How Hindus Fought To Keep India Hindu Againt Islam

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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->After the conquest of Malwa, Alauddin sent his brilliant general Malik Naib Kafur to the south and he himself seized an opportunity to attack Scvana. Sevana was then in possession of Parmar Rajput chief, Satal Deva. Satal Deva had witnessed the mighty citadels of Ranthambhor and Chittor succumb to onslaughts of the Khalji warlord, but still he refused to submit to the Delhi Sultan. Satal Deva was a powerful and energetic ruler, he had defeated many Rais in battle and a number of Rajput Ravats acknowleged his suzerainty.

The Sultan marched on 2nd July, 1308 ( 13 Muharram, 708 H) to chastise the ruler of Sevana. On arrival there, he began the investment of the fort. The right wing of the royal army was stationed on two sides, east and west, of the battlement; the left wing was on the north; and the center was entrusted to the command of Malik Kamaluddin “the wolf.” A constant shower off missiles was kept up from the manjniqs but success was not in sight for a long time. The royal forces resorted to many stratagems, but all in vain. The Rajputs defended the fort stubbornly, threw fire and stone from the battlement, and for months together “breath was choked, by the sounds of the Turki flutes and Hindu bell”. <b>When nothing seemed to avail, says Padmanabh, a trick was resorted to. A traitr named Bhaile was induced to indicate a passage to the royal commander through which a manjniq was carried and it discharged a cow’s head into the lake which supplied water and their fate sealed.</b>

The Imperial forces succeeded in escalating the battlements of the citadel, but after great difficulty. Satal Deva tried to Flee to Jalor, but ran into an ambush and was done to death on 10th November, 1308 (23 Rabiul Avval, 708H) the administration of Sevana was entrusted to Kamaluddin Gurg and Alauddin returned to Delhi.

Capture of Jalor

Now Alauddin Khalji attacked Kanhad Deva, the Chauhan Raja of Jalor. Kanhad Deva, also known by the names of Saligram, Gokalnath & Krishna III, was the son of Som Singh, a dependent of the Solanki Bhim Deva of Gujarat. After Sultan Alauddin had consolidated his authority in Marwar, Kanhad Deva’s semi-independent status was construed as contumacy and, his country was invaded.

Nainsi described two sieges of Jalor by Alauddin. The first occurred at the time of the royal army’s return from Gujarat in 1298 and the second in 1311. As the Sultan himself did not lead the forces to Gujarat, the details given by Nainsi about the siege of 1298 may not be quite accepted, as he always refers to king’s presence there. Farishta also mentions about the expeditions to Jalor While describing the events of the year 704 H (A.D. 1304) Farishta writes that as the imperial general Alap Khan and Nusrat Khan were returning from the conquest of Malwa, they arrived at Jalor and Nahar Deo (Kanhad Deva), taking lesson from the fate of Koka (of Malwa), offered his submission to the Sultan without a show of resistance. The other invasion according to Farishta came of in 1308 and was the outcome of a very curious incident. One day while Kanhad was present in the court, he heard Alauddin say that there was no one among the Hindu Rajas who could dare challenge the might of his arms. The remarks pricked Kanhad’s sense of pride and he picked up the gauntlet, retorting, “If I wage a war and do not come out successful, I may be killed”. This effrontery enraged the Sultan and he ordered an invasion of Jalor, to which Kanhad had already slipped to make preparation for war.

Hajiuddhabir, a cotemporary of Farishta, almost repeats the story, which appears to be incredible. It is really strange that at one time Kanhad Deva hurries to Delhi to pay homage to the king of his own accord, professes unflinching obedience for four years, and then suddenly adopts such an insolent attitude that he puts himself and his subjects in extreme jeopardy. An interesting reason has been given by Nainsi. <b>He say that a princess of Alauddins’s harem fell in love with Viram, son of Kanhad Deva, who was on attendance at the court in place of his father. Padmanabh in his Kanhadde Prbandh says that she was a daughter of Sultan Alauddin and her name was Firoza. The Sultan and the ladies of the harem first threatened the girl to change her mind, but finding her adamant, Alauddin insisted on Viram to marry her. The young Rajput could never think of marrying a “Turk” girl and left for jalor, promising to return with a wedding party (barat) after some time.</b> The Sultan suspected a ruse on the part of Viram and kept a Rajput prince of the house as hostage. As was expected, Viram never returned to marry the girl and the Sultan was so much incensed at his treachery that he invaded Jalor. Neither the reasons given by Nainsi nor by Farishta and Hajiuddabir are convincing. The real cause of the invasion was in all certainly the determination of the Sultan to put an end to the independence of Jalor as was done with the other states of Rajputana.

In short, a royal force was sent to Jalor in A.D. 1311. The name of the commander of the expedition is not known but he does not seem to have been a brave general. <b>The Rajputs defeated the royalists in a number of engagements and threw them back on many occasions. One thing is certain that the battle of Jalor was terrible, and perhaps a prolonged one. According to the Gujarati epic romance Kanhad de Prabhandh, the contest continued for some years, and the imperialists met with a number of reverses</b>.

The news of the humiliating retreats put the Sultan to his mettle and he sent a strong force under the veteran, Malik Kamaluddin Gurg. On reaching Jalor, Kamaluddin pressed the siege with unabated vigour. According to Padmanabh, one Sejwal was tempted by royal gold to guide the royalists to a secret entrance into the fort-Such meanness cost him his life at the hands of his wife, but it facilitated the task of Kamaluddin. At last Gokalnath, his son Viram Deva and their followers were killed in a close combat and the fortress was captured. <b>Maldeva, a brother of Kanhad Deva, survived the massacre that followed the fall of Jailor. Later on, he was able to secure the goodwill of the Sultan, who appointed him to take charge of Chittor from Khizra Khan. </b>

Nainsi’s date (1311 – 12 A.D.) of the fall of Jalor is in conflict with that of Farishta (1308 A.D.) In 1308 the conquest of Sevana was undertaken and a large army was sent to the Deccan also. It is, therefore, probable that Jalor was attacked at a later date. But Nainsi’s date find corroboration in the Tirtha Kalpa of Jina Prabha Suri who says that in Sam vat 1367 i.e. 1310, Alauddin destroyed the temple of Mahavira at Sanchor, a place near Jalor. The destruction of this temple must have been a part of large enterprise, namely the invasion of Jalor. Reu also concludes that Jalor capitulated in A.D. 1311. it appears that Jalor resisted the invasion for long, and fought for many years before it capitulated. The brave Chauhans of Jalor had kept up the tradition. To commemorate this victory, Alauddin had a mosque erected in the famous fort of Songir at Jalor which is still in existence.

With the capitulation of Jalor, almost all the leading states of Rajputana have been subdued one after the other. Ever since Sultan Alauddin had embarked upon the conquest of Ranthambhor in 1300, till the fall of Jalor in 1311, his armies had constantly fought in Rajasthan. There was tough resistance to his attacks by all Rajputs (Chauhans included) and the valour of Rajputs could not brook the insult of giving way to the enemy. The result was that bloody battles were fought before each and every fortress. <b>To enumerate the various wars in Rajputana, then, is to repeat the horrors of blood and slaughter, of gallant fight, of glorious martyrdom</b>. Sometimes before a single citadel the contest prolonged for years and ended in a general massacre of its population, accompanied by the gruesome destruction of the womenfolk in the fire of jauhar. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Mongol-Chauhan resistance to Turks