The
Battle of Jalore was fought between the forces of Alauddin Khilji, Sultan of
Delhi and forces of Rajput Maharaja Kanhadadeva, (Kanhad Dev Sonigara) king of
Jalore (Songara Chauhans).
Background
Sultan Alauddin Khilji With the
determination to put an end to the independence of Rajputs started his invading
Rajputana states. Sultan defeated Hammir Dev Chauhan and captured
Ranthambore fort in battle of
Ranthambore and then captured The Siwana fort by defeating forces of King Sutal
Dev (Satal Dev) in the fierce Battle of Siwana. And then he
marched towards Jalore.
Earlier Allauddin sent an army under the
generalship of Ulugh Khan and Nusrat Khan to plunder Gujarat, This army looted
the Rudra Mahalaya and Somnath temples and its Shivalinga was broken into
pieces. The broken pieces of shivalinga were being carried back to Delhi. On
their way to Delhi, Maharaja Kanhadadeva attacked
them with the help of Muhammad Shah, a neo-Muslim general in Khilji's army and
defeated them. Kanhad Dev Songara brought all the broken pieces of Shivalinga
which was washed in Gangajal and were established in various temples of Jalore. Later Sultan killed these neo Muslims in Battle
of Ranthambore.
Sultan Alauddin Khilji continued
his conquests and made his preparations to take revenge on Maharaja Kanhadadeva
and appeared in 1310 and seized the fort of Jalore.
But there is also antother reason behind the war, According
to Kanhad-De-Prabandh written by Padmanabhan, Viramdeva son of Kanhadadeva who
was on attendance at the court of Sultan in place of his father. There was a plan
by the Sultan to kill this Viramadeva in panja wrestling. But Viramadeva won
the game of panja wrestling. Firoza daughter-princess
of the Sultan Khilji, fell in his love with Viramadeva, impressed his play in panja
wrestling. Princess Firoza was a daughter of Sultan, but her mother was not one of the queen begums of Sultan, she was born to a prostitute from Harem. The prostitutes were too used to keep in harem and therefore viramadeva did not think it proper to marry princess.
The Sultan Khilji forced Kanhadadeva and Viramadeva to
marry his daughter Firoza. But they rejected the marriage proposal.
When we look back Sultan was eagerly waiting to take revenge on Kanhadadeva and capture Jalore. And he got a chance through Viramadeva rejecting to marry princess. But the main reason behind the invasion was to put an end to the independance of Jalore.
Battle
Sultan sent a strong force of 50000 men with his general Malik Kamaluddin to invade Jalore and Seized the fort in 1310. Kanhadadeva and his son Vikramadeva along with his men defended the fort from invaders, The Jalore fort resisted the seize for 4 years. Later Sultan bribed one of the local persons and he disclosed the way through which the Sultan's force marched into the fort. finally the battle started.
In this battle of Jalore Songara King Kanhadadeva, his son Viramadeva fought bravely. Jalore army men were killed
in a close fight and the fort was captured in 1314 and it became the part of sultanate.
After the Battle
Sultan plundered the city, destroyed the temples and enslaved the people.
Maladeva a brother of kanhaddev was survived in the battle ,this Maladeva later gained the faith and
trust of Sultan and became the in-charge of Chittor. And Jalore remained under the control of Sultanate.
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