Siege of Gagron (1444)

01The second siege

Gagron, surrounded on three sides by the Ahu and Kali Sindh rivers, had fallen to Hoshang Shah of Malwa in 1423 after the death of Achaldas Khichi and a jauhar. The Khichis recovered it, and Palhan Singh, Achaldas’s son, held it with help from Rana Kumbha. In 1444 Mahmud Khalji besieged it. Persian chroniclers of Malwa record that the fort was taken after a hard siege; Rajput tradition remembers Palhan Singh’s death and the jauhar of the women.

02Mustafabad

Mahmud Khalji renamed the fort Mustafabad and strengthened it. The fall of Gagron was part of his long war with Rana Kumbha of Mewar, who had helped the Khichis, and it led directly to Mahmud’s attacks on Mandalgarh and Chittor in the following years. Gagron changed hands again in 1519, when Rana Sanga defeated Mahmud Khalji II there and took the sultan prisoner. The fort’s walls, rising straight from the water on three sides, still stand.

Dynasty · c. 6th century–1949 CEGuhilas and Sisodias of MewarFrom Bappa Rawal to Maharana Pratap, the house of Mewar held its hills against every power that came from Delhi. It is among the longest-ruling royal lines in the world.Read →