Initial life and Coronation of Maharana Pratap: Maharana Pratap was born on 9th may 1540 CE, in Kumbhalgarh fort. He was the eldest son of Mewar’s Maharana Udai Singh and Jaiwanta Bai. However Dheer Kanwar was another queen of Udai Singh. After the death of Udai Singh, Jagmal (Son of Dheer Kanwar) declared himself as the Maharana of Mewar, but the feudal lords supported Pratap and enthroned him on Mewar.
In this way on the day of Holi festival, coronation of Maharana Pratap was done on 28th Feb. 1572 CE in Gogunda. At the time of the coronation of Maharana Pratap the condition of Mewar was very bad. Due to remaining engaged in extended battles with the Mughals the political social and economic system of Mewar had deteriorated. Alongwith Chittor, most of the parts of Mewar had been occupied by the Mughals and Akbar wished to occupy the rest of the regions also.
After becoming the ruler, Pratap did not accept the sovereignty of Akbar contrary to other provinces such as Amer, Bikaner and Jaisalmer, rather he chose to give importance to the independence of his motherland and adhering to the prestige of his clan. He chose to fight against the Mughals.
With self confidence alongwith the assistance of the patriotic chieftains and the tribals, he organized a powerful army, and in order to prepare for war while staying quite far away from the Mughals, he shifted his capital from Gogunda to Kumbhalgarh. Akbar started getting the news of Pratap making efforts against his rule in Mewar state.
Finally Akbar took the initiative and right from the year of coronation of Pratap, he sent four ambassadorsone after the other to force Pratap to accept his sovereignty. But Pratap did not accept the sovereignty of Akbar at any cost. Battle of Haldighati : In order to give the plan of attack on Mewar a functional form, Akbar himself reached Ajmer in March 1576 CE.
At the same place, he declared Man Singh as the leader of the army which was to be sent to invade Mewar. On 3rd April 1576 CE, Man Singh proceeded to invade Mewar alongwith the army. This was the first instance in Mughal history that a Hindu was made the leader of such a massive army.
The Muslim courtesans became angry as a Hindu was made the Chief commander of the Mughal army Man Singh established his camp in Molela near Banas River and Pratap established his camp in losing village which was six miles away. Syed Hashim was leading the Harawal (the foremost front part of the army). Muhammad Badkhshi Rafi, Raja Jagannath and Asaf Khan were accompanying him.
There were two parts of Pratap’s army. Hakeem Khan Suri, Ram Shah of Gwalior alongwith his two sons Purohit Gopinath, Shankardar, Charas Jaisa, Purohit Jagannath, Churawat Krishnadas of Salumbar, Bhim Singh of Sardargarh Rawat Sanga of Deogarh, Ramdas the Son of Jaimal Medatia and others were included in the Harawal part of Pratap’s army.
The second part was led by the Maharana himself and Bhamashah and his brother Tarachand were accompanying him. On 18th June 1576 in the morning Pratap decided to confront the army which was coming towards Gogunda in Haldighati and proceeded from losing. In the initial stage of the battle, Rana forwarded his elephant Luna to dismantle the morale of Mughal army and this attack was confronted by Mughal elephant Gajmukh.
Gajmukh was injured and was about to flee, just then the Mahaot of Luna became injured due to the blow of an arrow and Luna started to move back. Due to this, Maharana was forced to forward the renowned elephant Ramprasad in the battlefield. The battle started alongwith a severe attack from the side of Harawal army of Pratap.
The Soldiers of Mewar became successful in distructing the front line and left back part of the Mughal army through their rapid attack and courageous warfare strategy. During the battle, syed Hashim fell down from the horse and Asaf Khan moved back and took refuge in the central part of Mughal army. In chandawal of Mughal army a reserve force of soldiers was arranged under the leadership of Mihattar Khan for any situation of emergency.
Noticing his army running away, Mihattar Khan screamed and came forward, declaring “that the emperor himself was coming alongwith a massive army.” After listening to this the situation changed and the fleeing Mughal army returned back with a new Vigor and Zeal. Rana Pratap was fighting seated on his famous horse ‘Chetak’ and Man Singh was seated on an elephant named ‘Mardana’.
It has been mentioned in the Sanskrit text ‘Amar Kavya’ composed by Ranchor Bhatt that Pratap came with extreme force and put the front legs of chetak on the head of the elephant and attacked Man Singh with his spear. Man Singh saved himself by bowing down in the Hauda, but the Mahaot died. In this attack one of the front legs of Chetak was cut off by the sword which was attached to the trunk of the elephant of Man Singh.
Seeing Pratap to be in distress, Jhala Beeda of Badi Sadri himself attained the state flag and continued the battle and Pratap divërted the battle towards the hills. Chetak died at a place named Balicha near Haldighati where his platform exists even today.
In the battle of Haldighati, Jhala Beeda, Man Singh Songara Jaimal Medhatia’s son Ramdas, Ram Shah and his three sonsShalivahan, Bhavani Singh and Pratap Singh died while fighting bravely from the side of Pratap. The major chieftains who were able to sustain their life in the battle field included Rawat Krishnadas Churawat of Salumbar, Gopaldas of Ghanerao, Bhamashah, Tarachand and Others.
When the battle was at its extreme, Pratap Changed the situation of war. He diverted the battle towards the hills. Man Singh did not follow the army of Mewar, Badauni has given three reasons for the Mughals, not
following the army of Pratap:
1. The scorching heat of the month of June.
2. Incapability of the Mughal army to fight due to it being excessively tired.
3. The Mughals feared that Pratap was waiting in the hills and if he made a sudden attack then the lives of most of the Mughals soldiers would fall into danger.
In this way as per his wish Akbar was neither able to catch Pratap alive or kill him nor could he destroy the military power of Mewar. This military compaign of Akbar remained a failure and the result went in favour of Maharana Pratap. Being desperate by the result of the battle, Akbar stopped the ‘dyori’ of Man Singh and Asaf Khan, i.e. he imposed ban on their participation in the court.
The pride of massive resourceful army of Akbar was destroyed by the army of Mewar. At the time when the kings of Rajasthan were competing to establish marital relations with the Mughals and accept their sovereignty. Pratap adopted the path of independence, which was a very commendable act on his part.
