The Mughals held the field but did not capture Pratap, who withdrew into the hills and went on fighting.
01The charge
Pratap’s vanguard, led by the Afghan Hakim Khan Sur, came out of the pass and drove the Mughal front back several miles. Badauni, who rode with the Mughals, admits that many in the imperial army fled. Pratap on his horse Chetak charged Man Singh’s elephant; a famous painting by Chokha shows the horse rearing with its forefeet on the elephant’s head. Mughal reserves and a rumour that Akbar himself had arrived steadied the imperial line.
02Chetak and Jhala Man
Wounded, Pratap was surrounded. Mewar tradition says Jhala Man (Bida Jhala) took the royal umbrella from him so the enemy would chase the wrong man, and died in his place. Chetak carried Pratap out of the battle and fell, wounded, a little way off, where a chhatri marks the spot. The Mughals did not pursue into the hills. Man Singh was later kept from the court for a time, Badauni says, because Akbar was displeased that Pratap had escaped.
Haldighati did not end Mewar’s war; Pratap never submitted, and within a few years recovered most of his country.
