हिंदीOn this day
Photo: Ghasi (court of Mewar, fl. 1820–36) · Public domain
Ruler

Maharana Pratap

Maharana of Mewar who never submitted to Akbar

1540—1597

1540–1597 CE; reigned 1572–1597

Pratap Singh refused every Mughal embassy, fought Man Singh’s army at Haldighati on 18 June 1576, and spent the next twenty years winning Mewar back from the hills; by his death at Chavand in 1597 only Chittor and Mandalgarh remained in Mughal hands.

01The refusal

Pratap was born at Kumbhalgarh on 9 May 1540, son of Udai Singh II. Chittor had fallen to Akbar in 1568, and when Pratap became Maharana at Gogunda in 1572 most Rajput houses had already taken Mughal service. Akbar sent four embassies between 1572 and 1573, the last under Raja Todar Mal. Pratap received them with courtesy and would not go to court. Mewar under him had no fertile plain and no great city, only the Aravalli, the Bhil archers who knew every pass, and clans who would not bow.

02Haldighati, 18 June 1576

Akbar sent Raja Man Singh of Amber with a large army. They met at the narrow pass of Haldighati near Gogunda, named for its yellow soil. Hakim Khan Sur led Pratap’s vanguard and Bhil archers under Rana Punja held the hills. Pratap charged at Man Singh’s elephant on his horse Chetak. Abd al-Qadir Badauni, who fought on the Mughal side, left an eyewitness account of the day. When the battle turned, Jhala Man took up the royal umbrella so that Pratap could get away; Chetak carried his master out wounded and died soon after. The Mughals held the field but did not capture the Rana.

Guhilas and Sisodias of Mewar
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 →

03Mewar won back

For years the Rana moved from hill to hill while Mughal armies held the towns. The minister Bhama Shah put his family’s wealth at his disposal, and the army was raised again. In 1582 at Dewair Pratap and his son Amar Singh broke the Mughal post and its commander, and the chain of Mughal outposts across Mewar fell one after another. He made Chavand his capital and built a temple to Chamunda there. When he died at Chavand on 19 January 1597, Udaipur, Kumbhalgarh and most of Mewar were his again.

Battles

Third siege of Chittorgarh

Rana Udai Singh withdrew to the hills and left Chittor in the hands of Jaimal and Patta. Akbar besieged it himself for four months with mines and covered approaches.

October 1567 – 23 February 1568 CE

Battle of Haldighati

Akbar sent Man Singh with a large army to bring Maharana Pratap to submission. They met at the mouth of the yellow-earthed Haldighati pass.

June 1576 CE (18 June by most reckonings)

Battle of Dewair

After years in the hills, Pratap came down on the Mughal post at Dewair. Mewar remembers it as the battle that turned the war.

1582 CE

Places

ChittorgarhRuined
The Age of Great Kingdoms

Chittorgarh

The hill fortress of Mewar, 180 m above the plain and some 13 km round. It was besieged and taken three times, in 1303, 1535 and 1568, and each time the women chose jauhar. The Vijay Stambh still stands over it.

KumbhalgarhStanding
Sultanates, Vijayanagara and the kingdoms that stood

Kumbhalgarh

Rana Kumbha’s mountain fortress on the Aravalli crest, its wall running some 36 km round the hills. Maharana Pratap was born here in 1540, and the fort was taken only once, in 1578.

GogundaStanding
The Mughal era and the resistance

Gogunda

A town on a high shoulder of the Aravallis north-west of Udaipur where Maharana Udai Singh II died and Maharana Pratap was crowned in 1572. From here Pratap rode out to Haldighati in 1576.

HaldighatiStanding
The Mughal era and the resistance

Haldighati

A narrow pass of yellow, turmeric-coloured earth between Khamnore and Balicha, about 40 km from Udaipur, where Maharana Pratap met Akbar’s army under Man Singh of Amber on 18 June 1576. Chetak’s chhatri stands where the wounded horse fell.

Chavand, Maharana Pratap’s Last CapitalRuined
The Mughal era and the resistance

Chavand, Maharana Pratap’s Last Capital

The village in the southern Aravallis that Maharana Pratap made his capital around 1585, from which he won back most of Mewar, and where he died on 19 January 1597. The ruins of his palace and the Chamunda temple he built still stand.

On the timeline

  • 9 May 1540

    Maharana Pratap born at KumbhalgarhResistance

    Pratap Singh, eldest son of Udai Singh II, is born in Kumbhalgarh fort. Mewar celebrates Pratap Jayanti by the Hindu calendar on Jyeshtha Shukla Tritiya.

  • 1572 CE

    Pratap becomes Maharana at GogundaResistance

    On Udai Singh’s death the nobles of Mewar set aside his chosen heir and raise Pratap to the gaddi at Gogunda. He vows never to bow to Akbar.

  • 1582 CE

    Pratap wins at Dewair and frees most of MewarResistance

    Maharana Pratap and his son Amar Singh overwhelm the Mughal post at Dewair. Over the following years he wins back most of Mewar except Chittor and Mandalgarh.

  • 19 January 1597

    Maharana Pratap dies at ChavandResistance

    Maharana Pratap dies at his hill capital of Chavand, never having submitted to Akbar. His cenotaph stands at Bandoli nearby.