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Rana Sanga
Depiction of Rana Sangram
Ratan Singh
Reign	1508–1528
Predecessor	Rana Raimal
Successor	Ratan Singh II
Born	12 April 1482 Chittor, Mewar
Died	30 January 1528(1528-01-30) (aged 45) Kalpi
Spouse	Rani Karnavati
Issue	Bhoj Raj Ratan Singh II Vikramaditya Singh Udai Singh II
Names Sangram Singh Sisodia
House	Sisodia
Father	Rana Raimal
Religion	Hinduism

Rana Sangram Singh Sisodia (12 April 1482 – 30 January 1528), popularly known as Rana Sanga, was an Indian Hindu ruler of Mewar who reunited several Rajput clans to form a powerful Rajput confederation in Rajputana (present-day Rajasthan) during the 16th century. He succeeded his father, Rana Raimal, to the Mewar throne in 1508. Sanga contemporarily fought against the Afghan Lodhi dynasty and Turkic Mughals during his lifetime. At its peak, his dominion included Rajputana, Northern Gujarat and western portion of Malwa(present-day Madhya Pradesh) with his capital at Chittor.

Early life and accession

Sanga was born on 12 April, 1482 in a Hindu Rajput family to the Sisodia ruler Rana Raimal. He was a grandson of Rana Kumbha. Sanga had to fight a succession battle with his siblings to become the next ruler of Mewar, during which he lost his one eye in combat with his elder brother Prithviraj. Under his rule, the Mewar dynasty reached its pinnacle in power and prosperity.

Military career

Following his ascesion, Sanga reunited the warring clans of Rajputana, forming a powerful Rajput confederation after 300 years. Babur, the founder of the Mughal Empire, states in his memoirs that Rana Sanga was the most powerful sovereign in Hindustan when he invaded it, and that "he attained his present high eminence by his own valour and sword." Eighty thousand horses, 7 Rajas of the highest rank, 9 Raos and 104 chieftains bearing the titles of Rawal and Rawat, with 500 war elephants, followed him into the field. Sanga was said to have fought a 100 battles and lost his eye, arm and leg in the various struggles.

Conquest of Malwa

The Battle of Gagron was fought in 1519 between the combined Muslim forces of Gujarat and Malwa against the Rajput Confederacy led by Rana Sanga near Gagron in Rajasthan. The victory of the Rajput confederacy put them in control of most of the Malwa along with Chanderi fort. The conquest of Malwa became easier for Rana Sanga largely due to support from powerful Rajput leaders like Silhadi and Medini Rai. Medini Rai made Chanderi his capital and became a trusted vassal of Rana Sanga. Rana Sanga advanced with a large army from Chittor reinforced by the Rathors of Merta under Rao Viramdeva, and met Mahmud Khalji II accompanied by the Gujarat auxiliaries under Asaf Khan. As soon as the battle started the Rajput cavalry made a fierce charge through the Gujarat Cavalry, with the few remnants that survived scattering. The Rajput cavalry after routing the Gujarat reinforcements turned towards the Malwa army. The Sultan's forces were unable to withstand the Rajput cavalry charge and sustained a complete defeat. Most of his officers were killed and the army was nearly annihilated. Asaf Khan's son was killed, and Asaf Khan himself sought safety in flight. Sultan Mahmud was taken prisoner, wounded and bleeding. After the victory and restoring Hindu rule in Malwa, Sanga order Rai to remove Jizya tax from Hindus of the region.

Campaign in Gujarat

On the question of the succession of the state of Idar, the Sultan of Gujarat, Muzaffar Shah, and the Rana supported rival claimants. In 1520, Sanga established Raimal on the Idar throne, with Muzaffar Shah sending an army to install his ally Bharmal. Sanga himself arrived in Idar and the Sultan's army was beaten back. Rana pursued the Gujarati army and plundered the towns of Ahmadnagar and Visnagar of Gujarat, chasing the Sultan's army as far as Ahmedabad.

Wars against Delhi Sultanate

Ibrahim Lodi, after hearing the news of encroachments by Sanga on his territory, prepared an army and marched against Mewar in 1517. The Rana with his army met Lodi at Khatoli on borders of Hadoti and in the ensuing Battle at Khatoli, Lodi army suffered serious reverses and fled. One Lodi prince was captured and imprisoned. The Rana himself was wounded in the battle.

Ibrahim Lodi, to avenge the defeat, sent an army under his commander against Sanga. The Rana again routed Lodi army near Dholpur and pursued the Lodis up to Bayana. In the aftermath of these victories, Sanga annexed territory up to Fatehpur Sikri, within strike of the Lodi capital of Agra. All the parts of Malwa which were captured by the Lodis from Malwa Sultans were annexed by Sanga, including Chanderi. He bestowed Chanderi to Medini Rai.

Struggle with Mughals

On 21 April 1526, the Timurid king Babur invaded India for the fifth time and defeated Ibrahim Lodhi in the First Battle of Panipat and executed him. After the battle, Sanga unified several Rajput clans for the first time since Prithviraj Chauhan, built an army of 100,000 Rajput soldiers and advanced to Agra.

Rana Sanga, fighting in a traditional manner, charged the Mughal ranks. His army was shot down in great numbers by the Mughal muskets, the noise of the muskets further caused fear amongst the horses and elephants of the Rajput army, causing them to trample their own men. Rana Sanga finding it impossible to attack the Mughal centre, ordered his men to attack the Mughal flanks. The fighting continued on the two flanks for three hours, during which the Mughals fired at the Rajput ranks with muskets and arrows while the Rajputs could only retaliate in close quarters. "Band after band of the Pagan troops followed each other to help their men, so we in our turn sent detachment after detachment to reinforce our fighters on that side". Babur did make attempts to use his famous taulqama or pincer movement, however his men were unable to complete it, twice they pushed the Rajputs back however due to the relentless attacks of the Rajput horsemen they were forced to retreat to their positions. At about this time, Silhadi of Raisen deserted the Rana's army and went over to Babur. The defection of Silhadi forced the Rana to change his plans and issue new orders. During this time, the Rana was shot by a bullet and fell unconscious, causing great confusion in the Rajput army and a lull in the fighting for a short period. Babur has written this event in his memoirs by saying "the accursed infidels remained confounded for one hour". A Jhala chieftain called Ajja acted as the Rana and led the Rajput army, while the Rana was hidden by a circlement of his trusted men. Jhala Ajja proved to be a poor general, as he continued the attacks on the Mughal flanks while ignoring his weak centre. The Rajputs continued their attacks but failed to break the Mughal flanks and their centre was unable to do anything against the fortified Mughal centre. Jadunath Sarkar has explained the struggle in the following words: "In the centre the Rajputs continued to fall without being able to retaliate in the least or advance to close grips. They were hoplessly outlclassed in weapon and their dense masses only increased their hopeless slaughter, as every bullet found its billet." Babur, after noticing the weak Rajput centre, ordered his men to take the offensive. The Mughal attack pushed the Rajputs back and forced the Rajput commanders to rush to the front, resulting in the death of many. The Rajputs were now leaderless as most of their senior commanders were dead and their unconsious king had been moved out of the battle. They made a desperate charge on the Mughal left and right flanks like before, "here their bravest were mown down and the battle ended in their irretrievable defeat". The Rajputs and their allies had been defeated, dead bodies could be found as far as Bayana, Alwar and Mewat. The Mughals were too exhausted after the long fight to give chase and Babur himself gave up the idea of invading Mewar.

Following his victory, Babur ordered a tower of enemy skulls to be erected, a practice formulated by Timur against his adversaries, irrespective of their religious beliefs. According to Chandra, the objective of constructing a tower of skulls was not just to record a great victory, but also to terrorize opponents. Earlier, the same tactic had been used by Babur against the Afghans of Bajaur. The battle was more historic than Panipat as it made Babur undisputed master of North India while crushing the threatening and reviving Rajput powers. It is suggested that had there not been the cannons of Babur, Sanga might have achieved a historic victory against Babur. The historian Pradeep Barua notes that Babur's cannons had put an end to the outdated trends in Indian warfare.

Death and succession

Rana Sanga wanted to overthrow Babur since he considered him to be an outsider ruling in India; and also to extend his territories by annexing Delhi and Agra, few rebellious Afghan chieftains - whom Babur previously betrayed - also supported the Rana. Despite his defeat in the battle of Khanwa, Sanga made plans to renew his fight with and subdue Babur. However, Sanga died on 30 January 1528 in Kalpi, evidently poisoned by his own chiefs who held his further plans against Babur to be suicidal. He was succeeded by his son Ratan Singh II.

In popular culture

• 1988-1989 : Bharat Ek Khoj, broadcast on Doordarshan, where he was played by Ravi Jhankal.
• 2013–2015: Bharat Ka Veer Putra – Maharana Pratap, broadcast by Sony Entertainment Television (India), where he was portrayed by Aarav Chowdhary.

References

1. "All you need to know about the fierce Rajput king Rana Sanga". India Today. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
2. Sen, Sailendra (2013). A Textbook of Medieval Indian History. Primus Books. pp. 116–117. ISBN 978-9-38060-734-4.
3. Rusherbook Williams 1918, p. 39. sfn error: no target: CITEREFRusherbook_Williams1918 (help)
4. ^ "Maharana Sanga; the Hindupat, the last great leader of the Rajput race: Sarda, Har Bilas, Diwan Bahadur, 1867-1955 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming". Internet Archive. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
5. Chandra 2004, p. 224.
6. Har Bilas, Sarda. maharana sanga : the hindupat, the last great leader of the rajput race. pp. 15–16.
7. ^ Puri, B. N.; Das, M. N. (1 December 2003). A Comprehensive History of India: Comprehensive history of medieval India. Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd. p. 127. ISBN 978-81-207-2508-9.
8. Sharma, Gopi Nath (1954). Mewar & the Mughal Emperors (1526-1707 A.D.). S.L. Agarwala. pp. 18–19.
9. Chaurasia 2002, pp. 155–156.
10. Chaurasia 2002, pp. 160.
11. Sarda 1970, p. 84-87.
12. Chaurasia 2002, pp. 156, 155, 158–160.
13. Hooja, Rima (2006). A History of Rajasthan. Rupa Publication. pp. 450–451.
14. ^ Chandra 2004.
15. Duff's Chronology of India, p. 271 Archived 8 December 2015 at the Wayback Machine
16. Percival Spear, p. 25. sfn error: no target: CITEREFPercival_Spear (help)
17. Sarkar, Sir Jadunath (1960). Military History of India. Orient Longmans. p. 57. ISBN 978-0-86125-155-1.
18. Chaurasia 2002, p. 161.
19. Barua, Pradeep (2005). The State at War in South Asia. University of Nebraska Press. pp. 33–34. ISBN 978-0-80321-344-9.
20. Rao, K. V. Krishna (1991). Prepare Or Perish: A Study of National Security. Lancer Publishers. p. 453. ISBN 978-81-7212-001-6.

Bibliography

• Chandra, Satish (2004) . Medieval India: From Sultanat to the Mughals-Delhi Sultanat (1206-1526). Vol. 1 (Revised ed.). Har-Anand Publications. ISBN 978-8-12411-064-5.
• Chaurasia, Radhey Shyam (2002). History of Medieval India: From 1000 A.D. to 1707 A.D. Atlantic Publishers & Dist. ISBN 978-81-269-0123-4.
• Sarda, Har Bilas (1970). Maharana Sāngā, the Hindupat: The Last Great Leader of the Rajput Race. Kumar Bros. ISBN 978-9-38060-734-4.

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