In Udaipur’s City Palace Museum is the grand oil painting on canvas titled ‘Depicting the Battle of Haldighati fought on 18th June 1576 CE between Maharana Pratap and the Mughal Forces of Akbar led by Kanwar Man Singh of Amber’. The artists, Chaturbhuj and sons of Udaipur in 1935, spared no effort to capture dramatic sequences of the battle considered not just a historic landmark of pre-modern India, but as an endless source of inspiration for military commanders and strategists, litterateurs and playwrights, classical and folk poets, and, of course, historians-chroniclers of Rajasthan and India over the last five centuries. The painting’s description says it all: “On 18th June 1576 CE Kanwar Man Singh of Amber mounted on his mighty war elephant led the Mughal armies of Akbar against Maharana Pratap I (period of reign. 1572 ~ 1597 CE) who on his incomparable white stallion Chetak carried the crimson banner of Mewar into the thrust of the battle. Neither lance nor sword, nor the arrows that rained like hail around him could stem the course of that intrepid charge.

For the first time in fifty years the Mughals suffered their first setback and Haldighati shattered the myth of their invincibility ~ symbolic of the war that was fought for the protection and preservation of self-respect, self-reliance and independence. The battle of Haldighati unlike any other battle in the military history of warfare has aroused the greatest and most multifaceted interest. This single occasion has raised issues of social context, the composition of opposing forces, the efficiency of execution of the adop – ted strategy and tactics and finally most touchingly the acts of unparalleled bravery, unmatched sacrifices and unimaginable fighting skills of a few individuals who participated in this battle.

All these issues have assumed tremendous significance, as time goes by. Maharana Pratap is a national hero on account of his commitment to preserve the independence of Mewar, at any cost, despite heavy odds stacked against him.” At a symposium on Battle of Haldighati, organized by the Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation on 8-9 November 2023 in Udaipur, Dr Abhimanyu Singh Arha introduced the battle strategy: “Pratap divided his army into two divisions, one commanded by himself and the other by Hakim Khan Sur. The battle occurred in the early hours of 18 June 1576. The first attack was launched by Hakim Khan Sur who fell on the advance guards of the Mughals and completely devastated the Mughal Harawal.

This attack was so sudden and effective that it broke the back of the advance body of the Mughal offensive delivering a complete defeat upon them.” “Simultaneously, Pratap charged down the pass with his men,” said the associate professor of history from JNU, “and launched a full throttle attack on the enemies. Qazi Khan and his men were waiting at the entrance of the pass for Pratap’s charge. This second attack was so powerful and fierce that the Rajput force was successful in breaking through the centre of the Mughal army. While the Mughals were struggling to hold their ground and to reorganize themselves, the elephant army of Mewar was let loose which created havoc among the enemy ranks. The carnage carried out by the elephants created utter despair and confusion on the battlefield. Pratap and his men took advantage of this mayhem by quickly leaving the battlefield in order to enter the narrow defiles of the Haldighati pass to position themselves there…

The second phase of the battle was planned in such a manner that the well-arranged Rajput army and Bhil archers were positioned along the narrow Haldighati pass waiting for an ambush of the remnants of the Mughal army which would enter the hills…The Rajputs won the initial bout. Such was the dread of the Rajputs that day that Man Singh and the Mughal forces completely abandoned any efforts to pursue. By midday the battle came to an end.” Haldighati is often compared to Kurukshetra, the epic battleground of Mahabharata, even though thousands of years separate these two battles. Said Dr JK Singh ‘Sanjay’ at the 2023 symposium, “just as the imagery of Krishna and Arjuna on the battlefield is vivid and full of meanings, the name of Haldi ghati brings to mind Rana Pratap riding the white steed, Che tak.”

Dr ‘Sanjay’ reminded that from early 17th century CE there were major literary and historical works hailing Rana Pratap’s achievements. In 1618 Maha kavi Dayaldas Rao wrote ‘Rana raso’; in 1652 Pandit Lakshminath Bhatt’s ‘Jagannath Prashasti’; in 1676 Pandit Sadashiv Nagar penned ‘Rajratnakar’ while in 1700-1710 Mahakavi Ranchod Bhatt immortalised the Rana in ‘Rajprashasti’ and the ‘Amarkavya’. In the late 19th century CE, it was Kaviraj Shyamaldas whose ‘Veer Vinod’ volumes became the official history of Mewar, followed by his illustrious assistant and historian Gaurishankar Ojha’s ‘Udaipur Rajya ka Itihas’. These works ~ in Rajasthani, Hindi or Sanskrit ~ are awaiting reinterpretation today; the 20th century works of literary greats like Moolshankar Maniklal Yagik’s ‘Pratapvijayam’ and ‘Pratapvijay’ of Mahakavi Ish Dutt Shastri ‘Ish’ are equally significant. Adding another dimension to Rana Pratap’s era, Dr Shri Krishna ‘Jugnu’ an accomplished Sanskrit scholar-teacherwriter from Udaipur stated, “Even when Mewar was engulfed in innumerable crises preparing for imminent battles, Rana Pratap was framing policies that can today be termed as those for nation-building.” They included afforestation programmes, building and maintaining water-bodies, the non-killing of animals, resettlement of communities affected by battles or natural calamities.

“There are in numerable works, inscriptions and sources which reaffirm these policies of Pratap,” Dr ‘Jugnu’ said, who like many historians in Rajasthan refer to ‘Pratap’, dropping the title ‘Maharana’. They feel a strong bonding with this ‘son of the soil’ who is one of them and so alive till date. For Prof Jugnu, “Pratap’s biggest contribution, and the most visionary and long-lasting, are the three major works of Chakrapani Misra. The first is Vishwa Vallabh, which is dedicated to agriculture and agri-sciences. Just think of it, in the 16th century CE, the work commissioned by Rana Pratap was titled as ‘Vishwa’. His vision was global; he was thinking of a world far beyond the limited confines of Mewar!” Chakrapani Misra presents, in chaste and poetic Sanskrit, the importance of preserving the entire ecological system.

His works include ‘Muhurth a mala’ and ‘Rajyabhishekha paddhati’ and are the documentation of living heritage of those times. Rana Pratap demonstrated his ability to focus on these knowledge-intensive subjects, far removed from the world of battles, armaments and military training. A new chapter unfolds when Dr Paul T Craddock, a Bri – tish archaeo-metallurgist of global repute, focusses on the mines of Zawar, Dariba and Agucha in Mewar region. He said, “The remains of early mining and metallurgy we have studied in India are at least as sophisticated as anything further west, and there are no parallels or analogies anywhere for the zinc smelting processes that we have uncovered in the Zawar mines near Udaipur, Mewar. This was the sharp edge of technical innovation, taking place on a major scale well away from Europe, the Mediterranean and the Middle East.

We can safely say it was the start of the industrial revolution in the Kingdom of Mewar, 500 years before it begins in the West.” ‘The production of lead, silver and zinc in ancient India’ (with IC Freestone, LK Gurjar, A Middleton, L Willies and Prof. K.T.M. Hegde of the MS Baroda University) is one of Dr Craddock’s pioneering reports. It is instrumental in transforming our understanding of pre-modern societies through the perspective of large-scale economic activities underway. Mining ac – ti vities in Mewar, for example, were global in nature, bringing in huge revenues for the State treasury. “It would suffice to say that in India by the 12th century CE, the production of zinc at Zawar was beginning on an industrial scale.” No wonder the armies of the Delhi Sultanate and later, the Mughals, were making frequent inroads into this region, laying siege to fortcities like Chittaurgarh and Kumbhalgarh. The battles were fought, diplomatic alliances formed and broken to not just territorially extend the empires but to control lucrative land-to-coast trade routes and capture natural resources. “Rana Pratap is to be seen not just as a protector of Mewar but a custodian of its natural wealth,” said Dr Shri Krishna ‘Jugnu’.

“Ecology, environmental protection and afforestation are major objectives for us,” said Dr Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar, chairman and managing trustee of Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation and head of Maharana Pratap Smarak Samiti in Udaipur. “We remain committed to legacies bestowed by our forefather Maharana Pratap ~ his ideals, values and beliefs, self respect and independence are sacrosanct for us and the entire world,” he said, referring to the verses of Pandit Narendra Mishra, one of Mewar’s greatest poets: “Yeh dharti vaani putron ke amar gaan ki hai / Shabd sadhakon ke digvijayi laksh daan ki hai / Yahan lekhni ne zameer ko becha nahin kabhi / Yeh dharti Rana Pratap ke swabhimaan ki hai…” Words loaded with powerful emotions that bring the greatness of the past to transform ordinary lives into extraordinary ones.

 (The writer is a researcher-author on history and heritage issues, and a former deputy curator of Pradhanmantri Sangrahalaya.)

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