Background
Hammir Dev Chauhan descendant
of Prithviraj Chauhan. Brave Rajput king Hammiradeva annexed Malwa, Abu and
Mandalgarh and continued extending his kingdom to the chagrin of Delhi Sultan,
Jalaluddin Khilji. Because of misgivings about Hammiradeva's intentions
Jalaluddin Khilji tried to conquer Ranthambore and attacked Hammir Dev Chauhan
in 1290. But Hammira defeated Jalaludin's forces and sent them back from Ranthambore
and Jalaluddin returned to Delhi unsuccessfully.
Later in 1296, Allauddin
Khilji murdered Jalaludin and crowned himself as the new Sultan of Delhi. In
1297 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 Kanhad Dev Songara, ruler of
Jalore 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.
During Kanhad Dev Songara
attack on Ulugh Khan and Nusrat Khan, neo-Muslims Muhammad Shah, Kamru, Yalchak
and Barq attampted to assassinate Ulugh Khan but failed. Hence they reached
HammiraDeva at Ranthambore and asked for shelter and protection from future
Khilji’s attacts on them. Under these circumstances, Hammira was justified in
winning over Allauddin's enemies to his side.
After escaping from the
attack of neo Muslims Ulugh Khan went to Allauddin and apprised him about the
attack. Later the Muslim governors tried to negotiate with HammiraDeva and
demanded to turn out the neo Muslims to Sultan Allauddin Khilji along with 10,000
gold coins, 300 horses, 4 elephants and the hand of Hammira’s daughter
Devaladevi. But HammiraDeva was too self respecting to make such a disgraceful
compromise. He then rejected it saying "when the Rajputs promised to
protect someone, they even gave their lives for his safety." This raised
as the main cause for the Battle.
Angered Sultan ordered Ulugh
Khan and Nusrat Khan to attack HammiraDeva and siege the Ranthambore.
Battle
In 1299 Ulugh Khan and Nusrat
Khan started out with 80,000 cavalry and a large infantry to attack
HammiraDeva. HammiraDeva prepared his army to repulse the attack of Sultan.
Both the armies met on the banks of river Banas.
HammiraDeva along with his
army fought bravely and got upper hand in the Battle. Nusrat Khan was killed in Battle. Finally,
HammiraDeva won the battle. Ulugh Khan escaped and reached the sultan of Delhi.
After the battle (Siege of Ranthambore)
Sultan Allauddin Khilji was
back stepped by this defeat and made his preparations to take the revenge. He
then finally appeared in 1301 at Ranthambore, and there was a long siege.
HammiraDeva was very well prepared, but famine was a big problem to him. Some
unscrupulous officers of HammiraDeva, with Bhoj Dev as their leader, colluded
with Allaudin and started giving him secret information about the fort and
famine. When the fort did not fall after continuous attacks, Sultan took the
advantage of famine and resorted to diplomacy. HammiraDeva was very suspicious
and made a meeting with his councillors who told him, “Sword is not always the
Best Recourse”. He heeded his councillors and sent two of his army generals
(Ratipal and Ranmal) to the sultan’s camp to discuss. Sultan won over
confidence of the two generals and bribed them. Both the generals along with
Bhoj Dev joined Sultan’s camp and revealed secretes of HammiraDeva and
Ranthambore fort. And Sultan declared the war. HammiraDeva was killed died in
the war and his army was scattered. The
female members of the Rajput kingdom committed jauhar and gave up lives on the
pyres. Along with HammiraDeva, brave Viram, the lord of Champa, Taka
Gangadhara, Parmar Kshetrasinha, Rajda and Simha werekilled in the war.
Consequently, Ranthambore was fell on July 10, 1301 to the Sultan of Delhi,
Allauddin Khilji.
After the words of Brave Rajput King Hammir Dev Chauhan "when the Rajputs promised to protect someone, they even gave their lives for his safety."
People stated to sing a folk
song (Till date) as follows:
Singh Suwan supurush bachan kadahi falai ek bar,Tiriya tel Hamir nath chadie na duji bar.
Only once the banana bears the fruit, wise man promises once, once only does a lioness whelp. And once if a Rajput takes a vow, he never withdraws.
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