, 7 Rajas of the highest rank, 9 Raos and 104 chieftains bearing the titles of Rawal and Rawat, with 500 war elephants, followed him into the field.[6] Sanga was said to have fought a 100 battles and lost his eye, arm and leg in the various struggles.[7]

The Battle of Gagron was fought in 1519 between the combined Muslim forces of Gujarat and Malwa against the Rajput Confederacy led by Rana Sanga near Gagron in Rajasthan.[8] The victory of the Rajput confederacy put them in control of most of the Malwa along with Chanderi fort. The conquest of Malwa became easier for Rana Sanga largely due to support from powerful Rajput leaders like Silhadi and Medini Rai. Medini Rai made Chanderi his capital and became a trusted vassal of Rana Sanga.[9] Rana Sanga advanced with a large army from Chittor reinforced by the Rathors of Merta under Rao Viramdeva, and met Mahmud Khalji II accompanied by the Gujarat auxiliaries under Asaf Khan. As soon as the battle started the Rajput cavalry made a fierce charge through the Gujarat Cavalry, with the few remnants that survived scattering.[10] The Rajput cavalry after routing the Gujarat reinforcements turned towards the Malwa army. The Sultan's forces were unable to withstand the Rajput cavalry charge and sustained a complete defeat. Most of his officers were killed and the army was nearly annihilated. Asaf Khan's son was killed, and Asaf Khan himself sought safety in flight. Sultan Mahmud was taken prisoner, wounded and bleeding.[11] After the victory and restoring Hindu rule in Malwa, Sanga order Rai to remove Jizya tax from Hindus of the region.[12]

On the question of the succession of the state of Idar, the Sultan of Gujarat, Muzaffar Shah, and the Rana supported rival claimants. In 1520, Sanga established Raimal on the Idar throne, with Muzaffar Shah sending an army to install his ally Bharmal. Sanga himself arrived in Idar and the Sultan's army was beaten back. Rana pursued the Gujarati army and plundered the towns of Ahmadnagar and Visnagar of Gujarat, chasing the Sultan's army as far as Ahmedabad.[13]

Ibrahim Lodi, after hearing the news of encroachments by Sanga on his territory, prepared an army and marched against Mewar in 1517. The Rana with his army met Lodi at Khatoli on borders of Hadoti and in the ensuing Battle at Khatoli, Lodi army suffered serious reverses and fled. One Lodi prince was captured and imprisoned. The Rana himself was wounded in the battle.[14][15]

Ibrahim Lodi, to avenge the defeat, sent an army under his commander against Sanga. The Rana again routed Lodi army near Dholpur and pursued the Lodis up to Bayana. In the aftermath of these victories, Sanga annexed territory up to Fatehpur Sikri, within strike of the Lodi capital of Agra. All the parts of Malwa which were captured by the Lodis from Malwa Sultans were annexed by Sanga, including Chanderi. He bestowed Chanderi to Medini Rai.[4]

On 21 April 1526, the Timurid king Babur invaded India for the fifth time and defeated Ibrahim Lodhi in the First Battle of Panipat and executed him. After the battle, Sanga unified several Rajput clans for the first time since Prithviraj Chauhan and built an army of 100,000 Rajputs and advanced to Agra.[16]

Rana Sanga, fighting in a traditional manner, charged the Mughal ranks. His army was shot down in great numbers by the Mughal muskets, the noise of the muskets further caused fear amongst the horses and elephants of the Rajput army, causing them to trample their own men.[7] Rana Sanga finding it impossible to attack the Mughal centre, ordered his men to attack the Mughal flanks. The fighting continued on the two flanks for three hours, during which the Mughals fired at the Rajput ranks with muskets and arrows while the Rajputs could only retaliate in close quarters.[7] "Band after band of the Pagan troops followed each other to help their men, so we in our turn sent detachment after detachment to reinforce our fighters on that side". Babur did make attempts to use his famous taulqama or pincer movement, however his men were unable to complete it, twice they pushed the Rajputs back however due to the relentless attacks of the Rajput horsemen they were forced to retreat to their positions. At about this time, Silhadi of Raisen deserted the Rana's army and went over to Babur.[7] The defection of Silhadi forced the Rana to change his plans and issue new orders. During this time, the Rana was shot by a bullet and fell unconscious, causing great confusion in the Rajput army and a lull in the fighting for a short period. Babur has written this event in his memoirs by saying "the accursed infidels remained confounded for one hour".[7] A Jhala chieftain called Ajja acted as the Rana and led the Rajput army, while the Rana was hidden by a circlement of his trusted men. Jhala Ajja proved to be a poor general, as he continued the attacks on the Mughal flanks while ignoring his weak centre.[7] The Rajputs continued their attacks but failed to break the Mughal flanks[17] and their centre was unable to do anything against the fortified Mughal centre. Jadunath Sarkar has explained the struggle in the following words: "In the centre the Rajputs continued to fall without being able to retaliate in the least or advance to close grips. They were hoplessly outlclassed in weapon and their dense masses only increased their hopeless slaughter, as every bullet found its billet." Babur, after noticing the weak Rajput centre, ordered his men to take the offensive. The Mughal attack pushed the Rajputs back and forced the Rajput commanders to rush to the front, resulting in the death of many.[7] The Rajputs were now leaderless as most of their senior commanders were dead and their unconsious king had been moved out of the battle. They made a desperate charge on the Mughal left and right flanks like before, "here their bravest were mown down and the battle ended in their irretrievable defeat".[7] The Rajputs and their allies had been defeated, dead bodies could be found as far as Bayana, Alwar and Mewat. The Mughals were too exhausted after the long fight to give chase and Babur himself gave up the idea of invading Mewar.[7]

Following his victory, Babur ordered a tower of enemy skulls to be erected, a practice formulated by Timur against his adversaries, irrespective of their religious beliefs. According to Chandra, the objective of constructing a tower of skulls was not just to record a great victory, but also to terrorize opponents. Earlier, the same tactic had been used by Babur against the Afghans of Bajaur.[18] The battle was more historic than Panipat as it made Babur undisputed master of North India while crushing the threatening and reviving Rajput powers.[19]

According to K.V Krishna Rao, Rana Sanga wanted to overthrow Babur, because he considered him to be a foreigner ruling in India and also to extend his territories by annexing Delhi and Agra, the Rana was supported by some Afghan chieftains who felt that Babur had been deceptive towards them.[20] The Rana attacked the Mughal advance guard on 21 February 1527 and decimated it. Reinfocements sent by Babur met the same fate.[21] However, on 30 January 1528, Sanga died in Chittor, apparently poisoned by his own chiefs who held his plans of renewing the fight with Babur to be suicidal.[22] It is suggested that had there not been the cannons of Babur, Sanga might have achieved a historic victory against Babur. The historian Pradeep Barua notes that Babur's cannons had put an end to the outdated trends in Indian warfare.[23]

• Sarda, Har Bilas (1970). Maharana Sāngā, the Hindupat: The Last Great Leader of the Rajput Race. Kumar Bros. ISBN 978-9-38060-734-4.