हिंदीOn this day

Battle of Deorai

VictorArmy of AurangzebAurangzeb
1659vs
Army of Dara ShikohPrince Dara Shikoh

Dara Shikoh’s last battle. Promised help by Jaswant Singh of Marwar, who then failed him, Dara fortified the hills outside Ajmer. After three days of fighting his lines were stormed, and the war of succession was over.

Date: 12–14 March 1659Where: Deorai pass, near Ajmer, RajasthanType: Battle
Photo: unidentified artist · Public domain
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Cite

MLA

“Battle of Deorai.” Hindu History, 2026, https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/battle-of-deorai-1659/. Accessed .

APA

Hindu History. (2026). Battle of Deorai. Retrieved , from https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/battle-of-deorai-1659/

Result

Dara’s entrenched army was broken and he fled; betrayed in Sindh, he was brought to Delhi and executed in August 1659.

01A broken promise

After Samugarh Dara fled to Lahore, then down the Indus to Gujarat, where he raised a new army. Jaswant Singh, back in Marwar after Khajwa, invited him to Rajasthan and promised to join him. Dara marched to Ajmer. Meanwhile Aurangzeb, through Mirza Raja Jai Singh of Amber, won Jaswant back with a pardon, and the Rathores never came. Dara, left alone, dug in across the Deorai pass south of Ajmer with guns on the hills.

02The end of Dara

For two days Aurangzeb’s guns and infantry pounded the entrenchments. On the evening of 14 March a column climbed a hill on Dara’s flank and broke in, and the defence collapsed. Dara fled with a few companions towards Gujarat and Sindh. He took refuge with the Afghan chief Malik Jiwan of Dadar, whose life he had once saved, and was handed over to Aurangzeb’s men. He was paraded through Delhi on a filthy elephant, condemned for heresy, and put to death on 30 August 1659.

Kachwahas of Amber and Jaipur
Dynasty · c. 11th century–1949 CEKachwahas of Amber and JaipurThe Kachwahas ruled Dhundhar from Amber. Allied with the Mughals from 1562, they became the empire’s great generals; Sawai Jai Singh II then built Jaipur and its observatories.Read →
Why it matters

Deorai settled the throne on Aurangzeb. Dara, who had translated the Upanishads into Persian as the Sirr-i-Akbar, died with him the hope of a gentler court.

Places near the battlefield 5

Ajmer (Ajayameru)Standing
The long resistance: Sindh to Tarain

Ajmer (Ajayameru)

The Chauhan capital founded by Ajayaraja II, where Vigraharaja IV built a Sanskrit college and had plays carved in stone. After 1192 the college was turned into the mosque called Adhai Din ka Jhonpra.

Adhai Din ka Jhonpra, AjmerDestroyed
The long resistance: Sindh to Tarain

Adhai Din ka Jhonpra, Ajmer

A mosque at Ajmer built after the fall of Prithviraj Chauhan from the pillars and stones of the Chahamana city, on the site where Vigraharaja IV had kept a Sanskrit college. Slabs carved with his own play, the Harakeli Nataka, were dug out of it in the 19th century.

Manibandh (Manivedika) Shakti Peetha, PushkarStanding
Vedic Rishis and the Itihasa

Manibandh (Manivedika) Shakti Peetha, Pushkar

The Shakti Peetha of Pushkar, where by the Peetha Nirnaya Tantra’s list the wrists of Sati fell. The Devi is Gayatri, the Bhairava Sarvananda; locally the shrine is also called the Chamunda Mata mandir.

Savitri Mata Temple, PushkarStanding
Vedic Rishis and the Itihasa

Savitri Mata Temple, Pushkar

Bhagwan Brahma’s temple stands by the lake at Pushkar; his consort Savitri sits apart on the highest hill to the south, where the Padma Purana says she went after the yajna. Pilgrims climb to her after Brahma’s darshan.

Brahma Temple, PushkarRebuilt
Vedic Rishis and the Itihasa

Brahma Temple, Pushkar

The best-known temple of Bhagwan Brahma, beside the lake the Padma Purana says formed where his lotus fell. Pushkar is called Tirtharaja, the king of tirthas.