# War Heroes In Medieval South Asia



## ganimi kawa

During the course of a recent discussion on this forum a need was felt to share the stories of many many warheroes india has produced over the course of history whose exploits have been mostly forgotten by us.Many believe that our history's just a procession of defeat after defeat and this view is then taken up by many foreigners! 

It is our duty to learn about these great men and pass this heritage to the next generation. I request you to please post stories of such heroes from your part of the country for others to read and take inspiration from! 

Jai Hind!

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## ganimi kawa

Here is the story of great ahom general Lachit Borphukan, who dealt one of the most severe blow ever to the mughal empire.

*Background*---

The Ahom Kingdom (12281826, called Kingdom of Assam in medieval times) was a medieval kingdom in the Brahmaputra valley in Assam that maintained its sovereignty for nearly 600 years and successfully resisted Mughal expansion in North-East India. It was able to establish its suzerainty over the Brahmaputra valley and had a profound effect on the political and social life in the region.







Ahom Kingdom c1826.







The insignia of the Ahom Dynasty.




*Mughal ahom conflict*--

Mughal interest in the Brahmaputra valley began in 1602 when the Nawab of Dhaka attacked Parikshit Narayan of Koch Hajo at Dhubri, the western most corner of Assam. The first Mughal-Ahom conflict took place in 1615 when the Mughals attacked the Ahoms, then under Pratap Singha. Thus began a long and bloody series of wars interspersed with brief periods of peace. The fortune fluctuated from one side to other but as a whole the ahoms were successful in giving the mughals a bloody nose and able to restrict their entry into north east of india.

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## ganimi kawa

*Prelude*--

Of the seventeen campaigns mughals had in Assam there was only one in which the invader achieved some success. This was Mir Jumla's invasion. *Mir Jumla was the Mughal Viceroy at Dhaka*. In 1662 as the head of the large Mughal army he advanced up the Brahmaputra into Assam. There was dissension among the Ahoms and they could not put up any worthwhile resistance. The *Ahom capital at Gargaon fell to the invader and king Jayadhwaja Singha fled to the hills.*

Like Napoleon at Moscow, Mir Jumla at Gargoan found that he had won only a pyrric victory. The French grand army got, decimated in the severe winter of the Russian steeps. Similarly Mughal army got decimated by monsoon, malaria and decentry. During its retreat, Mir Jumla died of illness. *However before retreating Mir Jumla had imposed a humiliating treaty on the Ahoms. Two Ahom Royal princesses were taken for the Mughal imperial harem. Ahoms had to pay 3 lakhs as war indemnity and an annual tribute of 20 elephants.* They also had to cede the western half of their kingdom from Guwahati to Manas river.

King Jayadhwaj Singha died soon after the defeat he had suffered at the hands of Mir Jumla. At his deathbed, he exhorted his nephew and successor king Chakradhwaj Singha to remove the spear of humiliation from the bosom of the nation. The new king was determined to retrieve national honour and started making elaborate preparations for recovering territory lost to the Mughals. Stock of food and war material were built up and an expeditionary army organised and trained.*The Ahom king was keen to avenge the defeat he had suffered at the hands of Mughals and.......

Lachit Borphukan was the man of the hour.......*

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## ganimi kawa

*Lachit*---







*Statue of Lachit Borphukan at National Defence Academy(NDA), Khadakwasla*


He was the son of Mumai Tamuli Borbarua who starting from the humble beginning had risen to the Governor of lower Assam as also Commander-in-Chief of the Ahom army. Thus he had the benefit of the education the children of nobility of his times used to have. His father arranged for his education in Humanities, Scriptures and Military skills and as he grew up he was given positions of responsibilities. He was appointed Scarf Bearer to the Prime Minister functioning like his private secretary. *He was successively appointed Superintendent of the Royal Horse, Commander of the strategic Simulgarh Fort and Superintendent of the Royal Household guards.*

Ultimately, he was made Borphukan (thus the name). *Borphukan was a post of one of the five councillors in the Ahom kingdom. The position included both executive and judicial powers, with jurisdiction of the Ahom kingdom west of Kaliabor river. *The headquarter of Borphukan was based in Kaliabor.

This was the man king Chakradhwaja singh had called upon to redeem the honour of Assam!

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## ganimi kawa

*War Begins*---


*Commandos In action at guwahati*





Statue depicting ahom soldiers disabling the mughal cannons 

Preparations were complete by 1667 and the king entrusted the command of the expeditionary army to Lachit Borphukan. This force started from Gargaon in August 1667 and advanced down the Brahmaputra to Guwahati. Lachit soon captured an important post of the Mughals on the North bank and Mughal reserves got drawn there. He beat back Mughal counter attacks. Simultaneously *he organized night raid by his commandos on the South bank of the river against the Mughal fort at Guwahati. The commandos poured water into the mouth of Mughal canons and the Ahom army after a heavy cannonade pressed a determined attack.* Lachit captured the fort and the Mughal Governor was taken a prisoner along with a large number of Mughal soldiers. 

The Mughals abandoned Guwahati and Lachit advanced up to Manas river liberating the Ahom territory ceded to Mir Jumla. A stone victory pillar with inscription in Sanskrit now in Guwahati museum praises Lachit Borphukan for his victory against the Mughals at Guwahati in 1667. link


*Country first!*

Lachit was not the one to just rest on his laurels. He realized that the Mughal Emperor was bound to send a large army to avenge the defeat of his forces and suffered at Guwahati. He, therefore, set about organizing the defenses of Guwahati in a very meticulous manner for the anticipated invasion of Mughal forces. The terrain around Guwahati of low hills on either bank of the river, helped Lachit in organizing impregnable defenses. He organised prepared defenses at gaps of 9 ft. on the plains and 13.5 ft on the hills. The river line within the defensive perimeter on both banks was fortified and stockades were put up on sand banks in the river to deny the use of the waterway. All round defence and defence in depth were insured. For nearly 2 years he was developing his defenses while the Mughals organised a large force and advanced to Guwahati. It is said that Lachit was very ruthless with his subordinates in ensuring preparation of defences. *He beheaded his own uncle who was found negligent in this regard, "My uncle is not greater than my country".....*

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## ganimi kawa

*The empire strikes back*---


Mughal emperor Aurangzeb was informed of the losses on December 19, 1667 and he commissioned Raja Ram Singh of Amber, son of the famous Mirza Raja Jai Singh, to take back Guwahati. 





Ram Singh






Aurangzeb


*The muster of Aurangzeb*

Ram Singh left Delhi on December 27, 1667, and finally reached Rangamati in February in 1669. He was accompanied,by the Mughal general Rashid Khan, ex-faujdar of Guwahati. The Ahoms, anticipating a Mughal strike, is said to have followed his movements from Delhi itself. 

Along the way Aurangzeb augmented *Ram Singh's forces of 4,000 troopers (from his char-hazaari mansab), 1,500 ahadis and 500 barqandezes by an additional 30,000 infantrymen, 21 Rajput chiefs (Thakurs) with their contingents, 18,000 cavalry, 2,000 archers and shieldmen and 40 ships.* 

Armies from Koch Bihar joined the Mughal forces since they were vassals.Portuguese and other European sailors were employed, to man the fleet. These forces moved up the Brahmaputra from Dhaka to Guwahati. 

Lachit's spies kept him informed of the progress of Ram Singh's advance. When Lachit surveyed the massive Mughal force later, he was moved to tears and he uttered: "It is a tragedy that my country is facing this dire catastrophe during my Phukanship. How will my king be saved? How will my people be saved? And how will my posterity be saved?" 


*Ahom war strategy*

With the impregnable defences that he had prepared at Guwahati, he was confident to beat back the Mughal attack. He realized that he stood no chance in open ground on the plains against the immensely superior Mughal cavalry of Turkish and Arab horse. His small ponies were no match for them. The Mughals had to be denied any opportunity to exploit their overwhelming superiority in cavalry. 

The Mughals made contact with Lachit's defences in March 1669 and laid siege to Guwahati. *The empire had struck back!*.....

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## ganimi kawa

*The Battle at Guwahati*---


*Early phase*

There were five distinct phases of the battle fought at Guwahati. In the first phase the Mughals made repeated attacks against Ahom defences on both banks of the, river but failed to achieve a breakthrough. In the second phase they tried to send raiding parties by boats to get inside the Ahom defences. Lachit's river line defences foiled this attempt. A heavy monsoon set in during the third phase. 

*The Mughals got bogged down in mud and got isolated from each other due to flowing streams. The Ahoms were at an advantage. They were more used to the terrain and accustomed to the climate. They carried out extensive guerilla warfare,* causing heavy losses to the Mughals. Ram Singh was very contemptuous of these operations and called it a "thieves affair". He challenged Lachit Barphukan to a duel. *He also offered a bribe of 3 lakhs to Lachit to abandon Guwahati defences.* When this did not work, he tried a ruse. 


*Ram Singh's stratagem*

*A letter addressed to Lachit, attached to an arrow, was host into the Ahom camp. It mentioned that Lachit had been paid one lakh to evacuate Guwahati and urged him to do so soon. *The letter found its way to the Ahom King at Gargaon who became suspicious of the loyalty of Lachit Barphukan. Fortunately, the Prime Minister managed to convince the King that it was a trick being played by the Mughal Commander and he should not doubt Lachit's loyalty. However, the *King insisted that Lachit came out of his defences and engage the Mughals in battle on open ground. Despite his objections to such a suicidal move, Lachit was forced to follow the order of the King.* He came out of his defences on to the Allaboi plains to attack the Mughal army in the open. This was the fourth phase of the battle. 

*The reversal at Allaboi*

After some initial success in which the Ahoms captured the local Mughal Commander, Mir Nawab, the Ahoms drew the full weight of Mughal cavalry personally led by Ram Singh. *The Mughal cavalry decimated the Ahom army on the plains and the later suffered 10,000 killed. *Lachit had taken the precaution of digging a line of defences at the rear of his advancing, columns to which they could fall back if forced to do so. Thus he managed to extricate the remainder of his forces and moved back into his prepared defences.

Aurangzeb was pleased with these Mughal successes and increased Ram Singh's mansab from 4000 to 5000. Ram Singh was also instructed to invest Guwahati soon. 

*Things were definitely looking grim for the ahoms! ....*

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## Kyusuibu Honbu

Its a shame no one knows about the Ahoms,even i came to know about them through the internet.

Based on timeline:

326 BC: Porus who gave Alexander the most difficult of all his conquest hence blunting the courage of his soilders and causing mutiny and unrest,if it wasn't for him Alexander might even marched into modern India and fought with the Nandas causing more bloodshed.

305 BC: Chandragupta Maurya defeats Seleucus Nicator of the Seleucid Empire.hence keeping the Greeks out of our territory.

266 BC: Ashoka conquers and unifies most of South Asia, along with Afghanistan and eastern Iran.

*
1294-1398-Ala-ud-din Khilji and his general Zafar Khan defends India from the Mongol invasions.
*

1659 Shivaji's ill-equipped and small Maratha army defeat mighty Adilshahi troops at the Battle of Pratapgarh in a major upset in Indian history. Shivaji personally kills Adilshahi commander Afzal Khan (general).

1674 Forces led by Shivaji defeat Aurangzeb's troops, and establishes Maratha Empire.

1799-1820 Maharaja Ranjit Singh-kept the Afghans at bay all his rule.

1837 Hari Singh Nalwa of Sikh empire died by securing the Kyber pass from the Afghans,hence prevent any further foreign invasions.

the bolded one is if its only medieval India.(550-1526)

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## ganimi kawa

I would love to know more about Hari Singh Nalwa. I will finish the ahom chapter today. Requesting others to take this further!

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## Nahraf

If Mughals have annexed Ahom Kingdom then they may have also moved up to modern Arunachal Pradesh and making integral part of South Asia. Bakhtiyar Khilji invaded Tibet in 1206 CE and was defeated due to logistics. If he would have captured Tibet then political borders would have been quite different today.

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## ganimi kawa

*Final diplomatic initiative* ---


*Ram Singh's initiative*

After the Mughal advances in late 1669, Ram Singh began diplomatic efforts. The proposal was for the Assamese to evacuate Guwahati and a return to the 1639 status quo (Treaty of Asurar Ali) in return for a Mughal payment of 300,000 rupees. The Ahoms did not respond favorably. Ram Singh next attempted to bribe and create divisions among the Ahom field commanders (Phukans). 

In the mean time, the Ahom king Chakradhwaj Singha died and was succeeded by his brother Udayaditya Singha. The long war had resulted in popular discontent in the Ahom kingdom.* Ram Singh again put forward his proposal on the 1639 status quo settlement and this time the Ahoms appeared receptive. The Ahom king, though displeased, left the decision to his commanders in Guwahati.*


*Avoiding the trap*

In the meeting which included Lachit Borphukan, the only dissenter to the proposal was *general Atan Burhagohain*,who displayed his statesmanship.

Atan Burhagohain argued that there was no guarantee that the Emperor at Delhi will abide by Ram Singh's assurance. Also, a settlement then would mean that the drain on the country's resources would have been in vain. Further, what was the guarantee that once the Mughals take Guwahati, they would not reach for Garhgaon or even Namrup ?

*Atan Burhagohain was able to persuade the other commanders and the Ahoms rejected this proposal. The diplomatic efforts of Ram Singh failed once again.*

The stage was set for the final showdown!....

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## ganimi kawa

*Battle at Saraighat*---


*Incoming!!!*

*The Mughals knew they could not penetrate Ahom defences and ultimately decided to launch a massive naval assault on the river. *The Mughal ambassador, Paditrai, had reported a b*reach in the embankment at Andharubali *a few days earlier, and Ram Singh wanted to exploit this opening. They had large boats, a few of them mounting up to sixteen canons. The Ahom soldiers were demoralized after the Allaboi disaster. Their Commander-in-Chief was seriously ill.







*The battle of Saraighat map*

An encounter both on land and water ensued near* Ashwakranta*. *The Ahom land forces, under Laluk Borgohain Phukan, worsted the Mughals, but the Mughal boats compelled the Ahom boats to retreat to Barhila, north of Saraighat. *The land forces, fearing an encirclement, too retreated. The battle reached a crucial phase, when the Mughals were beginning to get close to Andharubali. The Borphukan, as well as the Nara Raja (naval commander) sent messages to inspire the soldiers. It looked as if there was a break in command and some boats began falling back to Kajali and Samdhara.

*Rout was imminent. It was the begining of the end of Ahom independance.And Lachit Borphukan was forced to observe this from his sickbed!.....*

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## ganimi kawa

*Cometh the hour......*


The Borphukan sent orders to all the land and naval forces to attack. He also ordered seven war-boats for himself and had Nadai of Kharangi carry him to a boat. 

He shouted "The King has put all the people in my hands to fight the mughal. Shall I go back to my wife and children?If you (the soldiers) want to flee, flee. The king has given me a task here and I will do it well. *Let the Mughals take me away. You report to the king that his general fought well following his orders*" and pushed a few men into the water. With the other six war-boats the Borphukan headed toward the naval battle.

This had an electrifying effect on his soldiers. They rallied behind him and a desperate battle ensured on the Brahmaputra. '*The Ahoms in their small boats cut circles round the bigger but less maneuverable Mughal boats.* The river got littered with clashing boats and drowning soldiers.The Mughal admiral Munnawar Khan,was killed by a gunshot from the back, throwing the Mughals out of gear. *They suffered the loss of three top-ranking amirs, and another 4000 dead. 
*

In this furious engagement, Lachit Barphukan managed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. The Mughals were decisively defeated and they retreated from Guwahati. Ahom territory up to Manas was once again liberated. Thus ended the fifth phase of the battle of Saraighat in a glorious Ahom victory, despite all odds and giving Lachit very deservedly legendary fame in Assam!

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## indiatech

Statue of Borphukon at the National Defence Academy, Pune.

Thanks to forner governor Gen. S.K Sinha for understanding the history of Assam.











"*country first*"

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## riCoh

thanx mate...great info.


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## Justin Joseph

@ganimi kawa 

Great work.keep it up.

Do you know about 

Battle of Rajasthan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

*The Battle of Rajasthan is a battle (or series of battles) where the Hindu Rajput clans defeated the Muslim Arab invaders in 738 CE. *While all sources (Hindu and Muslim) agree on the broad outline of the conflict and the result, there is no detailed information on the actual battle/s. There is also no indication of the exact places where these battles were foughtwhat is clear is that the final battle took place somewhere on the borders of modern Sindh-Rajasthan. Following their defeat the remnants of the Arab army fled to the other bank of the River Indus.

This is one reason to choose the title Battle of Rajasthan to describe that conflict[original research?]. But a more important reason is the participation of the Rajput clans of Rajasthan: Gurjara Pratihara, Chauhans, and Guhilots, on the Hindu side. After their victory these clans established large states in North India, which marks the commencement of the Rajput period.


*Samrat Hem Chandra Vikramaditya, Hemu Vikramaditya or simply Hemu (Hindi: &#2360;&#2350;&#2381;&#2352;&#2366;&#2335; &#2361;&#2375;&#2350; &#2330;&#2306;&#2342;&#2381;&#2352; &#2357;&#2367;&#2325;&#2381;&#2352;&#2350;&#2366;&#2342;&#2367;&#2340;&#2381;&#2351 (1501-1556) was a Hindu Emperor of India during the 1500s. This was one of the crucial periods in Indian history, when the Mughals and Afghans were desperately vying for power.*

Hem Chandra Vikramaditya - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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## ganimi kawa

^^ Thank you, sir! It is a pleasure to write about great men like these ; makes you feel proud of being an indian!

And thank you for reminding me about the battle of rajasthan. I had read about it a few years ago but had forgotten all about it. In fact yesterday, when we were discussing rajput history on one of the threads here, I should have mentioned this !

It is sad that those brave men died for their country and faith only to be completely forgotten by their own countrymen!


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## SONOFAGUN

ganimi kawa said:


> During the course of a recent discussion on this forum a need was felt to share the stories of many many warheroes india has produced over the course of history whose exploits have been mostly forgotten by us.Many believe that our history's just a procession of defeat after defeat and this view is then taken up by many foreigners!
> 
> It is our duty to learn about these great men and pass this heritage to the next generation. I request you to please post stories of such heroes from your part of the country for others to read and take inspiration from!
> 
> Jai Hind!




Jai Hind

Awesome Tale............It will be a block buster......How come we Indians don't know about him. Thanks for sharing.


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## Jacobtheindoamerican

Marathas are the once that took down the Mughal power.


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## COLDHEARTED AVIATOR

General Zorawar Singh








Zorawar Singh Kahluria (1786-1841) was born in a village of Kahlur State (also called Bilaspur from its capital) in modern Himachal Pradesh, India.

His family belonged to the Kahluria clan of Rajputsthey migrated to the Jammu region where, on coming of age, Zorawar took up service under Raja Jaswant Singh of Marmathi (modern Doda district). In 1817 he joined the army of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the state of Kashmir had become part of the Sikh Kingdom after a campaign against its Afghan rulers . Zorowar Singh was employed by the ambitious Maharaja Gulab Singh of Jammu and was placed under the commandant of the Reasi fort (Bhimgarh fort). While delivering a routine message to the Maharaja, Zorawar told him of the financial waste occurring in the fort administration and boldly presented his own scheme to effect savings.

Gulab Singh was impressed by Zorawars sincerity and appointed him commandant of Reasi. As promised, the Rajput youth fulfilled his task and his grateful ruler made him commissariat officer of all forts north of Jammu. He was later made governor of Kishtwar and was given the title of Wazir (prime minister). Like Kashmir, the Kingdom of Kishtwar was formed by a river valley (the Chenab flowing from Himachal Pradesh as the Chandrabhaga)-the kingdom's ancient name was Kashtavat and it remained under Hindu rulers until the 17th Century when Raja Gairat Singh converted to Islam and received the title of Raja Saadat Yar Khan from the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.

Some of the people had also converted with their king but many remained true to their ancestral faith. Even though it was a newly conquered region Zorawar had no trouble in keeping the peace; many of the local Rajputs were recruited into his army. In 1835 the nearby region of Paddar was taken from Chamba (now in Himachal Pradesh) in the course of a battle. Paddar later became known for its sapphire mines. But this was a mere sideshow to General Zorawar Singhs more famous expeditions, on which he had already embarked in the previous year.



The Ladakh campaigns
Zorawar fort in Ladakh

To the east of Kishtwar and Kashmir are the snow-clad mountains of the upper Himalayas  the rivers of Zanskar Gorge, Suru River, and Drass rise from these snows, and flow across the plateau of Ladakh into the Indus River. Several petty principalities in this region were tributary to the Gyalpo (King) of Ladakh. In 1834 one of these, the Raja of Timbus, sought Zorawars help against the Gyalpo. Meanwhile the Rajput general had been burning to distinguish himself by expanding the territory of Raja Gulab Singh  also at that time, according to the Gulabnama, Kishtwar went through a drought that caused a loss of revenue and forced Zorawar to extract money through war.

The Rajputs of Jammu and Himachal have traditionally excelled in mountain fighting; therefore Zorawar had no trouble in crossing the mountain ranges and entering Ladakh through the source of the Suru River where his 5000 men defeated an army of local Botis. After moving to Kargil and subduing the landlords along the way Zorawar received the submission of the Ladakhis  however Tsepal Namgyal, the Gyalpo (ruler), sent his general Banko Kahlon by a roundabout route to cut off Zorawars communications. The astute general doubled back to Kartse where he sheltered his troops through the winter. In the spring of 1835 he defeated the large Ladakhi army of Banko Kahlon and marched his victorious troops towards Leh. The Gyalpo now agreed to pay 50,000 rupees as war-indemnity and 20,000 rupees as an annual tribute.

Alarmed at the gains of the Dogras the Punjabi governor of Kashmir, Mehan Singh, incited the Ladakhi chieftains to rebel but Zorawar quickly marched back to the Himalayan valleys and subdued the rebels, now forcing the Raja of Zanskar to also pay a separate tribute to Jammu. But in 1836 Mehan Singh, who was in correspondence with the Lahore durbar, this time instigated the Gyalpo to revolt  Zorawar force-marched his army in ten days to surprise the Ladakhis and forced them to submit. He now built a fort outside Leh and placed there a garrison of 300 men under Dalel Singh  the Gyalpo was deposed to an estate and a Ladakhi general, Ngorub Stanzin, was made King. But the latter did not prove to be loyal hence the Gyalpo was restored to his throne in 1838.



Baltistan campaign

To the north-west of Ladakh, and to the north of Kashmir, lies the region of Baltistan. Muhammad Shah, the son of the ruler of Skardu, Raja Ahmad Shah, fled to Leh and sought the aid of the Gyalpo and Zorawar against his father. But some of the Ladakhi nobles allowed Ahmad Shah to imprison his son and sought his aid in a general rebellion against the Dogras. After defeating the Ladakhi rebels Zorawar invaded Baltistan in the winter of 1841, adding a large contingent of Ladakhis to his army.

The advance brigade of 5,000 under Nidhan Singh lost its way in the cold and snow and was surrounded by the enemy; many soldiers perished from the cold. Then Mehta Basti Ram, a prominent Rajput from Kishtwar, established contact with the main force. On their arrival the Botis of Skardu were defeated and forced to flee. They were chased to the fort of Skardu which was invested by Zorawar for a few days. One night the Dogras scaled the steep mountain behind the fort and after some fighting captured the small fort on its crest. From this position the next day they began firing down at the main fort and forced the Raja to surrender. Zorawar built a fort on the banks of the Indus where he placed a contingent of his soldiers.

After placing Muhammad Shah on the throne for an annual tribute of 7000 rupees, a Dogra contingent under Wazir Lakhpat advanced westwards, conquered the fort of Astor and took its Darad Raja prisoner. However this Raja was tributary to Mehan Singh, the Punjabi Sikh governor of Kashmir, who was alarmed at the Dogra conquests since they only expanded the kingdom of Gulab Singh while not bringing any benefit to the Lahore durbar. His complaint at Lahore was forwarded to Raja Gulab Singh at Jammu and he ordered the Darad Raja to be released.

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## COLDHEARTED AVIATOR

Tibet expedition

With the Dogra ambitions clashing with the Punjabi empire in the west, Zorawar Singh turned his energies eastward, towards Tibet. As he had done in Ladakh, so too in the newly-conquered Baltistan, Zorawar recruited the Baltis in his army, which now had men from the Jammu hills, Kishtwar, and Ladakh. This five or six thousand strong army was divided into three columns that marched parallel into the unknown land of Tibet in May, 1841.

One column under the Ladakhi prince, Nono Sungnam, followed the course of the Indus River to its source. Another column of 300 men, under Ghulam Khan, marched along the mountains leading up to the Kailas Range and thus south of the Indus. Zorawar himself led 3,000 men along the plateau region where the vast and picturesque Pangong Lake is located. Sweeping all resistance before them, the three columns passed the Mansarovar Lake and converged at Gartok, defeating the small Tibetan force stationed there. The enemy commander fled to Taklakot but Zorawar stormed that fort on 6 September 1841. Envoys from Tibet now came to him as did agents of the Maharaja of Nepal, whose kingdom was only fifteen miles from Taklakot.

The fall of Taklakot finds mention in the report of the Chinese Imperial Resident, Meng Pao, at Lhasa:

On my arrival at Taklakot a force of only about 1,000 local troops could be mustered, which was divided and stationed as guards at different posts. A guard post was quickly established at a strategic pass near Taklakot to stop the invaders, but these local troops were not brave enough to fight off the Shen-Pa (Dogras) and fled at the approach of the invaders. The distance between Central Tibet and Taklakot is several thousand libecause of the cowardice of the local troops; our forces had to withdraw to the foot of the Tsa Mountain near the Mayum Pass. Reinforcements are essential in order to withstand these violent and unruly invaders.

Zorawar and his men now went on pilgrimage to Mansarovar and Mount Kailash. He had extended his communication and supply line over 450 miles of inhospitable terrain by building small forts and pickets along the way. The fort Chi-Tang was built near Taklakot, where Mehta Basti Ram was put in command of 500 men, with 8 or 9 cannon. With the onset of winter all the passes were blocked and roads snowed in. The supplies for the Dogra army over such a long distance failed despite Zorawars meticulous preparations.

As the intense cold, coupled with the rain, snow and lightning continued for weeks upon weeks, many of the soldiers lost their fingers and toes to frostbite. Others starved to death, while some burnt the wooden stock of their muskets to warm themselves. The Tibetans and their Chinese allies regrouped and advanced to give battle, bypassing the Dogra fort of Chi-Tang. Zorawar and his men met them at the Battle of To-yo on 12 December 1841-in the early exchange of fire the Rajput general was wounded in his right shoulder but he grabbed a sword in his left hand. The Tibetan horsemen then charged the Dogra position and one of them thrust his lance in Zorawar Singhs chest.

The Sino-Tibetan force then mopped up the other garrisons of the Dogras and advanced on Ladakh, now determined to conquer it and add it to the Imperial Chinese dominions. However the force under Mehta Basti Ram stood a siege for several weeks at Chi-Tang before escaping with 240 men across the Himalayas to the British post of Almora. Within Ladakh the Sino-Tibetan army laid siege to Leh, when reinforcements under Diwan Hari Chand and Wazir Ratnu came from Jammu and repulsed them. The Tibetan fortifications at Drangtse were flooded when the Dogras dammed up the river. On open ground, the Chinese and Tibetans were chased to Chushul. The climactic Battle of Chushul (August, 1842) was fought and won by the Dogras who executed the enemy general to avenge the death of Zorawar Singh.




The Treaty of Chushul

On this auspicious occasion, the second day of the month Asuj in the year 1899 we - the officers of Lhasa, viz. firstly, Kalon Sukanwala, and secondly Bakshi Sapju, commander of the forces of the Empire of China, on the one hand, and Dewan Hari Chand and Wazir Ratnu, on behalf of Raja Gulab Singh, on the other - agree together and swear before God that the friendship between Raja Gulab Singh and the Emperor of China and Lama Guru Sahib Lassawala will be kept and observed till eternity; for the traffic in shawl, pasham, and tea. We will observe our pledge to God, Gayatri, and Pasi. Wazir Mian Khusal Chu is witness.




Estimate

Unlike so many other conquerors, General Zorawar Singh Kahluria was not despised or hated by the people whose lands he invaded. There is not a single word in any of the histories or traditional accounts about the rapacity or greed that comes naturally to most foreign invaders, and the same goes for his army. These Hindu invaders crossed the paths of people belonging to the Buddhist, Muslim, and Animist faiths and yet made no attempt to interfere with their religious practices. There were many monasteries filled with precious articles all through Ladakh and Tibet and yet there was not one instance of robbery or plunder.

Zorawar Singhs great military endeavors were balanced by a life of modesty and restraint. He was so honest that he would transfer to his master any gifts or tribute that came to him. This honest Rajput did not leave behind either vast properties or deep coffers for his descendants - only a legacy of military achievement that caused the contemporary Europeans to term him the little Napoleon of India.

zorawar singh's fort in ladakh







his statue which i see everyday

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Hari Singh Nalwa






Hari Singh Nalwa (Punjabi: &#2617;&#2608;&#2624; &#2616;&#2623;&#2672;&#2584; &#2600;&#2610;&#2613;&#2622 (1791-1837) was Commander-in-chief of the army of the Sikh Empire. He is known for his role in the conquests of Kasur, Sialkot, Multan, Kashmir, Attock, and Peshawar. He lead the Sikh Army in freeing Shah Shuja from Kashmir and secured the Koh-i-Nor diamond for Ranjit Singh. He served as governor of Kashmir and Hazara and established a mint on behalf of the Sikh Empire to facilitate revenue collection. His frontier policy of holding the Khyber Pass was later used by the British Raj. He is responsible for expanding the frontier of Sikh Empire to the Indus River. In 1831, he opposed moves by Ranjit Singh to appoint Kharak Singh the Maharaja of the Sikh Empire upon the formers death.At the time of his death, the western boundary of the Sikh Kingdom was Jalalabad. His death at the Battle of Jamrud was a significant loss to the Sikh Empire.


Early life

Hari Singh's ancestors came to Majitha and served the Sukerchakia Misl. His grandfather, Hardas Singh, was killed in action in 1762. [6] His father, Gurdial Singh, served under Charat Singh and Maha Singh as a Risaldar and received the Jagir of Balloki, a village in the modern day Kasur District of Pakistan.

Hari Singh Nalwa was born into an Uppal Khatri family, in Gujranwala, Punjab to Gurdas Singh and Dharam Kaur(daughter of Kashibai)[citation needed]. He became fatherless in 1798, when he turned seven. After his father's death, He was raised by his mother with help from his uncle. His mother fought off attempts to seize the family's Jagir after his father's death. In 1801, at age ten, he took Amrit Sanskar and was baptized as a Sikh. At the age of twelve, he began to manage his fathers estate and took up horseriding. In 1804, at the age of fourteen, his mother sent him to Ranjit Singhs court to resolve a property dispute.Ranjit Singh decided the arbitration in his favor and asked him about his background. Hari Singh explained his father and grandfather had served under Maha Singh and Charat Singh, the Maharaja's ancestors, and demonstrated his skills as horseman and musketeer. Ranjit Singh gave him a position at the court as a personal attendant.



Military career

His military career began in 1804 on a hunting trip. At sometime during the hunt, he was temporarily separated from the hunting party and a lion attacked him, killing his horse. The rest of the hunters found him but he refused their attempts to protect him and killed the lion by himself with a shield and short sword. Ranjit Singh rewarded him with a commission as Sardar and the command of 800 cavalry troops.

Sir Henry Griffin called Nalwa the "Murat of the Khalsa". A British newspaper had asserted in the early twentieth century that had Nalwa the resources and the artillery of the British, he would have conquered the East and extended the boundaries of the Sikh Kingdom to include Europe. This most famous of the great Sikh generals participated in the following conquests: Sialkot, Kasur (1807), Multan (1818), Kashmir (1819), Pakhli and Damtaur (1821-2), Peshawar (1834)[17] and finally Jamrud (1837) in the Khyber Hills. He served as the governor of both Kashmir and Peshawar. A coin minted in Kashmir came to be known as the 'Hari Singhee'. The coin is on display in museums.

Legacy

Haripur city, tehsil and district, in Hazara, North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan, are named after him..He defeated the Afghans, something the British failed to do, and annexed a segment of what was the Kingdom of Kabul to the Sikh Kingdom.

Nalwa was the consummate example of the Sikh saint-soldier, and India owes much to his strategic genius. His descendants live in India and abroad. This runs counter to the story of Maharajah Ranjit Singh's line, which was forever destroyed by the British, who abducted his children and took them to England, where they were held hostage against the threat of India rising against British rule. Nalwa was the senior most member of Ranjit's court. His son, Jawahir Singh, led the famous charge at the Battle of Chillianwala, a battle in which the British suffered a retreat.Another son, Arjan Singh, also posed a tough challenge to the British as they struggled to annex the Punjab


Plaudits

A very popular 19th century British newspaper, Tit-Bits, made a comparative analysis of great generals of the world and arrived at the following conclusion:

"Some people might think that Napoleon was a great General. Some might name Marshall Hendenburgh, Lord Kitchener, General Karobzey or Duke of Wellington etc. And some going further might say Halaku Khan, Genghis Khan, Changez Khan, Richard or Allaudin etc. But let me tell you that in the North of India a General of the name of Hari Singh Nalwa of the Sikhs prevailed. Had he lived longer and had the sources and artillery of the British, he would have conquered most of Asia and Europe."

Hari Singh Nalwa's meeting with various British and a German travellers are recorded. Baron Charles von Hügel remembers him fondly in his memoirs. He met the Sardar at his residence in Gujranwala. On that occasion the German was gifted a portrait of Nalwa in the act of killing a tiger. Hari Singh Nalwa was fluent in the Persian language. He was also conversant with Punjabi, Gurmukhi script and Pushtu, the latter being the language of the Pashtuns. He was familiar with world politics, including details about the European states.

He rebuilt the Bala Hisar Fort in Maharaja Ranjit Singh's name.

Accolades continued coming long after Sardar Hari Singh Nalwa's death. Pannikar perhaps sums him up best  The noblest and the most gallant of the Sikh generals of his time, the very embodiment of honour, chivalry, and courage

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Ranjit Singh








Maharaja Ranjit Singh (Punjabi: &#2606;&#2617;&#2622;&#2608;&#2622;&#2588;&#2622; &#2608;&#2595;&#2588;&#2624;&#2596; &#2616;&#2623;&#2672;&#2584 (born 13 November 1780) ruled 1799-20 June 1839; Capital city Lahore; was the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire.


Early life
Maharaja Ranjit Singh's family genealogy

Ranjit Singh was born in Gujranwala, modern-day Pakistan, into a Sikh family (according to some historians of Jatt Sikh origin and others Sansi clan) who were Sukerchakia misldars. He belonged to Sikh clan of Northern India.As a child he suffered from smallpox which resulted in the loss of one eye. At the time, much of Punjab was ruled by the Sikhs under a Confederate Sarbat Khalsa system, who had divided the territory among factions known as misls. Ranjit Singh's father Maha Singh was the Commander of the Sukerchakia misl and controlled a territory in west Punjab based around his headquarters at Gujranwala. After his father's death he was raised under the protection of Sada Kaur of the Kanheya Misl. Ranjit Singh succeeded his father at the age of 18. After several campaigns, he conquered the other misls and created the Sikh Empire.



The Maharaja
Ranjit Singh's Empire

Ranjit Singh was crowned on 12 April 1801 (to coincide with Baisakhi). Sahib Singh Bedi, a descendant of Guru Nanak Dev, conducted the coronation . Gujranwala served as his capital from 1799. In 1802 he shifted his capital to Lahore. Ranjit Singh rose to power in a very short period, from a leader of a single Sikh misl to finally becoming the Maharaja (Emperor) of Punjab.

He then spent the following years fighting the Afghans, driving them out of the Punjab. He also captured Pashtun territory including Peshawar (now referred to as North West Frontier Province and the Tribal Areas). This was the first time that Peshawari Pashtuns were ruled by Punjabis. He captured the province of Multan which encompassed the southern parts of Punjab, Peshawar (1818), Jammu and Kashmir (1819). Thus Ranjit Singh put an end to more than a thousand years of Muslim rule. He also conquered the hill states north of Anandpur Sahib, the largest of which was Kangra.

When the Foreign Minister of the Ranjit Singh's court , Fakir Azizuddin, met the British Governor-General of India, Lord Auckland, in Simla, Lord Auckland asked Fakir Azizuddin which of the Maharaja's eyes was missing, Azizuddin replied: "The Maharaja is like the sun and sun has only one eye. The splendor and luminosity of his single eye is so much that I have never dared to look at his other eye." The Governor General was so pleased with this reply that he gave his gold watch to Azizuddin.

Ranjit Singh's Empire was secular, none of the subjects were discriminated against on account of their religions. The Maharaja never forced Sikhism on his subjects.


Secular Sikh Rule

The Kingdom of the Sikhs was most exceptional in that it allowed men from religions other than their own to rise to commanding positions of authority. Besides the Singh (Sikh), the Khan (Muslim) and the Misr (Hindu Brahmin) feature as prominent administrators. The Christians formed a part of the militia of the Sikhs. In 1831, Ranjit Singh deputed his mission to Simla to confer with the British Governor General, Lord William Bentinck. Sardar Hari Singh Nalwa, Fakir Aziz-ud-din and Diwan Moti Ram &#8213; a Sikh, a Muslim and a Hindu representative &#8213; were nominated at its head.

Externally, everyone in the Sikh kingdom looked alike; they supported a beard and covered their head, predominantly with a turban. This left visitors to the Punjab quite confused. Most foreigners arrived there after a passage through Hindustan, where religious and caste distinctions were very carefully observed. It was difficult for them to believe that though everyone in the Sarkar Khalsaji looked similar, they were not all Sikhs. The Sikhs were generally not known to force either those in their employ or the inhabitants of the country they ruled to convert to Sikhism. In fact, men of piety from all religions were equally respected by the Sikhs and their ruler. Hindu sadhus, yogis, saints and bairagis; Muslim faqirs and pirs; and Christian priests were all the recipients of Sikh largess. There was only one exception  the Sikhs viewed the Muslim clergy with suspicion. Mullahs were not looked upon kindly, as they were known to fan fanaticism.

In their conquests, the Sikhs never perpetrated atrocities as by invaders into the sub-continent. It was true that the Sikhs held a rightful and justified grudge against the Afghans for the atrocities they had perpetrated, over decades, against them. Before them, the Mughals had hunted down the Sikhs like animals in the field. Every Sikh carried a price on his head. The Afghans had caused havoc and mayhem in the Punjab during the lifetime of both Ranjit Singhs father and grandfather. Despite that, during the rule of the Sikhs there were no reports of torture of the kind routinely inflicted upon the Sikhs by some of the Muslim rulers of Hindustan and subsequently by the Afghan invaders. The Sikhs were reportedly a most tolerant nation. According to Masson, a deserter from the British India Army who was to later become a Political Agent for the East India Company and stationed in the Kingdom of Kabul:

At present, flushed by a series of victories, they (the Sikhs) have a zeal and buoyancy of spirit amounting to enthusiasm; and with the power of taking the most exemplary revenge, they have been still more lenient than the Mahomeddan were ever towards them.

As a community, the Sikhs were as well known for their religious tolerance as the Mohammedans were notorious for their intolerance. A British Agent, Alexander Burnes, traveled extensively through the Punjab during Maharaja Ranjit Singhs rule, narrates the following incident, which occurred at the royal stud farm at Puttee as being illustrative of the national character of the Sikhs:

The horses were attacked with an epidemic disease from which a Mohammedan, who resides in a neighboring sanctuary, is believed to have cured them. Though a Mohammedan the Sikhs repaired and beautified his temple, which is now a conspicuous white building that glitters in the sun. I have always observed the Sikhs to be most tolerant in their religion

The Sikhs were never accused of the routine inhuman behavior attributed to the Muslims. In fact, they made every attempt not to offend the prejudices of Mohammedans noted Baron von Hügel, the famous German traveler, yet the Sikhs were referred to as being harsh. In this regard, Massons explanation is perhaps the most pertinent:

Though compared to the Afghans, the Sikhs were mild and exerted a protecting influence, yet no advantages could compensate to their Mohaomedan subjects, the idea of subjection to infidels, and the prohibition to slay kine, and to repeat the azan, or summons to prayer.

The sanctity and inviolability of the cow in India was well entrenched in Hindu society long before Muslim invasions. This became more so with the introduction of Islamic culture into India. The Muslim invaders were beef eaters and killers of cows, and thus the sanctity of the cow became a rallying point for Hindu resistance against the spread of Islam. Cattle were initially the dominant commodity and gotra (cow pen) came to signify the endogamous kinship groups [23]. Sikhism was a revolt against the dominance of the Brahmins, caste and the complexity of Hindu rituals. One feature of Hinduism, which did carry over into Sikhism was a respect for the sanctity of the cow. The ban on cow slaughter was universally imposed in the Sarkar Khalsaji. So strictly was this enforced that a visitor to the Kingdom of the Sikhs claimed the cow is venerated by the Sikhs, even more than by the Hindus .

The British had concealed their consumption of beef from a Hindu or Sikh and pork from Mohammedans by calling both Vilayuti huren, namely European venison . The Revolt of 1857 was to teach the British not to play with religious sentiment of the indigenous population  overtly or covertly.

Unlike the Muslims, the Sikhs never razed places of worship to the ground belonging to the enemy. The Sikhs were utilitarian in their approach. Marble plaques removed from Jahangirs tomb at Shahdera were used to embellish the Baradari inside the Fort of Lahore, while most of the mosques were left intact. Forts were destroyed however, these too were often rebuilt &#8213; the best example being the Bala Hissar in Peshawar, which was destroyed by the Sikhs in 1823 and rebuilt by them in 1834 .


Gurudwaras built by Maharaja Ranjit Singh
Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple)

At the Harmandir Sahib, much of the present decorative gilding and marblework date back from the early 1800s. The gold and intricate marble work were conducted under the patronage of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Maharaja of the Punjab. The Sher-e-Punjab (Lion of the Punjab) was a generous patron of the shrine and is remembered with much affection by the Sikhs. Maharaja Ranjit Singh deeply loved and admired the teachings of the Tenth Guru of Sikhism Guru Gobind Singh, thus he promoted the teachings of the Dasam Granth (the Tenth Granth) and built two of the most sacred temples in Sikhism. These are Takht Sri Patna Sahib, the birth place of Guru Gobind Singh, and Takht Sri Hazur Sahib, the place where Guru Gobind Singh took his final rest or mahasamadhi, in Nanded, Maharashtra in 1708.


Conquests
Popular figurine of Maharajah Ranjit Singh
Maharaja Ranjit Singh

Ranjit Singh's earliest conquests as a young misldar (baron) were effected by defeating his coreligionists, the heads of other Sikh Sardaris (popularly known as the Misls). By the end of his reign, however, he had conquered vast tracts of territory strategically juxtaposed between the limits of British India to the left and the powerful Afghan Empire to the right. The land that eventually became the Kingdom of the Sikhs had been ruthlessly subjected to the worse kind of atrocities by invading armies coming through the Khyber Pass into the Indian sub-continent, over eight centuries.

In 1799, Ranjit Singh captured Lahore and made it his Capital. After the capture of Lahore, Ranjit Singh rapidly annexed the rest of the Punjab, the land of the five rivers. Having accomplished this, he extended his empire further north and west to include the Kashmir mountains and other Himalayan kingdoms, the Sind Sagar Doab, the Pothohar Plateau and trans-Indus regions right up to the foothills of the Sulaiman and Hindu Kush mountains.

Ranjit Singh took Amritsar from the Bhangi Sardari and followed this with the more difficult conquest of Kasur, the fabled twin city of Lahore, from the Pathans' With the conquest of Multan the whole Bari Doab came under his sway. In the year 1819, Ranjit Singh successfully annexed Kashmir. This was followed by subduing the Kashmir mountains, west of the river Jhelum (today, Hazara in Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir). Ranjit Singh built his empire by making deep inroads into the Kingdom of Kabul, defeating the Pashtun militia and the tribes inhabiting the Sindh Sagar Doab and trans-Indus regions.

The most significant encounters between the Sarkar Khalsaji and the Afghans were fought in 1813, 1823, 1834 and in 1837. In 1813, Ranjit Singh's general Dewan Mokham Chand led the Sikh forces against the Afghan forces of Shah Mahmud led by Fateh Khan Barakzai. Following this encounter, the Afghans lost their stronghold at Attock. Subsequently, the Pothohar plateau, the Sindh Sagar Doab and Kashmir came under Sikh rule. In 1823, Ranjit Singh defeated a large army of Yusafzai tribesmen north of the Kabul river, while the presence of his Sikh general, Hari Singh Nalwa prevented the entire Afghan army from crossing this river and going to the aid of the Yusafzais at Nowshera. This defeat led to the gradual loss of Afghan power in the trans-Indus region. In 1834, when the forces of the Sarkar Khalsaji marched into Peshawar, the ruling Barakzais simply fled the place without offering a fight.. In April 1837, the real power of Maharaja Ranjit Singh came to the fore when his commander-in-chief, Hari Singh Nalwa, kept the entire army of Amir Dost Mohammad Khan, the Wali of Kabul, at bay, with a handful of forces till reinforcements arrived from Lahore over a month after they were requisitioned.


Geography of the Sikh Empire
The Harmandir Sahib (also known as the Golden Temple) is the temple of worship of Sikhs.
The former haveli of Nau Nihal Singh, the grandson of Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Punjab, Lahore

The Sikh Empire was also known as Punjab, the Sikh Raj, and Sarkar Khalsaji[36], was a region straddling the border into modern-day People's Republic of China and Islamic Republic of Afghanistan then popularly referred to as the Kingdom of Cabul. The name of the region "Punjab" or "Panjab", comprises two words "Punj/Panj" and "Ab", translating to "five" and "water" in Persian. When put together this gives a name meaning "the land of the five rivers", coined due to the five rivers that run through the Punjab. Those "Five Rivers" are Beas, Ravi, Sutlej, Chenab and Jhelum, all tributaries of the river Indus, home to the Indus Valley Civilization that perished 3000 years ago. Punjab has a long history and rich cultural heritage. The people of the Punjab are called Punjabis and they speak a language called Punjabi. The following modern day political divisions made up the historical Sikh Empire:

* Punjab region till Multan in south 
o Punjab, India
o Punjab, Pakistan
o Haryana, India. Including Chandigarh.
o Himachal Pradesh, India

* Kashmir, conquered in 1818, India/Pakistan/China 
o Jammu, India
o Gilgit, Northern Areas, Pakistan (Occupied from 18421846)[41]
* Khyber Pass, Afghanistan/Pakistan[42][43]
o Peshawar, Pakistan[44] (taken in 1818, retaken in 1834)
o North-West Frontier Province and FATA, Pakistan (documented from Hazara (taken in 1818-22) to Bannu)
* Parts of Western Tibet (1841), China


Legacy and aftermath
The Samadhi of Emperor Ranjit Singh in Lahore, Pakistan

After Maharaja Ranjit Singh died in 1839, after a reign of nearly forty years, leaving seven sons by different queens. He was cremated. His ceremony was performed by both Sikh and Hindu priests, his wife Maharani Mahtab Devi Sahiba, the Princess of Kangra, daughter of Maharaja Sansar Chand, the Empress of Punjab, committed Sati with Ranjit's body as Ranjit's head lay in her lap, some of the other wives also joined her and committed Sati.The throne went to his eldest son Kharak Singh, who was not entirely fit and prepared to rule such a vast empire. Some historians believe that the other heirs would have forged an even more durable, independent and powerful empire, had they come to the throne before Kharak Singh. However, the empire began to crumble due to poor governance and political infighting among his heirs. The princes died through internal plots and assassinations, while the nobility struggled to maintain power .

In 1845 after the First Anglo-Sikh War, Ranjit Singh's Empire was defeated and all major decisions were managed by the British East India Company. The Army of Ranjit Singh was reduced, under the peace treaty with the British, to a nominal force. Those who gave the stiffest resistance to the British were severely punished and their wealth confiscated. Eventually, Ranjit Singh's youngest son Dalip Singh, was crowned to the throne of Punjab in 1843 succeeding his brother, Maharajah Sher Singh. In 1849, at the end of the Second Anglo Sikh War, it was annexed by the British India from Dalip. Thereafter, the British took, Maharaja Dalip Singh, to England in 1854, where he was put under the protection of the Crown. Dalip Singh's mother, Maharani Jind Kaur, escaped and made her way to Nepal where she was given refuge by Sri Teen Maharaja Jung Bahadur Rana of Nepal, who then negotiated on her behalf to allow her to be reunited with her son. Maharani Jind Kaur and her son met at Spences Hotel, Calcutta, on the 16th January 1861, after some thirteen and half years apart. She was granted permission to come to England. A residence was taken up at No. 1 Lancaster Gate (Now No.23).
Maharaja Ranjit Singh's throne, c.1820-1830, Hafiz Muhammad Multani, now at V&A Museum

Jind Kaur stayed for a short while at Mulgrave Castle, later she was placed in the charge of an English lady at Abingdon House, Kensington. On the morning of the 1 August 1863, Maharani Jind Kaur died peacefully. Her body was temporarily housed at Londons Kensal Green Cemetery, and in the Spring of 1864, Duleep Singh left for India and arranged for the cremation of her body.
Portrait of Maharaja Ranjit Singh

In the spring of 1864, Maharani Jind Kaur was cremated at Nasik in Bombay on the Panchvati side of the River. The authorities would not allow Dalip Singh to cremate his mother in the Punjab. On the left bank the Maharajah erected a small samadh built as a memorial in the memory of his mother. For a number of years the Kapurthala State Authorities maintained the memorial until 1924, when her remains were dug out and brought to Lahore by her granddaughter, Princess Bamba Sutherland and deposited at the Samadh of Maharajah Ranjit Singh.

Dalip Singh was converted to Christianity in his youth, upon reuniting with his mother during his adult years, he reconverted to Sikhism, he then petitioned the Crown to have his kingdom returned. He never received any justice or the respect he deserved. He died in 1893, Paris, France.

Maharajah Dalip Singh had three sons. The eldest Prince Victor was born on the 10 July 1866, followed by Prince Frederick in 1868, and then Prince Albert Edward Alexander Dalip Singh (died at the age of thirteen), who was born on the 20 August 1879.

Prince Victor Albert Jay Dalip Singh was Maharajah Dalip Singh's eldest son. He was honourable A.D.C. to Halifax, and was promoted to Captain in 1894, but his military career, however, was a shamble, his interest lied in other things and he resigned in 1898. During the First World War, he was ordered to remain in Paris and not to leave, but shortly after the war ended, Prince Victor died on the 7 June 1918, without any issue.

Princess Sophia, the youngest of the Maharajahs daughters. On the 22 August 1948, Princess Sophia died in her sleep. Her solicitor arranged for the cremation at Golders Green on the 26 August. It was her request that her ashes be taken to India for burial.

Princess Catherine was born on the 27 October 1871, and was named Catherine Hilda Dalip Singh. Princess Catherine died peacefully in her bed on the night of Sunday 8 November 1942 at her home in Penn, aged seventy-one. The cause of death was said to be heart failure. She was cremated.

Princess Ada Irene Helen Beryl Dalip Singh, born on 25 October 1889. Tragically on the 8 October 1926, she committed suicide, local fishermen dragged her body out from the sea, off Monte Carlo. She was apparently much aggrieved with the death of her brother Prince Frederick who had died two months earlier.

Princess Pauline Alexandrina Dalip Singh, born 26 December 1887, her death was unrecorded, she disappeared in war-torn France during the Second World War

Princess Bamba Sutherland (Princess Bamba Sofia Jindan Dalip Singh) was born on the 29 September 1869 in London, a year after her brother Prince Frederick. In England, Princess Bamba began styling herself as the Queen of Punjab. She was truly her father's daughter and had her fathers rebellious nature and seemed to be the more aggrieved one among her siblings. She was the most affected at the realisation of who she was and her ancestry. She was often visited by her cousin Karl Wilhelm, grandson of Ludwig Muller, at Hilden Hall, by which time she was already dreaming of going back to India in order to die there. In his memoirs Karl Wilhelm referred to Princess Bamba as the true heiress of Ranjit Singh meaning that she was most conscious of the actual desperate situation of the whole family. She considered the Punjab and Kashmir as the lost possession of her family and was absolutely furious when the border between Pakistan and India was drawn right across the Punjab. In Princess Bambas eyes, Pakistan or India did not exist, there was just the Punjab and its capital Lahore. She met with distant relatives throughout her travels in India, trying to grasp one last glimpse of the glory that she was denied. She located the families of Wazir Ishwari Singh Katoch of Kangra and Hari Singh Nalwa, both residing in Nabha at the time. She met with the several Hindu and Sikh royal families in an attempt to prevent the division of her grandfather's empire.

On the 10 March 1957, Princess Bamba, the daughter of Maharaja Dalip Singh, died of heart failure at the age of eighty-nine. She had outlived her entire family and the final chapter of a tragic family was completed and finally laid to rest. Her funeral was conducted in a Christian ceremony in Lahore. Her rites witnessed by a select few Pakistani dignitaries, the Pakistani authorities did not allow for any of her distant relatives to attend, Sikh or Hindu, nor were any Sikhs in Pakistan allowed to attend her rites, thus there were sadly no Sikhs were present at Princess Bambas funeral, the last of Dalip Singh's line.
Maharaja Ranjit Singh
ca. 1835-40

Maharaja Ranjit Singh is remembered for uniting the Punjab as a strong nation and his possession of the Koh-i-noor diamond. Ranjit Singh willed the Koh-i-noor to Jagannath Temple in Puri, Orissa while on his deathbed in 1839.His most lasting legacy was the golden beautification of the Harmandir Sahib, most revered Gurudwara of the Sikhs, with marble and gold, from which the popular name of the "Golden Temple" is derived.

He was also known as Sher-e-Punjab which means the Lion of Punjab and is considered one of the 3 Lions of modern India, the most famous and revered heroes in Indian subcontinent's history. While Emperor Rajaraja Chola and Ashoka were the 2 most powerful Indian kings of history, they are not named among the 3 Lions. The other 2 Lions are Rana Pratap Singh of Mewar and Chhatrapati Shivaji, the legendary Maratha ruler. The title of Sher-e-Punjab is still widely used as a term of respect for a powerful man.

Captain Murray's memoirs on Maharaja Ranjit Singh's character:

Ranjit Singh has been likened to Mehmet Ali and to Napoleon. There are some points in which he resembles both; but estimating his character with reference to his circumstances and positions, he is perhaps a more remarkable man than either. There was no ferocity in his disposition and he never punished a criminal with death even under circumstances of aggravated offense. Humanity indeed, or rather tenderness for life, was a trait in the character of Ranjit Singh. There is no instance of his having wantonly imbused his hand in blood." 

Many famous folk stories about Maharaja portray a leader and the inspiration Maharaja Ranjit Singh was. In one famous incident, when Maharaja was about to cross the badly flooded river near Attock (now in Pakistan and called Kabul River). One of Maharaja's generals reported this fact to Maharaja, saying that the river cannot be crossed and it is now an Atak (an obstacle in Hindi) for us. Maharaja retorted "eh Attock uhna lai atak hai, jehna de dillan wich atak hai" or "This river Attock is an obstacle for those, who have obstacles in their hearts", then crossed the river successfully. The army and other generals followed his lead.

Another famous folk story about Maharaja is that he was accidentally hit by a stone thrown by a 5 year old boy, who actually wanted to hit a fruit tree to knock down some of its fruit. When he was brought before Maharaja, Ranjit Singh gave him a gold coin. He said, "How can I punish him for hitting me with a stone, when this tree will give him fruit for the same?"

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## COLDHEARTED AVIATOR

Gulab Singh of Jammu and Kashmir







Gulab Singh (1792&#8211;1857) was the founder and first Maharaja of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, the second largest princely state in British India. After the defeat of the Sikhs in the First Anglo-Sikh War, Gulab Singh, who served as Chief Minister of the Sikhs &#8220;suddenly perplexed the Governor-General by asking what he was to get for all he had done to bring about a speedy peace, and to render the army (Sikh) an easy prey&#8221;[. As a result, the British transferred all the lands in Kashmir that were ceded to them by the Sikhs by the Treaty of Lahore to Gulab Singh for Rs. 7,500,000.







Maharaja Gulab Singh Baghel form UbI, 19th century painting.
The Hill fort of Maharaja Gulab Singh, 1846 drawing.

Early career
Gulab Singh was born on 18 October 1792, a scion of the Jamwal clan of Rajputs. His father, Kishore Singh, was a distant kinsman of Jit Singh, the Raja of Jammu. Gulab Singh grew up in the care of his grand father, Zorawar Singh, from whom he learned the arts of horse riding and warfare. In 1808, when the Sikh army of Maharaja Ranjit Singh invaded Jammu, the 16-year-old Gulab Singh fought alongside his clansmen in the unsuccessful defense of Jammu. Following this defeat, the Raja of Jammu had internal autonomy of the principality, which became a tributary of the Sikh Empire. In 1809, Gulab Singh enlisted in Ranjit Singh's army, becoming the commander of a Dogra cavalry contingent. He distinguished himself in several campaigns, including the conquest of Multan (1816). He also led an independent campaign in 1816 to conquer the hill-town of Reasi.

In 1816, following another conflict, Jammu was annexed by Ranjit Singh. Raja Jit Singh, who was expelled, found refuge in British India, and later received in appendage the estate of Akhrota. Ranjit Singh appointed a governor to administer the newly conquered area which was expanded in 1819 with the annexation of Kashmir by a Sikh force. In 1820, in appreciation of services rendered by the family, and by Gulab Singh in particular, Ranjit Singh bestowed the Jammu region as a hereditary fief upon Kishore Singh. Apart from their sterling services, the family's intimate association with the region commended Kishore Singh's candidature to the Lahore court.

In 1821, Gulab Singh captured conquered Rajaori from Aghar Khan and Kishtwar from Raja Tegh Muhammad Singh. That same year, Gulab Singh took part in the Sikh conquest of Dera Ghazi Khan. He also captured and executed his own clansman, Dido Jamwal, who had been leading a rebellion against the Sikhs.


Raja of Jammu
The palace of Maharaja Gulab Singh, on the banks of Chenab, Jammu, mid 19th century.

Kishore Singh died in 1822 and Gulab Singh was confirmed as Raja of Jammu by his suzerain, Ranjit Singh. Shortly afterwards, Gulab Singh secured a formal declaration of renunciation from his kinsman, the deposed Raja Jit Singh. The declaration,[3] drafted in Persian, reads:

"I, Raja Jit Singh, grandson of Raja Sahib Ranjit Devji, on this occasion and out of internal inclination and dignified favors, in my own lifetime, and as a token of intrinsic love and heartfelt affection, hereby renounce proprietorship to all the protected territories of my ancestors, and my own inheritance, in favor of my prosperous barkhurdar, Raja-i-Rajgan Raja Gulab Singhji, and Raja Sahib Dhian Singhji and Raja Suchet Singhji, by way of dharam and niyam, mutual agreement and on oaths of my predecessors and Thakurs and Gurus."

Thus, the declaration transferred the headship of the Jamwal Rajputs to a junior branch of that clan.

The Hill fort of Maharaja Gulab Singh, 1846 drawing.




Intrigue at Lahore

In 1824 Gulab Singh captured the fort of Samartah, near the holy Mansar Lake. In 1827 he accompanied the Sikh Commander-In-Chief Hari Singh Nalwa, who fought and defeated a horde of Afghan rebels led by the fanatic Sayyid Ahmed at the Battle of Shaidu. Between 1831-39 Ranjit Singh bestowed on Gulab Singh the jagir of the salt mines in northern Punjab, and the nearby Punjabi towns like Bhera, Jhelum, Rohtas, and Gujrat.

On the death of Ranjit Singh in 1839, Lahore became a center of conspiracies and intrigue in which the three Jammu brothers were involved. The Jammu brothers had secretly allied with the British Empire. The other side was led by the Sandhiawalas. They succeeded in placing the administration in the hands of Prince Nau Nihal Singh with Raja Dhian Singh as prime minister. However in 1840, during the funeral procession of his father, Nau Nihal Singh died when an old brick gate collapsed on him.

In January 1841 Sher Singh, son of Ranjit Singh, tried to seize the throne of Lahore but was repulsed by the Jammu brothers. The defense of the fort was in the hands of Gulab Singh. According to his European artillery commander Alexander Gardner:

"The Dogras on the walls began to look over and were jeered at by Sher Singh&#8217;s troops, the little fort was surrounded by a sea of human heads. Gulab Singh made contemptuous replies, and roared out to Sher Singh, demanding that he should surrender&#8230; With a wild yell some 300 Akalis swept up the Hazuri Bagh and crowded into the gate. Just at that moment, when the crowd was rushing in on us, their swords high in the air, I managed to fire the ten guns, and literally blew them into the air&#8230; Then Sher Singh fled and grievous carnage ensued. The Dogras, always excellent marksmen, seemed that day not to miss a man from the walls&#8230; we counted the bodies of no less than 2800 soldiers, 200 artillerymen, and 180 horses."

After peace was made between the two sides, Gulab Singh and his men were allowed to leave with their weapons. On this occasion, he is said to have taken away a large amount of the Lahore treasure to Jammu. Subsequently, Gulab Singh conquered the fort of Mangla (near the present Mangla Dam on the Jhelum River).



Trans-Himalayan adventure

In all this time a large part of the Dogra army had been engaged in trans-Himalayan conquests. General Zorawar Singh, governor of Kishtwar, had conquered the Suru valley and Kargil (1835), the rest of Ladakh (1836&#8211;40), and Baltistan (1840). These conquests had alarmed Mian Singh, the Sikh governor of Kashmir, who complained to Prince Nao Nihal Singh that &#8220;Zorawar Singh, agent of Raja Gulab Singh was obtaining complete possession of Baltistan&#8221; (Punjab Akhbars, 20 July 1840). The Dogra campaign threatened the Sikh position in Kashmir and Gilgit and so Zorawar Singh turned his attention east to the conquest of Tibet.

In May 1841, the 5000 strong Dogra army supplemented by contingents of Kishtwaris, Ladakhis, and Baltis (raising the strength of the army to 7000) advanced eastwards in three divisions. Overcoming all the Tibetan and Chinese opposition they set up base at Taklakot near the holy Mansarovar Lake in September 1841, after traversing a distance of 450 miles from the Indian frontier. With the onset of severe winter the Dogras began falling one-by-one to the extreme cold and the lack of provisions, many burning the stocks of their muskets in futile attempts to warm themselves, and were overcome by a Sino-Tibetan force on 12 December 1841. Survivors of this campaign crossed over the Himalayas south to the British territories. Gulab Singh who was then in Peshawar leading the Anglo-Sikh campaign in Afghanistan was informed of this disaster by Henry Lawrence.

The Tibetans and their Chinese allies then invaded Ladakh but were defeated by the Dogras at the Battle of Chushul. The boundary between Ladakh and Tibet was finally settled by the Treaty of Chushul. This treaty was later violated by the communist rulers of China in the 1950s.


Recognition as Maharaja
Maharaja Gulab Singh rides a well decorated white stallion across a green field. Circa 1840-45.

Meanwhile in the continuing intrigues at Lahore the Sandhawalia Sardars (related to Ranjit Singh) murdered Raja Dhian Singh and the Sikh Maharaja Sher Singh in 1842. Subsequently Gulab Singh&#8217;s youngest brother, Suchet Singh, and nephew, Hira Singh, were also murdered. As the administration collapsed the Khalsa soldiery clamored for the arrears of their pay. In 1844 the corrupt Lahore court commanded an invasion of Jammu to extract money from Gulab Singh, reputed to be the richest Raja north of the Sutlej River as he had taken most of the Lahore treasury.

However the invasion failed to capture the forts of Jammu and the Khalsa made peace with Raja Gulab Singh and agreed to negotiate on his behalf with the Lahore court. These negotiations imposed an indemnity of 27 lakh Rupees on the Raja. In the subsequent Anglo-Sikh wars Gulab Singh secretly allied himself with the British by giving intelligence on the Sikh Army. Under the Treaty of Lahore the defeated Lahore court was made to transfer Jammu to Gulab Singh.

Lacking the resources to occupy such a large region immediately after annexing portions of Punjab, the British recognized Gulab Singh as a Maharaja directly tributary to them on payment of 75 Lakh of the war-indemnity (this payment was justified on account of Gulab Singh legally being one of the chiefs of the Kingdom of Lahore and thus responsible for its treaty obligations). The angry courtiers of Lahore (particularly the baptised Sikh, Lal Singh) then incited the governor of Kashmir to rebel against Gulab Singh but this rebellion was defeated.

This arrangement was formalized in the Treaty of Amritsar in 1846. In the second Sikh War of 1849 he allowed his Sikh soldiers to desert and go to fight alongside their brethren in Punjab. The treaties of Chushul and Amritsar had defined the borders of the Kingdom of Jammu in the east, south and west but the northern border was still undefined. In 1850 the fort of Chilas in the Dard country was conquered. Gilgit was lost to rebellion in 1852 but was recovered ten years later by his son.

Maharaja Gulab Singh died on 30 June 1857 and was succeeded by his son, Ranbir Singh.

The Dogra brothers showed immense loyalty to their benefactor Ranjit Singh[dubious &#8211; discuss] but were defeated by the political alliance led by the Sikh Sardars and their Punjabi brahmin allies. However Gulab Singh managed to retain his hill empire and preserve the same amidst the collapse of the rest of Ranjit Singh's legacy.


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## Joe Shearer

Gentlemen,

I enjoyed the accounts, all four of them, but most particularly the account of Lachit Borphukan's unbeaten career. This thread should continue; we speak insufficiently about our own military history, and what we do say, or seem to know, is terribly little. However, there are two observations which need to be made.



There is a huge amount of material available on the Internet. Building up an account from putting that material together, reviewing it critically, reconciling opposing views, rejecting popular views which have little or no supporting evidence, bringing out unsuspected aspects of a campaign or a war - these are the interesting things that we might look forward to. Looking at a copy and paste of Wikipedia is not frightfully interesting; I might as well do it myself, and in all the four cases, am familiar with their careers due to this viewing.

I request that Wikipedia, unmodified, should not be reproduced.

The next observation is tougher to make but needs to be made.

There seems to be an unconscious assumption about who should be selected for profiling. With respect, Generals and military commanders like Malik Kafur, who swept right through all the defences he encountered and penetrated to the deep South, Ghiyasuddin Balban, who guarded India against the Mongols for an incredibly long career devoted to the defence of India, Sher Shah Suri, a fighting emperor if ever there was one, Akbar the Mughal himself, and his lightning campaigns, the numerous heroes of the campaigns of the imperial princes Khurram and Alamgir in Afghanistan, Hyder Ali, who scrabbled his way to the top through sheer competence, Maruthunayagam Pillai, who is better known by his name after conversion, Ibrahim Gardi, loyal to the death, a whole panoply of admirals who are forgotten today except by obscure historians and naval administrators desperately looking for sources for names of naval stations - I respectfully submit that they demand our attention.

While it is comparatively easy for one person to write about them all, a model that has been followed brilliantly by Fatman17 in writing about military formations in the South Asian space, I think that taking these up through numerous hands will be far more successful than reading a boring series written by one person.

I hope we will read many more accounts such as this. I hope we will read original accounts. I hope that we have a military and strategic appreciation for each account, after the account is printed. And I hope that authorship will be widespread and distributed, and that it contributes to better understanding of our common military history.

Regards to you all, Ramzan Mubarak to those observing the fast.

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## ganimi kawa

^^ I agree to both your suggestions and a special thanks for mentioning Ibrahim Gardi, I hope Indian artillery will honor him in some way.



> Building up an account from putting that material together, reviewing it critically, reconciling opposing views, rejecting popular views which have little or no supporting evidence,* bringing out unsuspected aspects of a campaign or a war* - these are the interesting things that we might look forward to.



I suggest forming a group here, so that we can co-ordinate among ourselves with one guy working on one project at a time. 
@ colddude, You are a dogra living in Jammu. We want something about General Zorawar singh that is not on wiki.It's something that only you could provide us.. ( Sorry mate, we are a greedy lot!)


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## indushek

I would be happy if anybody could post about the warriors in south india too. There are many like sri krishna devaraya, cholas , chalukyas etc.


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## ganimi kawa

indushek said:


> I would be happy if anybody could post about the warriors in south india too. There are many like sri krishna devaraya, cholas , chalukyas etc.



Indeed, that would be great. Why don't you take this up yourself? As joe sir has suggested there is no need for you to take up entire south india for a write up (e.g. just take sri krishna devaraya I'd love to hear about him!)

Let us collaborate and create a good database here!


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## Jacobtheindoamerican

*Raja Raja Chola, when the northern Subcontinent was being invaded, the South had colonies in South East Asia. *

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## Joe Shearer

ganimi kawa said:


> ^^ I agree to both your suggestions and a special thanks for mentioning Ibrahim Gardi, I hope Indian artillery will honor him in some way.



What a brilliant idea! And how come nobody has thought of this before? He almost turned around the course of the battle, in spite of the outstandingly stupid leadership of the Maratha Army.



ganimi kawa said:


> I suggest forming a group here, so that we can co-ordinate among ourselves with one guy working on one project at a time.
> @ colddude, You are a dogra living in Jammu. We want something about General Zorawar singh that is not on wiki.It's something that only you could provide us.. ( Sorry mate, we are a greedy lot!)



To take it one step further. Zorawar Singh is said to have taken advantage of the skill and experience in mountain warfare of the Pahari Rajputs. On the historical side, we would all like to know what the Dogra Army was faced by; what did the Tibetans do, what were their formations, their weapons, their tactics? How did they do against others? Was the Dogra Army killing unarmed savages or an equal and determined enemy? What was the final treaty? Did it discuss boundary lines at all?

And similarly, speaking of Lachit Borphukan and his integrated land-water tactics, could such integrated tactics find application in South Asia today? How could it be modernised? What weaponry would be useful? In what ways would it improve on current doctrine and procedure? 



indushek said:


> I would be happy if anybody could post about the warriors in south india too. There are many like sri krishna devaraya, cholas , chalukyas etc.



Indeed there are. Very many of them. The question is what to post. Simply praising individuals, states or races is a horrible waste of time. We need to concentrate on military history, specifically, accounts of the strategic background, of tactical innovations, of battles fought, with some details, not the usual claptrap about A meeting the forces of B and winning a 'brilliant' victory. We need to know, if it is about an individual, what was specific about such individuals and what made them dominate their peers.

Please let us focus, rather than faff.



ganimi kawa said:


> Indeed, that would be great. Why don't you take this up yourself? As joe sir has suggested there is no need for you to take up entire south india for a write up (e.g. just take sri krishna devaraya I'd love to hear about him!)
> 
> Let us collaborate and create a good database here!



This could be a series of delightful reads. I hope enough people take it up. With interest and some wish to be authentic.

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## Jacobtheindoamerican

*Chandragupta II-According to the Brihat-Katha-Manjari of the Kashmiri Pandit Kshmendra, king Vikramaditya (Chandragupta II) had "unburdened the sacred earth of the Barbarians like the Shakas, Mlecchas, Kambojas, Yavanas, Tusharas, Parasikas, Hunas, etc. by annihilating these sinful Mlecchas completely".*

*Fourth century AD Sanskrit poet Kalidasa, credits Chandragupta Vikramaditya (aka Raghu) with having conquered about twenty one kingdoms, both in and outside India. After finishing his campaign in the East, South and West India, Raghu aka Vikramaditya (Chandragupta II) proceeded northwards, subjugated the Parasikas (Persians), then the Hunas and the Kambojas tribes located in the west and east Oxus valleys respectively. Thereafter, the glorious king proceeds across the Himalaya and reduced the Kinnaras, Kiratas etc. and lands into India proper*

















Chandragupta marched against the Saka Satraps about AD 389. After six years of courageous fighting, he killed the Sakas chieftains. He killed Rudrasena III, a Saka king of West India. He annexed all the three kingdoms of Satraps under Gupta empire and made Ujjain a second capital, and called himself Vikramaditya -- a combination of words valour and sun. Chandragupta's empire had both the Arabian Sea coast and that of the Bay of Bengal under its control. He also captured Bactria and concluded marital alliances with the Nagas, Vakatakas and Kadamba dynasties.

Like his grandfather, Chandragupta married the Lichhavi princess Kumaradevi. He gave his daughter Prabhavati in marriage to Rudrasena II, the Venkata king of Central India. Rudrasena had helped him in his campaign against the Saka Satraps.

His greatest victory was his victory over the Shaka-Kshatrapa dynasty and annexation of their kingdom in Gujarat, by defeating their last ruler Rudrasimha III.

His son-in-law Rudrasena II died fortuitously after a very short reign in 390 AD, following which Prabhavatigupta ruled as a regent on behalf of his two sons. During this twenty-year period the Vakataka realm was practically a part of the Gupta empire. The geographical location of the Vakataka kingdom allowed Chandragupta to take the opportunity to defeat the Western Kshatrapas once for all. Many historians refer to this period as the Vakataka-Gupta age.

Chandragupta II the Great controlled a vast empire, from the mouth of the Ganges to the mouth of the Indus River and from what is now North Pakistan down to the mouth of the Narmada. Pataliputra continued to be the capital of his huge empire but Ujjain too became a sort of second capital. The large number of beautiful gold coins issued by the Gupta dynasty are a testament to the imperial grandeur of that age. Chandragupta II also started producing silver coins in the Shaka tradition.

The greatest achievement of Chandragupta II was the conquest of Malwa, Gujarat and Kathiawar from the Western Saka Satraps. The Sakas always remained a powerful neighbour at the frontier of the Gupta Empire. They always were a threat to the authority of the Gupta Empire. Perhaps this was the sole reason which impelled Chandragupta II to wage war against the Sakas of Western India. Samudragupta`s hold of eastern Malwa led to a constant friction of the Guptas with the Sakas in western India. Moreover Chandragupta II had murdered a Saka invader, who had defeated Rama Gupta-- if evidences of the Devi-Chandraguptam are accepted. The religious intolerance of the Sakas and Guptas was also another cause of the Saka war of Chandragupta II. Apart from these causes, trade relations that were growing between western India and the Roman Empire since the time of the Kushanas proved to be a significant cause of the Saka war by Chandragupta II.

However the brilliant victory of Chandragupta II over the Saka satraps united western India with the rest of north India. It rounded off the Gupta Empire by pushing its western limits to the natural frontier on the Arabian Sea. The Gupta Empire now extended from the Bay of Bengal in the east to the Arabian Sea in the west. The annexation of Malwa and Saurashtra by Chandragupta II had given the Guptas free access to parts of western coast, especially the parts of Barygaza. As a result trade relation of the Guptas with the Roman Empire flourished. Therefore the principal impact of victory of Chandragupta II in the Saka war was the material prosperity of the Guptas. The city of Ujjaini became the centre of trade between the Roman Empire and the Gotras. The city became very prosperous, with decorated palaces. Ujjaini at that time was transformed into a centre of luxury. Ujjaini was not only a home of the bourgeoisie merchants, but also a centre of cultural interest in northern India. Cultural contact with the Roman Empire was established through the channel of trade.

Chandragupta II`s victory against the Sakas however is not mentioned directly in the official epigraph of the Guptas. Though a legend of the contemporary period ascribed him the title "Sakari" or the enemy of the Sakas, yet his own inscriptions are silent about the Saka war. As a result, the actual date of Saka war by Gupta emperor Chandragupta II cannot be ascertained properly. According to Dr. Smith, the actual date of the Saka war was 388 to 401 A.D., while Dr. R.C. Majumdar has fixed the date of the Saka war in the first decade of 1st century A.D. However the date of the Saka war mentioned in Chandragupta II`s silver coin denotes the date to be 409 to 415 A.D. The time mentioned in Chandragupta`s coin is generally accepted.

It is however plausible that Chandragupta II had other military campaigns to his credit but there is no definite authentic information about these conquests. Besides being a great warrior, Chandragupta II`s chief credit lies in the consolidation of the Empire. Dr. Bhandarkar has suggested that Chandragupta II had occupied the Mathura region from the Kushanas. But the theory of Dr. Bhandarkar has been discarded by scholars on the ground that the Kushanas were exterminated from the Mathura regions by the Nagas, and the Nagas were later ousted by Samudragupta. Hence according to those scholars, Chandragupta II inherited the Mathura kingdom from his father Samudragupta. According to scholars, Chandragupta II`s chief achievement as an administrator lies in the tremendous consolidation of the territories conquered by his father Samudragupta.

Historians are in keen controversy with one another regarding a fact in the Meharauli pillar inscription. The military exploits of a certain king named Chandra has been mentioned in Meharauli Pillar inscription. Some historians identified the king Chandra as Chandragupta II. According to the Meharauli Pillar inscription, if the king named Chandra is Chandragupta II, then Chandragupta II had extended his kingdom upto the limits of Vanga Desa (Bengal) and also had defeated the kings of Vahlikas. However the facts in Meharauli pillar inscription is generally accepted. Vanga or Samatata was a feudatory under Samudragupta. Probably they revolted against the Guptas after the death of Samudragupta. However, historians have opined that Chandragupta II had inherited a vast kingdom from his father and during his reign he had consolidated those kingdoms to establish a strong foundation of the Gupta Empire.

*Chandragupta II's military*

The Imperial Guptas could have achieved their successes through force of arms with an efficient martial system. Historically, the best accounts of this comes not from the Hindus themselves but from Chinese and Western observers. However, a contemporary Indian document, regarded as a military classic of the time, the Siva-Dhanur-veda, offers some insight into the military system of the Guptas. The Guptas seem to have relied heavily on infantry archers, and the bow was one of the dominant weapons of their army. The Hindu version of the longbow was composed of metal, or more typically bamboo, and fired a long bamboo cane arrow with a metal head. Unlike the composite bows of Western and Central Asian foes, bows of this design would be less prone to warping in the damp and moist conditions often prevalent to the region. The Indian longbow was reputedly a powerful weapon capable of great range and penetration and provided an effective counter to invading horse archers. Iron shafts were used against armored elephants and hippos, and fire arrows were also part of the bowmen's arsenal. India historically has had a prominent reputation for its steel weapons. One of these was the steel bow. Due to its high tensility, the steel bow was capable of long range and penetration of exceptionally thick armor. These were less common weapons than the bamboo design and found in the hands of noblemen rather than in the ranks. Archers were frequently protected by infantry equipped with shields, javelins, and longswords.

The Guptas also had knowledge of siegecraft, catapults, and other sophisticated war machines.

The Guptas apparently showed little predilection for using horse archers, despite the fact these warriors were a main component in the ranks of their Scythian, Parthian, and Hepthalite (Huna) enemies. However, the Gupta armies were probably better disciplined. Able commanders like Samudragupta and Chandragupta II would have likely understood the need for combined armed tactics and proper logistical organization. Gupta military success likely stemmed from the concerted use of elephants, armored cavalry, and foot archers in tandem against both Hindu kingdoms and foreign armies invading from the Northwest. The Guptas also maintained a navy, allowing them to control regional waters.

The collapse of the Gupta Empire in the face of the Huna onslaught was due not directly to the inherent defects of the Gupta army, which after all had initially defeated these people under Skandagupta. More likely, internal dissolution sapped the ability of the Guptas to resist foreign invasion, as was simultaneously occurring in Western Europe and China.

*NOTE A LOT OF THE THINGS WE KNOW ABOUT THE GUPTAS ARE FROM CHINESE PILGRIMS LOOKING TO LEARN MORE ABOUT BUDDHISM* *A LOT OF RECORDS HAVE BE WIPED OUT*

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## COLDHEARTED AVIATOR

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## ganimi kawa

> *Indeed there are. Very many of them. The question is what to post. Simply praising individuals, states or races is a horrible waste of time. We need to concentrate on military history, specifically, accounts of the strategic background, of tactical innovations, of battles fought, with some details, not the usual claptrap about A meeting the forces of B and winning a 'brilliant' victory. We need to know, if it is about an individual, what was specific about such individuals and what made them dominate their peers.
> 
> Please let us focus, rather than faff.*



I totally agree. Guys, while writing about a hero, please focus more on the human side of it than the statistics. Also certain events should be discussed in much more detail ( like hari singh nalwa's defence of the pass).

Let the reader feel as if he is witnessing the event himself.

@cold dude, I thank you in advance.

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## COLDHEARTED AVIATOR

@ ganimi kawa & joe shearer

i will try..will take time coz these things are not easy to find...but promise to try the best i can.

My grandfather was a big source for all this..he died at the age of 107....so it will be very difficulty..wish i showed more curiosity to the subject at that time..but i was very young.


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## Pride

This is one of the gem of the thread which people will love to read again and again. These people are unsung heroes who are forgotten day by day by our generation. 

My grandfather was a freedom fighter and for me He was a hero. But when I talk to my cousins, even they dont know about what our grandpa has done for our nation while they are enjoying privileges of FF status.. Sad but true


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## beckham

Lion of Kerala - Pazhassi Raja



Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja (*&#3349;&#3399;&#3376;&#3379;&#3381;&#3376;&#3405;*&#3374;&#3405;&#3374; &#3370;&#3380;&#3382;&#3405;&#3382;&#3391;&#3376;&#3390;&#3356;&#3390;*) (c. 1753 - c. 1805), popularly known as the Lion of Kerala was a prince from the royal dynasty of Pazhassi Kottayam which now belongs to Kannur District of Kerala, in India. He had three senior Rajas above him for his claim to the throne. 

*&#9733;*However, when the*Mysore army occupied Malabar for a second time (1773-1790) all the seniors of Kottayam Royal family fled to Travancore. Pazhassi Raja who led a well organized guerrilla struggle against the Mysorean invader who were far stronger than the Kottayam army.* 

*&#9733;*He emerged in the course of time as the most powerful man in Kottayam as people stood firmly behind their beloved prince who had not abandoned them in their hour of misfortune. His troops were drawn from ranks of warrior Nairs as well as tribal Kurichias & Mullukurumbas knew well how to use his limited armed ability to resist far superior enemies. 

*&#9733;**Most of the time, Raja's men were mostly armed with sabers and bows as gunpowder was short in supply and his enemies were superior in terms of numbers and fully armed with firearms.* *Yet, he defied Mysoreans for nearly 20 years and British for 10 years Perhaps one of best examples of the fact that good leadership can compensate other handicaps.*

*&#9733;**British could conquer great powers like Nawabs, Marathas & Sikhs with far more ease once they opened war with them. But it took well over a decade to crush this turbulent prince who had no more than 3000-5000 men armed with primitive weapons. By 1805, English had deployed a force of 15,000 men to face Raja's small army !* 

*&#9733;**His troops worshiped him as he was a fearless warrior and a first rate general who led from the front and lived during wartime as an ordinary soldier-he shared all soldierly hardships with them. He had great physical endurance that enabled him to fight in in the cruel mountain fastness of Puralimala and Wynad.*

*&#9733;**The greatest tribute to Pazhassi Raja's military genius is the fact that even Arthur Wellesley (the Duke of Wellington) could not subdue him even after 3 years of severe struggle. Wellesley's experience in war with Pazhassi enabled him to use Raja's tactics in Spain to defeat Napoleon's army.*

*&#9733;**Raja took special care of his aides and troops. In fact, he was so brutal in revenge if any of his follower or his kin is harmed that not even most fearsome of bandits dare not to threaten Raja's followers' homes, where during war, only women and children were present.*

*&#9733;* More important is the fact that Raja was not defeated and killed by military methods-it was pure treachery that led to his downfall in winter of 1805.* We can say that he was "undefeated in the field, but stabbed in the back".*



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## Jacobtheindoamerican

*Dharmapala (emperor) and the Medieval Pala empire
750&#8211;1174*





When Dharmapala ascended the throne of Bengal, the political horizon was very gloomy. At the very outset, Dharmapala was locked in severe power struggle with the Gurjara Pratiharas of Malwa and Rajputana as well as the Rashtrakutas of the Deccan who were both desirous of establishing their own hegemony over northern India. So, shortly he was involved in cut-throat power struggle with them. Dharmapal defeated the Pratihara king Indraraja or Indrayudha of Kanauj and deposed him, and placed Chakrayudha on the throne of Kanauj. It is pointed out that Dharmapala had held a court in Kanauj after this victory which was attended by rulers from Bhoja (Berar), Matsya (Jaipur), Madra (Central Punjab), Kuru (Thaneswar), Yadu (Mathura & Dwaraka), Avanti (Malava), Yavana, Gandhara and Kira (Kangra). These chiefs not only approved of his military action but also paid respectful obeisance to him . It seems that Dharmapala had made himself the supreme leader in of Northern India since he calls himself as Uttarapathasvamin or Lord of Northern India.

Later, however, Dharmapala was defeated by Vatsaraja of the Pratihara dynasty who deprived him of the Gaur. But Vatsaraja himself was soon defeated by King Dhruva of the Rashtrakutas who later also clashed with Dharmapala and defeated him but Dhruva soon left for Deccan and thus Dharmapal did not lose much in this quick chain of events, but these events had left the Pratiharas badly mauled which indirectly helped Dharmapala. He fully availed this golden opportunity and truly made himself the Lord of Northern India (Uttarapathasvamin).

Later, Nagabhata II of Gurjara Pratihara had deposed Chakrayudha of Kannauj, a prot&#233;g&#233; of Dharmapala, which event brought Dhrampala into military conflict with Nagabhata II at Monghyr. Dharmapala suffered a defeat but curiously enough, history repeated itself and Pratihara ruler Nagabhata was himself soon knocked out by Govinda III of the Rashtrakuta dynasty.

The invasion by Nagabhata was of transitory nature and did not leave any permanent mark so Dharamapala practically retained the supreme power in North till the end of his life.

Dharamapala had full control of Bengal and Bihar. Kingdom of Kanauj was his feudatory. The kingdoms of Madra, Kamboja/Gandhara, Rajputana, Malava and Berar were vassal states which paid him tributes and acknowdged his mastery over them. Even Nepal is said to have been his vassal state. The strong influence of Indian art(Buddhist) in eastern Iran has been noted by R.N. Frye [9] Sandhyakar Nandi, a court poet of later Palas, states that the Pala dynasty belonged to Samudrakula or Ocean lineage. The Kamauli Grant of king Vaidyadeva of Assam also connects the Palas to Mihirasya vamsa or 'Surya lineage' (Sun/Fire worshipers).

His Son *Devapala*






Though not much is known about the details of his military campaigns, he is said to have exacted tributes from whole of northern India from Himalayas to Vindhyas and from east to west ocean. More specifically, the inscriptions reveal that his victorious military compaigns led him as far as to Kamboja of northwest and Deccan in the south and that he exterminated the Utkalas, conquered the Pragjyotisha (Assam), shattered the pride of the Hunas, and humbled the lords of Gurjara Pratiharas and the Dravidas.

Information provided by these inscriptions bears witness to Devapala's encounter with the Kambojas of Kabol valley, which nation, since remote antiquity, had been known for its quality war horses. The Monghyr Charter also bears witness to the fact that the Palas recruited their war horses from this Kamboja of the northwest. King Devapala definitely had some sort of relations with the north-west borderland of India (i.e. Kamboja) which fact also appears probable from his connections with Viradeva, a scholar from Nagarahara, Jalalabad near Kabul whom he had appointed to the post of Abbot of Nalanda in south Bihar. Probably, Devapala had brought Viradeva during his military expedition to Kamboja in north-west.

According to "Age of Imperial Kanauj" (History and Culture of Indian People), the above inscriptional statements attest that Devapala had followed imperialistic and expansionistic policy and in his military compaigns under his real cousin General Jayapala, the Pala army invaded Pragjyotisha (Assam) where the king submitted without giving a fight and the Utkalas whose king fled from his capital city. On the opposite frontiers of the empire, were the Hunas located in south-east Punjab in Uttarapatha who became the next target of Devapala's fury. From there, the Pala forces had proceeded further to subjugate the Kambojas of North-West Frontiers (Trans-Indus territory). Thereafter, Devapala reduced king Ramabhadra of the Gurjara Pratihara Empire and later he defeated Gurjar Emperor Mihir Bhoja. It also pointed out that Devapala had vanquished the Rashtrakuta ruler Amoghavarsha. He is further claimed that he humbled the rulers of Dravida.

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## Jacobtheindoamerican

*On a lighter note

"According to economic historian Angus Maddison in his book The World Economy: A Millennial Perspective, India had the world's largest economy from the first to eleventh century, and in the eighteenth century, with a (32.9&#37 share of world GDP in the first century to (28.9%) in 1000 AD, and in 1700 AD with (24.4%. "


Mauryan empire controlled 33% of the worlds GDP and had 50 million people in the empire when the world population was only 150 million. Guptas 28% of the worlds GDP. Palas 24% and Mughals 24.5%*

cool right? Lets hope India can be Neo-Mauryan..


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## Jacobtheindoamerican

Here are some mediveal Indians(Rajputs mostly) and weapons..


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## Jacobtheindoamerican

*
Here is a Katar being used by a Sikh of Rajput ancestory representing the Medieval Rajput warriors in "DEADLIST WARRIORS" . Goes through chain mail like it was a T shirt!*


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## ganimi kawa

Guys, working on another great story, coming up soon!

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## COLDHEARTED AVIATOR

Firstly,a big Thanks for all those contributing and the ones reading this thread.I have this feeling that this thread can turn out to be an excellent thread for those who wanted to know about our heros from the past.

Secondly,i beg to differ from a senior member here who is three times my age and hundred times my knowledge.

I feel that those who want to post Wiki articles should also be welcome as everyone has acess to Wikipedia but not everyone knows what to look for.Thread like this with Wiki articles could introduce us to people from the past who mattered but we never got to hear about them.

Most people here i guess would be like me who would know about some special heroes but not in too much detail but would want the world to know about brave people from their region...thats when Wikipedia comes to rescue.

As fellow countrymen who studied under the CBSE system would know that we study History from 6th to 10th standard where the 10th standard history is all about monuments and 6th,7th & 8th is divided into ancient,medieval and moder history.

So we dont get to read about great people of past in as detail as we want to.I was hoping to find such a link of internet where i would get to know about every warrior from the past whos
se name i wouldnt have heard before.

Thanks to Ganimi kawa to open this wonderful thread...hope people from all regions of India contribute and we get to know more about our heroes from the history.


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## Jacobtheindoamerican

> *hope people from all regions of India contribute*



*This is all of S. Asia's history not just India's. Anyways more picture of Indian warriors in the medieval era.*

Mughal(Mongol) invasion of India. The early emperors and soldiers were Mongoloid Mongols and Turkic(like modern Uzbeks,Hazaras) of central Asia before being replaced by rajputs,pathans,etc.Early Mughals came from Chagatai Khanate a fragmentation of the Mongol empire. They adopted Islam and Persian culture. 






*Elephant trying to break through!*


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## COLDHEARTED AVIATOR

Jacobtheindoamerican said:


> This is all of S. Asia's history not just India's.



Dude...in the politest way possible i wanna say that please dont twist and turn small lines.

What i meant was that people from every region of India must contribute as only people from a particular region would know about local heroes...i will give you an example...most Indians wont know who Birsa Munda is..but for adivasis he is a hero...so hope you got my point.

Secondly why i asked only Indians to contribute is till now Pakistanis and Bangladeshis havent contributed.

Lastly Jacob..there is a grammatical mistake in your location...right word is "chillin"..


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## Jacobtheindoamerican

CoLdHeArTeD DUDE said:


> Dude...in the politest way possible i wanna say that please dont twist and turn small lines.
> 
> What i meant was that people from every region of India must contribute as only people from a particular region would know about local heroes...i will give you an example...most Indians wont know who Birsa Munda is..but for adivasis he is a hero...so hope you got my point.
> 
> Secondly why i asked only Indians to contribute is till now Pakistanis and Bangladeshis havent contributed.
> 
> Lastly Jacob..there is a grammatical mistake in your location...right word is "chillin"..



Took it wrong I guess, thanks for telling me about the mistake. Didn't see. When I rush I make many mistakes.


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## ganimi kawa

@ Jacob,we love your enthusiasm. But, please don't post pictures only. Use them to enhance the story and not vice versa!

I'd publicly request you to take up the story of chandragupta 2 to elaborate. Will you please have this task?


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## ganimi kawa

Guys, many of you have seen the movie 300. Historical correctness apart,many were impressed by the way 300 brave greeks stood and defended the pass of thermopylae! 

I'll tell you about a similar battle which took place in India, fought with exactly 300 soldiers defending a pass against an army 10000+, fighting to the last man; with the very survival of their tiny kingdom at stake!

This is the tale of *"battle of Pavankhind"* and the warrior was *"Bajiprabhu Deshpande"* !

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## ganimi kawa

*Background---*

This story is of the time when Raja Shivaji was not "The Shivaji" but just Shiva an upstart maratha sardar trying to punch above his weight ( for the Adilshahi and mughals).

However, *he had demonstrated his potential by defeating and killing Afzalkhan (who was the "toughest dude" in adilshahi military) at the battle of pratapgarh*. So, as a part of tacit understanding both mughals and adilshahi forces decided to attack him simultaneously ( from norh and south resp.)


*The jaws of the trap.*

*Mughals*







ShaistaKhan

Upon the request of Badi Begum of Bijapur, Aurangzeb sent his maternal uncle (brother of late Queen Mumtaz Mahal) *Shaista Khan, with an army numbering over 100,000 along with a powerful artillery division in January 1660 to defeat Shivaji.* Khan was accompanied by eminent commanders like Turktaj, Hussain, Haider, Naamdar Khan, Kartalab Khan, Uzbek Khan, Fateh Jung and Rajputs namely Bhau Singh, Shyam Singh, Rai Singh Sisodiya, Pradyuman and many more.Khan was an experienced commander who had defeated Shahaji in the same region in 1636. *He was ordered to attack the Maratha kingdom in conjunction with Bijapur's army.
*



*Adilshahi*

Per the terms of the Mughal-Adilshahi plan, *Adil Shah in 1660 sent Siddi Jauhar, an accomplished general to attack Shivaji on his southern borders, preceding the expected major Mughal attack from the north. He ordered his army of 40,000 north to Kolhapur to confront and defeat Shivaji* as a part of their grand alliance with the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. He secured the support of local chieftans such as Jasvantrao Dalvi of Palavani and Suryarao Surve of Sringarpur to defeat Shivaji....



Now pause for a moment and think,guys. You have a nascent kingdom with a tiny army (around 20000) and even tinier resources facing an invasion from both north and south with around 1,40,000 men arrayed against you......Tough place to be in, right?

*Well, it's situations like these that give birth to legends! *


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## ganimi kawa

*The trap is sprung---*

*At that time, Shivaji was camped at the Panhala fort with 8,000 Marathas. *This fort is 20 kilometres northwest of Kolhapur in Maharashtra, India. It is strategically located looking over a pass in the Sahyadri mountain range which was a major trade route from Bijapur in the interior of Maharashtra to the coastal areas. A rugged mountain fortress made for real battle!











The fort


*Panhala surrounded*

*Siddi Jauhar's army besieged Panhala on 2 March 1660, cutting off supply routes to the fort.* Netaji Palkar, the Commander of the Maratha forces was on a mission away from Panhala harassing and attacking Adilshahi territory and was not able to come to the aid of Shivaji. At this point of time, Shaista Khan had moved from Baramati to Shirwal creating more pressure.

*Siddi jauhar was one of the most able general of his times and he was determined to capture shivaji at all cost.*


*Crisis*

Jauhar did not leave any stone unturned to ensure that the siege around Panhala was unyielding, he personally took utmost care that no one in his army was complacent. *He even braved the tumultuous monsoon season and continued the siege even during heaviest downpours.* On hearing about the ever tightening siege of Panhala, Netaji Palkar returned from Bijapur and attacked the Adilshahi forces surrounding Panhala. He tried to break the siege but his smaller forces were pushed back by a much larger Adilshahi army.

*As supplies dwindled at the fort, Shivaji knew that there was only one option 'break the seige and escape and live to fight another day!' *


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## ganimi kawa

*The great escape---*


*The Plan*
Escaping from Panhala was a fine idea but escape to where?* The answer was Vishalgad a fort 80 km away, a freshly stocked stronghold.*

However, those 80km is one of the toughest mountainous terrain anywhere also around 40,000 enemy stood between him and vishalgad.Also, ishalgad itself was under a minor seige. 

*Escape was a tough option but then it was the only one available!*


*The Execution*

The day was 12 july 1660. There was a very heavy storm that night,the conditions were perfect for escape.And the plan was set into motion!

*According to the plan a band of 600 select men (mountain warfare specialists of those times!) set out, led by Baji Prabhu Deshpande and Shivaji.* They split up into two groups. One was a decoy that was led by a man called Shiva Kashid, who resembled Shivaji very closely and the other led by Shivaji Maharaj consisted Baji and other brave Marathas. 

Shiva Kashid's group served as the perfect bait as Siddi Johar's alert troops who had gotten wind of the escape plan through their network of informers. The enemy captured Shiva Kashid to their undiminished glee but were terribly enraged when they discovered the subterfuge that it was fake Shivaji (Nakli-Shivaji). They promptly beheaded Shiva Kashid (This valiant sacrifice by Shiva Nhavi for his master brought some much needed valuable time for the escaping Maratha warriors) . The adilshahi cavalry immediately set in hot pursuit of the real shivaji (Asli-Shivaji) under siddi masud.

*They were angry that their pray had escaped but knew that he was on foot and could be..would be caught!*

*The game was on!*






*Escape into the night
*

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## ganimi kawa

*The dilemma--*

Now guys, here are some pics of area surrounding panhala. 
















Imagine walking in such terrain for fourty odd kilometers in the dead of the night in heavy downpour, constantly knowing that enemy is in pursuit! Shivaji's troops were both mentally and physically drained by the morning. And he realized that there was no way he was going to outrun Siddi Masud and he will have to make a stand!

It was then Baji spoke, "*With the king lies the hope of kingdom! You go ahead to vishalgad while I will delay the enemy till the last drop of my blood!*"

*The legend was born! The legend of Bajiprabhu Deshpande!*

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## Jacobtheindoamerican

*Sambhaji Raje Bhosale, son of Shivaji*
*
His military history*

*Attack on Burhanpur*

Bahadurkhan Kokaltash, a relative of Aurangzeb was in charge of Burhanpur, a Mughal stronghold. He left Burhanpur to attend a wedding, giving the charge of Burhanpur to Kakarkhan. Bahadurkhan also took with him a territorial army to showoff at the wedding. Sambhaji tricked Mughals into thinking that Marathas were going to attack Surat that had been twice plundered by Shivaji. However, Hambirrao Mohite, the commander of the Maratha army surrounded Burhanpur. Sambhaji also reached Burhanpur in a short time. Thus, within a fortnight of his coronation, Sambhaji along with Hambirrao attacked Burhanpur. In face of sudden surprise attack the Mughals could not save Burhanpur. The Marathas plundered all the Mughal treasure in Burhanpur, about twenty million rupees. Sambhaji purchased horses from an Arab trader although the utterly frightened trader was ready to give the horses for free. The people of Burhanpur, especially women and children, were not harmed.The Marathas safely reached Raigad with all the loot.
*
War of 27 years*






n an act of political acumen, Sambhaji gave shelter to Sultan Muhammad Akbar, the fourth son of Aurangzeb, to cause revolt against Aurangzeb. Within a year or so of Sambhaji's coronation, Sultan Muhammad Akbar took shelter with him and sought Sambhaji's aid in winning the Mughal throne from his father Aurangzeb.

Upon the death of Shivaji, Aurangzeb had come to Deccan in 1680 CE with about half a million troops and 400,000 animals, which at that time was perhaps the largest army in the world. With the help of such a massive army, he defeated the Adilshah (Bijapur) and Qutubshah (Golconda) empires. Aurangzeb acquired two generals, Mukarrabkhan and Sarjakhan, from Qutubshahi and Adilshahi empires respectively. However, he was not able to bring an end to the Maratha empire. It was a disproportionate battle in all senses. Aurangzeb's army was about ten times the Maratha army. *Sambhaji did not let Aurangzeb win major victories*. Aurangzeb's commanders claimed that they would win the Ramshej fort near Nashik within hours but the fight for the fort lasted seven years.

*War with Siddis of Janjira*

The island of Janjira was under the control of the Siddis. Janjira was strategically a very important and impregnable fort in the Arabian Sea, with cannons embedded all around. It also had high economic importance as the traders had to pay large amounts to pass by this fort. The Marathas had earlier tried conquering Janjira but failed. Sambhaji wanted to capture Janjira. The Marathas attacked the fort from all sides. Siddis also retaliated with their cannons and ships and did not give up. Sambhaji ordered a break in the attack. Other Maratha chiefs did not know that Sambhaji had planted spies in the Janjira fort and he was waiting for them to blow up the gunpowder store in the fort. Unfortunately the spies were caught as a female servant came to know about this and informed the Siddis. One of them managed to escape but the others were killed. When Sambhaji got this news, he decided to build a bridge of stones from the shore to the island fort. The construction was very risky, difficult and consumed time. When about half of the bridge had been built, news came that Aurangzeb had sent about 100,000 troops to ravage the Maratha kingdom. Sambhaji had to leave Janjira to counter the Mughal army.

*War with Mysore*

When he learnt of intrusion into Maratha territory by Chikka Devaraja, Sambhaji had sent his emissary to Chikka Devaraja. The emissary was insulted in the Mysore court. Furious at this, Sambhaji decided to attack Chikka Devaraja. The Marathas marched but Chikka Devaraja prepared to fight and decided to stop the Marathas before they could reach Mysore&#8217;s territory. Both the armies were poised for a battle. The Mysore bowmen started striking and the Maratha army was greeted with a heavy shower of arrows. The long-ranged metallic arrows from the Mysore bowmen started inflicting fatal wounds on the Marathas. Thus, realizing the increasing Maratha casualties, Sambhaji retreated for the time being and camped nearby. Sambhaji then ordered all the local cobblers to prepare leather clothing. These garments were ordered to be laden with oil. Marathas then started making bows and arrows using a locally available wood. These bows and arrows were ordinary and crude. However a piece of cloth bound to the arrowhead made it deadly when lit with fire using oil as fuel. Thus, Sambhaji transformed ordinary arrows into fiery arrows.

The Mysore bowmen had longer, stronger and better quality bows and arrows than the Marathas. Marathas started attacking the forts in Mysore. The bowmen from atop the forts commenced striking. But, their arrows proved futile, as the oil-laden leather clothing neutralized the effects of the arrows. To counter them, Maratha bowmen began responding with lit arrows. Some of them struck the explosives(gunpowder) store and caused explosions. This led to high casualties in the Mysore army. The Marathas pressed on attacking and the forts of Chikka Devraja fell into Maratha hands. Thus, Chikka Devraja realising the situation he was in, and sued for peace and agreed to abide by the terms of the Marathas.

*War with the Portuguese of Goa*






The Portuguese could provide supplies to Mughals and allow unloading of Mughal ships at the ports in Goa. Therefore Sambhaji undertook a campaign against the Portuguese in Goa. He stormed Goa and started conquering Portuguese territory and forts. The Portuguese were not able to stop the Maratha attack. Common people in Goa rose in rebellion and started thrashing the priests, whom they accused of carrying out forced conversions. Sambhaji controlled the irate people of Goa. Seeing the inevitable, the Portuguese ruler Count De Alwore and his ministers even took out the body of St. Xavier from the church and started praying for their safety. However, to the astonishment of the Portuguese, Sambhaji had to depart from Goa as Aurangzeb had again sent about 100,000 troops to defeat the Maratha kingdom.

* Betrayal ,Capture, Execution of Sambhaji*






Sambhaji warned Siddis, Chikkadev Rai and Portuguese from crossing the path of the Marathas and ordered them to refrain from helping Aurangzeb in any way. In this way, Sambhaji nullified any threat that the Maratha kingdom had from these three powers. Sambhaji also beat back the two Mughal armies of 100,000 troops each, which were sent by Aurangzeb. In fact, the second army was so badly defeated that only a few troops could return to the Mughal camp. Aurangzeb decided to defeat Sambhaji by deceit.

In early 1689 CE, Sambhaji called his commanders for a strategic meeting at Sangameshwar in Konkan to decide on the final blow to oust Aurangzeb from Deccan. In order to execute the plans soon, Sambhaji sent ahead most of his comrades and stayed back with a few of his trustworthy men. Ganoji Shirke, one of Sambhaji's brother-in-laws, turned a traitor and helped Aurangzeb's commander Mukarrab Khan to locate, reach and attack Sangameshwar when Sambhaji was in the garden of Sangameshwar, resolving some issues and was about to leave the town.

Sambhaji and his men were surrounded from all sides. Marathas took out their swords, roared &#8216;Har Har Mahadev&#8217; and pounced upon the far too numerous Mughals. A bloody skirmish took place and Sambhaji was captured on 1 February 1689.

Maratha soldiers and other faithfuls unsuccessfully tried to rescue Sambhaji but were killed by Mughals on 3 February 1689.

Kavi Kulesh captured the event of Sambhaji's capture and production before Aurangzeb as a prisoner in a small poem which was still remembered in Maharashtra. He was captured due to treachery of his wife's brother. Aurangzeb had him tortured for several days , hoping to break maratha morale but reluctant and Unselfish Chhatrapati did not give up.

Sambhaji was tortured for several days and finally was drawn and quartered (ripped apart) and killed on 11 March 1689 at Tulapur on the banks of Bhima river, near Pune.

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## ganimi kawa

*The pass---*

*Knowing that he will have to delay the pursuers as long as possible, Baji chose a place to make his stand. A place which would maximise his infantry's chances against enemy cavalry..*

That place was "*Ghod Khind*" meaning "*horse pass*" in marathi, a narrow mountain pass so narrow that only one horseman could pass through it at a time!





*Ghod khind*

Here Baji stood with his 300 soldiers while Shivaji proressed ahead with the rest of the forces towards Vishalgad.

Here he stood waiting his enemy and here history beaconed him!


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## ganimi kawa

*The battle begins--*

*Opposing forces-*

*Composition of Adilshahi forces*--
It consisted 10000 of selected cavalry of Adilshahi which was well known under the command of Siddi Masud and Fazal Khan.

*Composition of Maratha forces*
Bajiprabhu, Jadhavrao, Bandal and many more. However, the light infantry forces were limited around 300. They consisted of hardened mountaineers of maval region.


*The Towering stand of the mighty Warrior*

*And here at Ghod Kind the brave Marathas faught like caged tigers to their fabulous war cry: HAR HAR MAHADEV.* It was a bloody battle by all accounts. Baji and his men were vastly outnumbered.
The enemy, in turn, were relentless as they attacked the narrow pass in wave after frenzied wave. 





Baji at the pass


*But Baji Prabhu in the vanguard was like a granite boulder. Wielding two huge and very heavy swords, one in each hand, he almost single handily repulsed the waves, using his body as a wall to prevent the Jihadis from getting through.* And he paid a heavy price indeed for this and very soon his body was crisscrossed by grave injuries: sword cuts, spear thrusts. At times it seemed that he would buckle in to his injuries and pass out but with iron will summoned from the very depths of his soul, he stood firm and kept on fighting. 

It was predecided that there would be three canon shots as a signal that Shivaji had reached vishalad safely.*Baji refused to die till he had heard the cannon shots!*

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## Jacobtheindoamerican

*
Tarabai and the turning point *

*Fight against the Mughals, Marathas going inroad into Mughal territory*

A daughter of a General and well versed in the art of warfare, Tarabai herself planned and supervised military expeditions.
In 1705, Nemaji Shinde entered Malwa (Madhya Pradesh) and ravaged it while Khanderao Dabhade raided mughal territory upto Ahmedabad( Gujrat) .
In 1706, Ramchandra Bavdekar bribed the commandant of the Panhala fort and it was passed on to the marathas( and also Pawangad).
Parshuram Trimbak and Annaji later retook Satara and later Parali.
Shankar Gandekar retook Sinhagad, Torna and Rajgad.
Dhanaji Jadhav, the commander in chief led many expeditions against the Mughals along with other able Maratha commanders like Udaji Pawar and Haibatrao Nimbalkar and caused serious damage to the Mughals.
Aurangzeb too had aged. For a man, rarely accustomed to failure, he had to bear the ignominy of repeated failures and a string of bad news coming from the Maratha front.
In 1707, (at Khulatabad near Aurangabad), Aurangzeb, the Mughal emperor, died a bitter man.

Advent of Shahu
After Aurangzebs death , the Mughals (Prince Azam) released Prince Shahu , the son of Sambhaji (and grandson of Shivaji) from captivity. The idea was that , the Maratha ire against the mughals be alleviated and also that there should be dissension in the Maratha ranks , leaving the Mughals free to fight their own succession battles (between Prince Azam ,Shah Alam, and Kambaksh etc).
Tarabai however refused to acknowledge Shahu as the real king , even calling him an imposter and insisted on her son becoming her successor.
But with Shahus arrival, many Maratha commanders (with a exception of a few like Pratinidhi Parshram Trimbak) left Tarabais side and joined Shahu. They felt Shahu being the son of Sambhaji was their natural ruler (and Rajaram and Tarabai were only the temporary rulers in the absence of the real king, something even Rajaram himself had professed).
After a few unsuccessfull battles and facing regular desertion from her closest aides, Tarabai accepted defeat (especially after the battle at Khed,Oct 1707) and reluctantly agreed to accept Shahu as the rightful king of the Marathas.
Shahu also magnanimously allowed his aunt to retire to the province of Kolhapur , where she set up her independent throne in 1713. She however wasn&#8217;t able to bridle her ambitions, and continued her machinations against Shahu. But Shahu's Peshwa , Balaji Vishwanath put a temporay halt on her plans, by helping Rajasabai (Rajarams other wife)and her son Sambhaji to usurp the throne of Tarabai and her son Shivaji III, in Kolhapur. But Sambhaji later turned hostile, forcing Shahu to switch sides with Tarabai. Shahu even allowed Tarabai to stay in the Satara palace. That was where her son Shivaji III died.
Thus loyalties and power equations kept changing in the Maratha kingdom in the quest of power.

*
Major turning point and decline of the Mughals. 1699 to 1707 - Victory of Marathas under Tarabai with the death of Aurangzeb during retreat*

After death of Rajaram, his widow queen Tarabai assumed the charge of the empire. She herself took to the field and remained mobile and vigil during the crisis. In words of Jadunath Sarkar, 'It is her character that saved the nation in that awful crisis.' By 1705, Marathas had penetrated mughal possession of Central India and Gujarat. Nemaji Shinde defeated mughals in Malwa plateau. By 1706, Mughals started retreating from Maratha dominions. Aurangzeb died at Khultabad (Aurangabad) in 1707. Defeated mughals released grandson of Shivaji, Shahu from their captivity.






Marathas took large chunks of Mughal territory, and left them in Dehli. Marathas became the most powerful empire in India, until British beat the Marathas and ended their short victory.

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## ganimi kawa

Shivaji Maharaj attacked the siege at the base of fort Vishalgad with such vigour that it was broken.He had reached safety. Hastily ordering the three canon shots to be fired he was thinking about only one thing, "will baji and his men return?"

*The great sacrifice--*

While at the pass,baji inspite of recieving numerous injuries was still fighting. Enemy commander ordered his marksmen to target Baji. They succeeded and Baji took a bullet in the chest. 

Thus injured he was brought to the rear by his men while they kept the fight on without loosing morale! Baji still would not allow himself to die as he waited for his king!





defying death!

.*...And then he heard the cannon, telling him that his king was safe and so was his kingdom. " Now I'll go with peace ", said he and that is when this great warrior left the battlefield of life forever! *

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## Jacobtheindoamerican

*If I may, I want to stress the importance of this war to Indians. This really shows the bravery and valor of the Marathas! And basically NO Indians knows about his war and its importance to our modern nation. SO PLEASE READ! Because its way more important then any other modern war that India fought.

*27 Maratha Year War That Changed Course Of Indian History**

Schoolchildren in India learn a very specific blend of Indian history. This school version of history is stripped of all the vigor and pride. The story of Indian civilization spans thousands of years. However for the most part the schoolbook version dwells on the freedom struggle against British and important role played in there by the Indian National Congress. We learn each and every movement of Gandhi and Nehru, but not even a passing reference is made to hundreds of other important people and events.

My objection is not to the persons Gandhi or Nehru. However the attention they get and the exposure their political views and ideology gets is rather disproportionate.

And thus it comes no surprise to me that rarely we talk about an epic war that significantly altered the face of Indian subcontinent. The war that can be described the mother of all wars in India. Considering the average life expectancy that time was around 30 years, this war of 27 years lasted almost the lifespan of an entire generation. The total number of battles fought was in hundreds. It occurred over vast geographical expanse spanning four biggest states of modern India- Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. For time, expanse and human and material cost, this war has no match in Indian history.

It started in 1681 with the Mughal emperor Aurangzebs invasion of Maratha empire. It ended in 1707 with Aurangzebs death. Aurangzeb threw everything he had in this war. He lost it all.

Its tempting to jump into the stories of heroics, but what makes the study of war more interesting is the understanding of politics behind it. Every war is driven by politics. Rather war is just one of the means to do politics. This war was not an exception.

Shivajis tireless work for most of his life had shown fruits by the last quarter of seventeenth century. He had firmly established Marathas as power in Deccan. He built hundreds of forts in Konkan and Sahyadris and thus created a defense backbone. He also established strong naval presence and controlled most of the Western ports barring few on end of Indian peninsula. Thus tightening the grip on trade routes of Deccan sultanates, he strangled their weapons import from Europe and horses import from Arabian traders. These Sultanates launched several campaigns against Shivaji, but failed to stop him.

On the Northern front, several Rajput kings had accepted to be the vassals of Mughals. Aurangzeb had succeeded to the throne after brutal killing of his brothers and imprisonment of his father. With Rajput resistance mostly subsided and the southern sultanates weakened, it was only matter of time before Marathas were in his cross-hair.

At the time of Shivajis death in 1680, Maratha empire spanned an area far more than the current state of Maharashtra and had taken firm roots. But it was surrounded by enemies from all sides. Portuguese on northern Coast and Goa, British in Mumbai, Siddies in Konkan and remaining Deccan sultenates in Karnataka posed limited challenge each, but none of them was capable of taking down the Marathas alone. Mughal empire with Aurangzeb at its helm was the most formidable foe.

For the most part, Aurangzeb was a religious fanatic. He had distanced Sikhs and Rajputs because of his intolerant policies against Hindus. After his succession to the throne, he had made life living hell for Hindus in his kingdom. Taxes like Jizya tax were imposed on Hindus. No Hindu could ride in Palanquin. Hindu temples were destroyed and abundant forcible conversions took place. Auragzeb unsuccessfully tried to impose Sharia, the Islamic law. This disillusioned Rajputs and Sikhs resulting in their giving cold shoulder to Aurangzeb in his Deccan campaign.

Thus in September of 1681, after settling his dispute with the royal house of Mewar, Aurangzeb began his journey to Deccan to kill the Maratha confederacy that was not even 50 years old. On his side, the Mughal king had enormous army numbering half a million soldiers, a number more than three times that of the Maratha army. He had plentiful support of artillery, horses, elephants. He also brought huge wealth in royal treasuries. Teaming up with Portughese, British ,Siddis, Golkonda and Bijapur Sultanates he planned to encapsulate Marathas from all sides and to form a deadly death trap. To an outsider, it would seem no-brainer to predict the outcome of such vastly one sided war. It seemed like the perfect storm headed towards Maratha confederacy.

Enormous death and destruction followed in Deccan for what seemed like eternity. But what happened at the end would defy all imaginations and prove every logic wrong. Despite lagging in resources on all fronts, it would be the Marathas who triumphed. And at the expense of all his treasure, army, power and life, it would be the invading emperor who learned a very costly lesson, that the will of people to fight for their freedom should never be underestimated


Timeline  Marathas under King Sambhaji (1680 to 1689):

After the death of Shivaji in 1680, a brief power struggle ensued in the royal family. Finally Sambhaji became the king. By this time Aurangzeb had finished his North missions and was pondering a final push in Deccan to conquer all of the India.

In 1681 sambhaji attacked Janjira, but his first attempt failed. In the same time one of the Aurangzebs generals, Hussein Ali Khan , attacked Northern Konkan. Sambhaji left janjira and attacked Hussein Ali Khan and pushed him back to Ahmednagar. By this time mansoon of 1682 had started. Both sides halted their major military operations. But Aurangzeb was not sitting idle. He tried to sign a deal with Portughese to allow mughal ships to harbor in Goa. This would have allowed him to open another supply route to Deccan via sea. The news reached sambhaji. He attacked Portughese territories and pushed deep inside Goa. But Voiceroy Alvor was able to defend Portughese headquarters.

By this time massive Mughal army had started gathering on the borders of Deccan. It was clear that southern India was headed for one big conflict.

Sambhaji had to leave Portughese expedition and turn around. In late 1683, Aurangzeb moved to Ahmednagar. He divided his forces in two and put his two princes, Shah Alam and Azam Shah, in charge of each division. Shah alam was to attack South Konkan via Karnataka border while Azam Shah would attack Khandesh and northern Maratha territory. Using pincer strategy, these two divisions planned to circle Marathas from South and North and isolate them.

The beginning went quite well. Shah Alam crossed Krishna river and enterd Belgaum. From there he entered Goa and started marching north via Konkan. As he pushed further,he was continuously harassed by Marathas. They ransacked his supply chains and reduced his forces to starvation. Finally Aurangzeb sent Ruhulla Khan for his rescue and brought him back to Ahmednagar. The first pincer attempt failed.

After 1684 monsoon, Aurangzebs another general Sahabuddin Khan directly attacked the Maratha capital, fort Raygad. Maratha commanders successfully defended Raygad. Aurangzeb sent Khan Jehan for help, but Hambeerrao Mohite, Commander-in-Chief of Maratha army, defeated him in a fierce battle at Patadi. Second division of Maratha army attacked Sahabuddin Khan at Pachad, inflicting heavy losses on Mughal army.

In early 1685, Shah Alam attacked South again via Gokak- Dharwar route. But Sambhajis forces harassed him continuously on the way and finally he had to give up and thus failed to close the loop second time.

In april 1685 Aurangzeb rehashed his strategy. He planned to consolidate his power in the South by taking expediations to Goalkonda and Bijapur. Both were Shia muslim rulers and Aurangzeb was no fond of them. He broke his treaties with both empires and attacked them. Taking this opportunity Marathas launched offensive on North coast and attacked Bharuch. They were able to evade the mughal army sent their way and came back with minimum damage.

On Aurangzebs new Southern front, things were proceeding rather smoothly. Bijapur fell in September 1686. King Sikandar Shah was captured and imprisoned. Goalkonda agreed to pay huge ransom. But after receiving the money, Aurangzeb attacked them in blatant treachery. Soon Goalkonda fell as well. King Abu Hussein of Goalkonda was captured and met the same fate as Sikandar Shah.

Marathas had tried to win mysore through diplomacy. Kesopant Pingle, (Moropant Pingles brother) was running negotiations, but the fall of Bijapur to mughals turned the tides and Mysore was reluctant to join Marathas. Still Sambhaji successfully courted several Bijapur sardars to join Maratha army.

After fall of Bijapur and Goalkonda, Aurangzeb turned his attention again to his main target  Marathas. First few attempts proved unsuccessful to make a major dent. But in Dec 1688 he had his biggest jackpot. Sambhaji was captured at Sangmeshwar. It was in part his own carelessness and in part because of treachery. Aurangzeb gave him option of converting to Islam, which he refused. Upon refusal, Aurangzeb, blinded by his victories, gave Sambhaji the worst treatment he could ever give to anyone. Sambhaji was pareded on donkey. His tounge was cut, eyes were gorged out. His body was cut into pieces and fed to dogs.

There were many people who did not like Sambhaji and thus were sympathetic to Mughals. But this barbaric treatment made everyone angry. Maratha generals gathered on Raygad. The decision was unanimous. All peace offers were to be withdrawn. Mughals would be repelled at all costs. Rajaram succeeded as the next king. He began his reign by a valiant speech on Raygad. All Maratha generals and councilmen united under the flag of new king, and thus began the second phase of the epic war.

27 Years War TimeLine  Marathas under King Rajaram (1689 to 1700)

To Aurangzeb, the Marathas seemed all but dead by end of 1689. But this would prove to be almost a fatal blunder. In March 1990, the Maratha commanders, under the leadership of Santaji Ghorpade launched the single most daring attack on mughal army. They not only attacked the army, but sacked the tent where the Aurangzeb himself slept. Luckily Aurangzeb was elsewhere but his private force and many of his bodyguards were killed.

This positive development was followed by a negative one for Marathas. Raigad fell to treachery of Suryaji Pisal. Sambhajis queen, Yesubai and their son, Shahu, were captured.

Mughal forces, led by Zulfikar Khan, continued this offensive further South. They attacked fort Panhala. The Maratha killedar of Panhala gallantly defended the fort and inflicted heavy losses on Mughal army. Finally Aurangzeb himself had to come. Panhala surrendered.

Maratha ministers had foreseen the next Mughal move on Vishalgad. They made Rajaram leave Vishalgad for Jinji, which would be his home for next seven years. Rajaram travelled South under escort of Khando Ballal and his men. The queen of Bidnur, gave them supplies and free passage. Harji Mahadiks division met them near Jinji and guarded them to the fort. Rajarams queen was escorted out of Maharashtra by Tungare brothers. She was taken to Jinji by different route. Ballal and Mahadik tirelessly worked to gather the scattered diplomats and soldiers. Jinji became new capital of Marathas. This breathed new life in Maratha army.

Aurangzeb was frustrated with Rajarams successful escape. His next move was to keep most of his force in Maharashtra and dispatch a small force to keep Rajaram in check. But the two Maratha generals, Santaji ghorpade and Dhanaji Jadhav would prove more than match to him.

They first attacked and destroyed the force sent by Aurangzeb to keep check on Rajaram, thus relieving the immediate danger. Then they joined Ramchandra Bavadekar in Deccan. Bavdekar, Vithoji Bhosale and Raghuji Chavan had reorganized most of the Maratha army after defeats at Panhala and Vishalgad.

In late 1691, Bavdekar, Pralhad Niraji , Santaji ,Dhanaji and several Maratha sardars met in Maval region and reformed the strategy. Aurangzeb had taken four major forts in Sahyadrais and was sending Zulfikar khan to subdue the fort Jinji. So according to new Maratha plan, Santaji and Dhanaji would launch offensives in the East to keep rest of the Mughal forces scattered. Others would focus in Maharashtra and would attack a series of forts around Southern Maharashtra and Northern Karnataka to divide Mughal won territories in two, thereby posing significant challenge to enemy supply chains. Thanks to Shivajis vision of building a navy, Marathas could now extend this divide into the sea, checking any supply routes from Surat to South.

The execution began. In early 1692 Shankar Narayan and Parshuram Trimbak recaptured Rajgad and Panhala. In early 1693 Shankar Narayan and Bhosale captured Rohida. Sidhoji Gujar took Vijaydurg. Soon Parshuram Trimbak took Vishalgad. Kanhoji Angre, a young Maratha Naval officer that time, took fort Kolaba.

While this was in work, Santaji and Dhanaji were launching swift raids on Mughal armies on East front. This came as a bit of surprise to Aurangzeb. In spite of losing one King and having second king driven away, Marathas were undaunted and actually were on offensive. From Khandesh, Ahmednagar to Bijapur to Konkan and Southern Karnataka, Santaji and Dhanaji wrecked havoc. Encouraged by the success, Santaji and Dhanaji hatched new action plan to attack Mughal forces near Jinji. Dhanaji Jadhav attacked Ismail Khan and defeated him near Kokar. Santaji Ghorpade attacked Ali Mardan Khan at the base of Jinji and captured him. With flanks cleared, both joined hands and laid a second siege around the Mughal siege at Jinji

Julfikar khan, who was orchestrating Jinji siege, left the siege on Aurangzebs orders and marched back. Santaji followed him to North, but was defeated by Julfikar Khan. Santaji then diverted his forces to Bijapur. Aurangzeb sent another general Kasim Khan to tackle Santaji. But Santaji attacked him with a brilliant military maneuver near Chitaldurg and forced him take refuge in Dunderi fort. The fort was quickly sieged by Santaji and the siege only ended when most of the Mughal soldiers starved and Kasim Khan committed suicide. Aurangzeb sent Himmat Khan to reinforce Kasim Khan. Himmat khan carried heavy artillery. So Santaji lured him in a trap in the forest near Dunderi. A sudden, ambush style attack on Mughals was followed by a fierce battle. The battle ended when when Himmat Khan was shot in head and died. All his forces routed and Santaji confiscated a big cache of weapons and ammunition.

By now, Aurangzeb had the grim realization that the war he began was much more serious than he thought. He consolidated his forces and rethought his strategy. He sent an ultimatum to Zulfikar khan to finish Jinji business or be stripped of the titles. Julfikar khan tightened the Siege. But Rajaram fled and was safely escorted to Deccan by Dhanaji Jadhav and Shirke brothers. Haraji Mahadiks son took the charge of Jinji and bravely defended Jinji against Julfikar khan and Daud khan till January of 1698. This gave Rajaram ample of time to reach Vishalgad.

Jinji fell, but it did a big damage to the Mughal empire. The losses incurred in taking Jinji far outweighed the gains. The fort had done its work. For seven years the three hills of Jinji had kept a large contigent of mughal forces occupied. It had eaten a deep hole into Mughal resources. Not only at Jinji, but the royal treasury was bleeding everywhere and was already under strain.

Marathas would soon witness an unpleasant development, all of their own making. Dhanaji Jadhav and Santaji Ghorpade had a simmering rivalry, which was kept in check by the councilman Pralhad Niraji. But after Nirajis death, Dhanaji grew bold and attacked Santaji. Nagoji Mane, one of Dhanajis men, killed Santaji. The news of Santajis death greatly encouraged Aurangzeb and Mughal army.

But by this time Mughals were no longer the army they were feared before. Aurangzeb, against advise of several of his experienced generals, kept the war on. It was much like Alexander on the borders of Taxila.

The Marathas again consolidated and the new Maratha counter offensive began. Rajaram made Dhanaji the next commander in chief. Maratha army was divided in three divisions. Dhanaji would himself lead the first division. Parshuram Timbak lead the second and Shankar Narayan lead the third. Dhanaji Jadhav defeated a large mughal force near Pandharpur. Shankar Narayan defeated Sarja Khan in Pune. Khanderao Dabhade, who lead a division under Dhanaji, took Baglan and Nashik. Nemaji Shinde, another commander with Shankar Narayan, scored a major victory at Nandurbar.

Enraged at this defeats, Aurangzeb himself took charge and launched another counter offensive. He laid siege to Panhala and attacked the fort of Satara. The seasoned commander, Prayagji Prabhu defended Satara for a good six months, but surrendered in April of 1700, just before onset of Monsoon. This foiled Aurangzebs strategy to clear as many forts before monsoon as possible.

In March of 1700, another bad news followed Marathas. Rajaram took his last breath. His queen Tarabai, who was also daughter of the gallant Maratha Commander-in-Chief Hambeerrao Mohite, took charge of Maratha army. Daughter of a braveheart, Tarabai proved her true mettle for the next seven years. She carried the struggle on with equal valor. Thus began the phase 3, the last phase of the prolonged war, with Marathas under the leadership of Tarabai.

The signs of strains were showing in Mughal camp in late 1701. Asad Khan, Julfikar Khans father, counselled Aurangzeb to end the war and turn around. This expedition had already taken a giant toll, much larger than originally planned, on Mughal empire. And serious signs were emerging that the 200 years old Mughal empire was crumbling and was in the middle of a war that was not winnable

Mughals were bleeding heavily from treasuries. But Aurangzeb kept pressing the war on. When Tarabai took charge, Aurangzeb had laid siege to the fort of Parli (Sajjangad). Parshuram Trimbak defended the fort until mansooon and retreated quietly at the break of monsoon.The mughal army was dealt heavy loss by flash floods in the rivers around. These same tactics were followed by Marathas at the next stop of Aurangzeb, Panhala. Similar tactic was followed even for Vishalgad.

By 1704, Aurangzeb had Torana and Rajgad. He had won only a handful forts in this offensive, but he had spent several precious years. It was slowly dawning to him that after 24 years of constant war, he was no closer to defeating Marathas than he was the day he began.

The final Maratha counter offensive gathered momentum in North. Tarabai proved to be a valiant leader once again. One after another Mughal provinces fell in north. They were not in position to defend as the royal treasuries had been sucked dry and no armies were left in town. In 1705, two Maratha army factions crossed Narmada. One under leadership of Nemaji Shinde hit as deep North as Bhopal. Second under the leadership of Dabhade struck Bharoch and West. Dabhade with his eight thousand men,attacked and defeated Mahomed khans forces numbering almost fourteen thousand. This left entire Gujarat coast wide open for Marathas. They immediately tightened their grip on Mughal supply chains.

In Maharashtra, Aurangzeb grew despondent. He started negotiations with Marathas, but cut abruptly and marched on a small kingdom called Wakinara. Naiks at Wakinara traced their lineage to royal family of Vijaynagar empire. They were never fond of Mughals and had sided with Marathas. Dhanaji marched into Sahyadris and won almost all the major forts back in short time. Satara and Parali forts were taken by Parshuram Timbak. Shankar Narayan took Sinhgad. Dhanaji then turned around and took his forces to Wakinara. He helped the Naiks at Wakinara sustain the fight. Naiks fought very bravely. Finally Wakinara fell, but the royal family of Naiks successfully escaped with least damage.

Aurangzeb had now given up all hopes and was now planning retreat to Burhanpur. Dhanaji Jadhav again fell on him and in swift and ferocious attack and dismantled the rear guard of his imperial army. Zulfikar Khan rescued the emperor and they successfully reached Burhanpur.

Aurangzeb witnessed bitter fights among his sons in his last days. Alone, lost, depressed, bankrupt, far away from home, he died sad death on 3rd March 1707. I hope god will forgive me one day for my disastrous sins, were his last words.

Thus ended a prolonged and grueling period in history of India. The Mughal kingdom fragmented and disintegrated soon after. And Deccan saw rise of a new sun, the Maratha empire.

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## KS

Jacobtheindoamerican said:


> *Raja Raja Chola, when the northern Subcontinent was being invaded, the South had colonies in South East Asia. *



Jacob...first of all thanks for writing abt this great warrior.

Though I think the extent of the empire in ur post was actually achieved during the reign of his son Rajendira Chola I who reigned from 1012 to 1044 AD.

Raja raja's only foreign conquest was his sucessful invasion of Sri Lanka even though the whole of Lanka was captured only under Rajendira.

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## ganimi kawa

This clip is from a marathi movie from 1952 showing this episode. Starting with proxy shivaji being captured by siddi jauhar and ends with the battle. ( Ignore the song at the start!)







*The aftermath--*

*Casualties*
Maratha-- 3 to 5 survived out of the 300.

Adilshah-- 3000 dead out of 10000.

This was the last major battle between Adilshahi forces and Marathas. Hereafter Marathas were recognised as an independent power. 


*Honours-*

The sword of honour was given to Bandal sena( Maratha Warriors) who fought vigorously with Baji Prabhu Deshpande. Shivaji personally visited the house of slain Baji Prabhu, situated in the village of Kasabe Sindh near Bhor in the Pune district. His elder son was offered job as chief of a section. Other 7 sons were given honour of the Palkhi. Son of Slain Sambhaji Jadhav, Dhanaji Jadhav was inducted in the forces.the maratha. Shivaji Maharaj also gave "manache pahile paan" ("Honor of the Court") to Baji Prabhu's family. 

*The most important honour was in Baji's honour, Shivaji renamed the Ghod-kind pass as Pavan-Kind (Pavan meaning pure, purified by the blood of this great Maratha). Hence, the battle of "pavan" khind!*


For the rest of his life, Shivaji would also act as the guardian for Baji's children.





Plaque to commemorate the entrance to Pavankhind

Even today youths trek on the route taken by Shivaji between the forts of Panhala and Vishal Gadh. The distance is around 70 km.

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## Jacobtheindoamerican

Thanks Karthic Sri 

someome make Rajendra Chola I.. I am done


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## KS

*Veerapandiya Kattabomman*








*Background :*

Veerapandiya Kattabomman was born in an Nayakkar family to Aadi Kattabommu and Aarumugathammal on January 3, 1760 and became the 47th king of Panchalankurichi at an age of 30. Veerapandiya Kattabomman's father Aadi Kattabomman was a minister in the court of Jagaveera Pandiyan, a desendent in the Pandya line. Jagaveera pandiyan was issueless and declared Kattabomman as his successor.

History is that Aadi Kattabomman, before becoming a minister at Jagaveera Pandiyan's court, migrated from the present day Andhra Pradesh to Panchalankurichi. His actual name was Bommulu or Bommu. Bommu's physical strength and appearance earned him the name Getti Bommu (strong Bommu) which later, influenced by the local language Tamil, became Katta Bommu (Kattabomman). 

*Friction against the British:*

The Nayak rule in Madurai which controlled the entire West Tamil Nadu after two centuries came to an abrupt end in 1736 when *Chanda Sahib of Arcot seized the Madurai throne from the last queen of Madurai in an act of treason. *
The Palaya-karrars of the old Madurai country refused to recognize the new Muslim rulers driving the Nawab of Arcot to bankruptcy, who also indulged in lavishes like building palaces before sustaining his authority in the region.
Finally *the Nawab resorted to borrowing huge sums from the British East India Company,The Nawab of Arcot finally gave the British the right to collect taxes and levies from the southern region in lieu of the money he had borrowed.* The East India Company took advantage of the situation and plundered all the wealth of the people in the name of tax collection. 
*Many of the Polygars submitted, with the exception of Katta-bomman and a few others* who formed an alliance with the Maruthu Brothers of Sivagangai.

*Major events :* 

*Kattabomman refused to pay his dues and for a long time refused to meet Jackson Durai the Collector of the East India Company*. Finally, he met Jackson at Ramalinga Vilasam, the palace of Sethupathi of Ramanathapuram. *The meeting turned violent and ended in a skirmish in which the Deputy Commandant of the Companys forces, Clarke was slain. Kattabomman and his men fought their way to freedom and safety*, but Thanapathi Pillai, Kattabommans secretary was taken prisoner.

The new Collector of Tirunelveli wrote to Kattabomman calling him for a meeting on 16 March 1799. Kattabomman wrote back citing the extreme drought conditions for the delay in the payment of dues and also demanded that all that was robbed off him at Ramanathapuram be restored to him. *The Collector wanted the ruling house of Sethupathis to prevent Kattabomman from aligning himself with the enemies of the Company and decided to attack Kattabomman.*
The British also instigated his long time feuding neighbor Ettayapuram Poligar to make provocative wars over Kattabomman on their long pending territorial disputes.

*The Final War:*

Under Major Bannerman, the army stood at all the four entrances of Panchalankurichis fort. At the southern end, Lieutenant Collins was on the attack. *When the forts southern doors opened, Kattabomman and his forces audaciously attacked the corps stationed at the back of his fort, and slew their commander Lt. Collins.*
The British after suffering heavy losses, decided to wait for reinforcements and heavy artillery from Palayamkottai. *Sensing that his fort could not survive a barrage from heavy cannons, Kattabomman left the fort that night.*
A price was set on Kattabommans head. Thanapathi Pillai and 16 others were taken prisoners. Thanapathi Pillai was executed and his head perched on a bamboo pole was displayed at Panchalankurichi to demoralise the fighters. Soundra Pandian Nayak, another rebel leader, was brutally done to death by having his head dashed against a village wall.

*Capture and subsequent execution:*

Veerapandiya Kattabomman hid in so many places including Thirumayam, Virachilai and finally stayed at Kolarpatti at Rajagopala Naickers house where the forces surrounded the house. Kattabomman and his aides fled from there and took refuge in the Thirukalambur forests close to Pudukkottai. Bannerman ordered the Raja of Pudukkottai to arrest Kattabomman.* Accordingly, Kattabomman was captured and on October 16, 1799 the case was taken up (nearly three weeks after his arrest near Pudukkottai).
After a summary trial, Kattabomman was hanged unceremoniously on a Tamarind tree in Kayathar (near Thirunelveli).*

*Honour and monuments:*


Kattabomman became thus the pivot of the emerging feeling of Tamil nationhood. *Kattabomman is today recognised by the government as one of the earliest independence fighters opposing the British and has been hailed as the inspiration behind the first battle of independence of 1857,* which the British called the Sepoy Mutiny.



In 1974, the Government of Tamil Nadu constructed a new Memorial fort. The Memorial Hall has beautiful paintings on the walls depicting the heroic deeds of the saga which gives a good idea about the history of the period. 

The remnants of the old fort are protected by the Archaeological Survey of India.

To commemorate the bicentenary on 16 October 1999 of Kattabommans hanging, the Government of India brought out a postal stamp in his honour.


India's premier communication nerve centre of the Indian Navy, at Vijayanarayanam, about 40 km from here, is named as INS Kattabomman .

Till recently (1999) the state transport buses of Tirunelveli District was named Kattabomman Transport Corporation.

The district administration celebrates `Veerapandia Kattabomman festival' at Panchalankurichi on his anniversaries.

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**** the majority of this has been taken from Wiki as the intention was just to introduce to the friends from North abt this fearless man who sowed the initial seeds of the nationlistic fervour by opposing the British EIC and serving as an inspiration to the much later yet famous Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 .

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## KS

*Maaveeran Dheeran Chinnamalai Gounder *








*Birth and early life:*

Theerthagiri Gounder comes from the Royal House of Palayakottai Pattakarar family of Kangeyam. Dheeran was born into the "Payiran Kootam". 
Theerthagiri Gounder who later became Maveeran Dheeran Chinnamalai was born in the English month of April, 1756.

Rathanaswamy(father) and his wife Periyathal (mother)had six children in all &#8211; five sons and one daughter. The first son was Kulandaiswamy, the second was Theerthagiri, the third was Thambi, fourth was Kirlother and the fifth was Kuttiswamy. Their only daughter was named Parvatham. 
*The three brothers Theerthagiri, Kilothar and Thambi devoted their attention to the administration and safety of the villages they ruled*. 
They learnt the native martial arts of Silambam, archery and others from a very young age. They formed Kongu youth organizations for the betterment and welfare of Kongu region and its people. They also trained the Kongu youth in their native martial arts.* They protected their areas from kallars, thieves and other evil doers.* They conducted Village Panchayats which were the popular and speedy form of judicial systems in those days to resolve disputes arising out of land and civic nature between individuals and families.

*Joining forces with Tippu Sultan *

Hyder Ali died on 12 July 1782 and his son Tippu Sultan became the Mysore King. After Tippu became Mysore King, hostilities broke out between British and Tippu Sultan, .*Tippu Sultan wanted to raise a big army of soldiers to fight the British and invited the Kongus to join him to fight against the British *. *Chinnamalai, and his brothers Kilother, Thambi decided to join with Tippu Sultan keeping in mind the larger national interest*. Chinnamalai was the commander-in-chief of the Kongu Regiment. About thousand young Kongus joined the Kongu Regiment. The war between Mysore King and the British are known as Mysore Wars. The fourth and crucial battle between Tippu took place in the year 1799. *Chinnamalai's soldiers battled against the British at Malavalli front and caused severe damage to the British and their large number of allied forces*. The Srirangapatnam war front was led by Tippu himself. In the battle that took place, Tippu was killed on 5 April 1799.

*Against the British:*

The Prelude:

After death of Tippu Sultan, Chinnamalai led all his soldiers through Kaveri River into Kongunadu.* However, their loyal friend Velappan was captured by the British and remained in their custody*. Velappan promised the British that he would act as their agent. Believing his words, they gave him a position in their army. However, *Velappan remained loyal to Chinnamalai and sent notes concerning British activities and helped Chinnamalai in many ways*.

*The British were very much annoyed that Theeran Chinnamalai was still being an independent King and soverign monarch in Southern India when most of the petty Indian kings who ruled at that time have sided with the British* but him able to run his kingdom independently without yielding and subjugating to the British East India company's demands. The British decided to eliminate him and take the land by force. *Initially, they sent out a troop of soldiers under the leadership of Colonel Makiskan to arrest Chinnamalai.* Velappan who was in serving the British informed Chinnamalai of the British plan through his informers. As *Chinnamalai was forewarned, he met Makiskan and his soldiers on the banks of Noyyal River and defeated them in the battle thoroughly*. Makiskan was beheaded in the battle and it is said that this head was paraded in the villages of Kongu

Battle to death:

Hearing what had happened to Makiskan, the British sent a cavalry unit under Captain Harris to capture Chinnamalai. Thinking that Chinnmalai might be in the Arachalur Amman temple, Captain Harris entered the temple in search of Chnnamalai. As he could nor find him, he was greatly disappointed and proceeded to Odanilai where Chinnamalai's palace is located.

*A sentry at the top of the palace noticed the movement of the troop led by Harris and immediately informed Chinnamalai *what he saw. Chinnamalai planned to attack them alone with a hand grenade first. He advised his soldiers to attack them after he had a chance to throw the grenade at them. *Chinnamalai mounted a horse and sped towards Harris and his troop. As Harris was still wondering why a single person was approaching him, Chinnamalai swiftly threw his grenade at his horse's side.* The horse became bewildered and started running away from the bomb and the smoke. Harris lost control of his horse and *pandemonium ensued. Meanwhile Chnnamalai's troop joined him. Harris and his troop had to withdraw *. Chinnamalai and his troop drove all the way to Kaveri River in the north. This battle took place in the year 1802.

Hearing what has happened to Harris, *the British decided to send in a troop carrying Cannons*. As soon as Velappan knew of the British plan, he sent a word through the informers about the impending British attack on Odanilai. Chinnamalai used to wear a new pair of shoes every day. *The informer wrote the news in a chit and left it in his shoes. When Chinnamalai was about the wear the shoes, he found the note from Velappan. After reading the note, he left in there by mistake which cost him dear later.*
Chinnamalai consulted with his brothers for a plan of action. They decided to leave Karuppan in Melapalayam in a hiding. *Chinnamalai and two of his brothers and the cook Nallappan decided to hide in the Karumalai area that is adjacent to well known Palani Malai. Karumalai area was full of thick forests and provided cover for the brothers* to cover from the British attack.The British came to Odanilai with their cannons and found that all had vacated the palace.

Meanwhile, Chinnamalai and his brothers stayed during the day time in the Karumalai area and returned in the night to a house at the foot of the hills for dinner and little nap. They ate the food prepared by the cook Nallappan. They always carried guns for in the event of ever present danger.

Betrayed by a traitor:

*Cook Nallapan was an informer and traitor*. He secretly informed a British agent about Chinnamalai and his brothers and their daily routine of eating food in the house at the foot of the hills. The British dug an underground trench leading to the house and waited for Chinnamalai and his brothers.
As usual when the brothers were entering the house he served them food. That day, *he cunningly asked the brothers to leave their guns on the floor, as there was no danger when they were eating food.* The brothers believed his words and left their guns on the floor.

When they were about to eat,* Nallapan opened the secret door leading to the underground trench and allowed the British soldiers inside the kitchen*. The British soldiers surrounded Chinnamalai and his brothers. With all the fury, Chinnamalai hit the traitor and killed him on the spot.

*The British arrested Chinnamalai and his brothers and kept them in Sankagiri prison.* A four person tribunal consisting of Genaman, Marvul, Horse and Backy Hart was formed. Their loyal servant Karuppan who was in hiding at Melapalayam also surrendered to the British. That tribunal asked Chinnamalai to accept the British rule over his Kingdom and pay taxes to the British. They also offered him amnesty if he tendered an apology.* Chinnamalai refused the British offer and informed his decision to face the consequences.*
Preparations were made to hang them by rope tied to a Tamarind tree located at the top of the Sankagiri fort. Chinnamalai, his two brothers and Karuppan were brought to the tree on the day of the hanging. *They asked the surrounding soldiers to move away from them. Then each one tied the rope around his neck and jumped down*. The British saw to that that Chinnamalai name did not become household name by banning books or any literature on Chinnamalai for a long period of time fearing their reputation among the people. *Theeran Chinnamalai and his brothers was hanged on 31 July 1805.*

****************************************************

*Proud that I can trace my lineage to one of the offshoots of his family back in my native Kangayam*.

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## ganimi kawa

Why do most of the tales with british end with treachery and treason? As an indian it really saddens me!


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## lemurian

Thanks guys.. Reminds me of Amar Chitra Katha comics i read when i was a kid. Not terribly accurate stories but very entertaining, and with awesome illustrations.


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## ambidex

*"Hemu-Napoleon of medieval India" *



> *'' Unfortunately the Hindus do not pay much attention to historical orders of things'' - Al-Beruni.*



*



Our History books do not pay due respect and honour to his (hemu) rank in annals of the nation and make only a cursory reference to him with reference to Akbar. He was the victor of 22 battles for his superiors earning for him the title of medieval Samundergupta and like the great Chandergupta Maurya, he attempted hard to liberate the country from the yoke of foreigners-the mugals and would have succeeded but for an arrow which struck his eye and went deep up to back of his head in the second battle of Panipat when fighting was in full fury. This did not deter him and as sir Jadu-Nadth Sarkar writes, ''The blood sprouting from the wound was seen by the Afghan near him but he pulled the arrow out bandaged the eye with a scarf and ordered the fight to go on''.

Click to expand...

*
*



''His defeat was accidental and victory of the Mughals providential'' -R.S.Tripathi.

Click to expand...

*


> *''But for an accident in a battle which turned victory into defeat, might have founded a Hindu ruling dynasty, instead of Mughals in Delhi'' - R.C Majumdar.*



*Hem Chandra Vikramaditya* 





Samrat Hem Chandra VikramadityaSamrat Hem Chandra Vikramaditya, Hemu Vikramaditya or simply Hemu (Hindi: &#2360;&#2350;&#2381;&#2352;&#2366;&#2335; &#2361;&#2375;&#2350; &#2330;&#2306;&#2342;&#2381;&#2352; &#2357;&#2367;&#2325;&#2381;&#2352;&#2350;&#2366;&#2342;&#2367;&#2340;&#2381;&#2351 (1501-1556) was a Hindu Emperor of India during the 1500s. This was one of the crucial periods in Indian history, when the Mughals and Afghans were desperately vying for power.

The son of a food seller, and himself a vendor of saltpetre at Rewari,[1] he rose to become Chief of Army and Prime Minister[2][3] under the command of Adil Shah Suri of the Suri Dynasty. He fought Afghan rebels[4][5] across North India from the Punjab to Bengal[6] and the Mughal forces of Akbar and Humayun in Agra and Delhi,[7] winning 22 battles continuously, without a single setback.[8][9][10][11]

He acceded to the throne of Delhi on October 7, 1556, assuming the title of "Vikramaditya".[12][13] His Rajyabhishek or coronation as Samrat was held at Purana Quila in Delhi.[12] Hemu re-established the Hindu Kingdom (albeit for a short duration) in North India, after over 350 years of foreign rule, on the pattern of a strong Hindu kingdom prevailing in South India for more than three centuries, known as 'Vijaynagar Empire' [13] Hemu struck coins bearing his title.[14]

*Early life*
Hemu was born at Machheri village of Alwar District in Rajasthan in the year 1501.[15] His father Rai Puran Das, a Brahmin,[16] was engaged in Purohiti,[15] the performing of Hindu religious ceremonies as a profession. However, due to persecution of Hindus, who performed religious ceremonies, by Mughals, Rai Puran Das could not make both ends meet as a Purohit, therefore he gave up Purohiti and moved to Qutabpur (now Hemu Nagar) in Rewari in Mewat, what is present day Haryana. Hemu's father started trading (breaking the caste barrier) in salt in Qutabpur, and Hemu was brought up and educated there.[17]

Apart from learning Sanskrit and Hindi, he was educated in Persian, Arabic and Arithmetic.[18] During his childhood, he was fond of exercise and Kushti (wrestling) and while crushing salt in an Imam Dasta (an iron pot and hammer), he would monitor his strength.[17] He trained in horse-riding at his friend Sehdev's village. His friend Sehdev was a Rajput[17] and he participated in all the battles which Hemu fought later,[17] except the Second Battle of Panipat. Hemu was brought up in a religious environment; his father was a member of Vallabh Sampradai of Vrindavan and visited various Teerth (religious sites)[18] as far as Sindh in present day Pakistan, where he converted the then Governor of Sind, Parmanand in to Vallabh Sampradai.

*Family*
Hem Chandra was born to saint Purandas, formerly Rai Puranmal and belonged to Dhusar Bhargava community [19], on Ashwin Shukla Vijaidashmi, 1558 V.S. or 1501 A.D.

Hemu's sister was married in to a clan of Rajpurohits, to Gun Chandra Bhargava. Gun Chandra had lived at Qutabpur, Rewari, in present day Haryana [20] and his children were: Ram Chandra (known as 'General Rammaiya' in Panipat war), Shyam Chandra, Krishna Chandra, Mohan Chandra, Hanu Chandra and Ravi Chandra - most of whom died in the Second Battle of Panipat in the year 1556 .

Gun Chandra was a descendant of Sri Chandra (grandson of Indra Chandra), who was Rajpurohit (Chief Priest) for Tomara King Kumarpala in 970 A.D. [21], His descendants continued to be the Rajpurhohits of the state of Indraprastha (Delhi) - Budh Chandra, Mahi Chandra, Arvind Chandra, Dheen Chandra all were Rajpurohits till the times of Prithviraj Chauhan, and the year 1192 A.D..

*Rise to fame*
At a very young age, Hemu, who was based at Rewari, an important trading centre in medieval times for traders from Iran and Iraq on way to Delhi, started supplying cereals to Sher Shah Suri's army. Slowly he started other supplies like saltpetre (for gunpowder) to Sher Shah's army.[15] Sher Shah had defeated Humayun in the year 1540 and had forced him to withdraw to Kabul. Hemu also laid the foundation of brass cannons casting and manufacturing industry in Rewari, which remains an important industrial brass, copper sheets and utensils manufacturing centre even today.[22] . Hemu obtained the technical-knowhow for Canon making and supplies of Saltpetre from the Portuguese, who were well entranched in Goa by 1510 and were also helping the Hindu Vijaynagar Empire against the Muslim invaders in South India, by supplying Guns, Gun powder and Arabian horses.

After Sher Shah Suri's death in 1545, his son Islam Shah became ruler of North India. Islam Shah recognised the calibre, and administrative skills of Hemu and therefore made him his personal adviser.[18] He consulted Hemu in matters relating not only to trade and commerce, but also pertaining to statesmanship, diplomacy and general politics.[23] Islam Shah initially appointed Hemu as Shahang-i-Bazar, a Persian word meaning 'Market superintendent' who managed the mercantile system throughout the empire.[24] This post gave Hemu an opportunity to interact with the king frequently in order to apprise him of the trade and commercial situation of the kingdom.[25] Abul Fazal says that Islam Shah held Hemu in great esteem[26]. In 1550, Hemu accompanied Islam Shah to the Punjab where he was deputed along with other high officers to receive Mirza Kamran in the fort of Rohtas. Islam Shah consulted Hemu on a variety of matters.[27] After serving as Sahang-i-Bazar,for some time, Hemu rose to become Chief of Intelligence or Daroga-i-Chowki (Superintendent of Post).[28] Islam Shah's health deteriorated in 1552 and he shifted his base from Delhi to Gwalior, which was considered a safe capital. To safeguard Punjab Hemu was sent there as incharge of administration or Governor. Hemu held this position till October 30, 1553, when Islam Shah died.

Islam Shah was succeeded by his 12 year old son Firoz Khan who was killed within 3 days by Adil Shah Suri. The new king Adil was an indolent, pleasure-seeker, drunkard and debauch[5] as well as faced revolts all around.[29] Adil Shah took Hemu as his Chief Advisor and entrusted all his work to him.[18] Hemu now became the prime minister and chief of the Afghan army. After some time, Adil Shah became insane and Hemu became the virtual king.

Many Afghan governors rebelled against the weak King Adil Shah and refused to pay the taxes; Hemu went to various states in North India to crush rebellions. Ibrahim Khan, Sultan Muhhamad Khan, Taj Karrani, Rukh Khan Nurani and several other Afghan rebel officers were defeated and killed one by one by Hemu.[15] At the battle of Chhapparghatta in December 1555, Hemu routed the Bengal forces under Muhammad Shah, who was killed in the battle.

At the time Afghans considered themselves to be natives (and were considered to be natives by the Hindus); on the other hand Akbar, writes Vincent Arthur Smith[31], was considered to be a foreigner. Writer K.K.Bhardwaj in his book *"Hemu-Napoleon of medieval India" *claimed that Hemu was a native ruler leading a native Afghan army to victory, battle after battle. [8] Thus, Hemu became popular among Hindus as well as Afghans. Another writer *K.R.Qanungo writes that, it indicates that the rule which Hemu established, commanding Afghan army was secular and nationalistic.

Victories against Mughals
After the victory of the Mughal ruler Humayun over Adil Shah's brother Sikander Suri, Mughals regained Punjab, Delhi and Agra after a gap of 15 years on July 23, 1555. Hemu was in Bengal when Humayun died on January 26, 1556. Humayun's death gave Hemu an ideal opportunity to defeat the Mughals. He started a winning march from Bengal through present day Bihar, Eastern UP and Madhya Pradesh. The Mughal fauzdars evacuated their positions and fled in panic. In Agra, an important Mughal stronghold, the commander of Mughal forces Iskander Khan Uzbeg ran away from Agra hearing about Hemu's invasion without a fight. Etawah, Kalpi, Bayana, in the present day central and western UP, all came under Hemu's dominion.

In the words of K.K.Bhardwaj in Hemu the Napoleon of Medieval India, if Vincent A Smith describes Samudragupta as Indian Napoleon[32] we can certainly call Hemu "the Napoleon of Medieval India" as the victor of 22 battles before dying fighting at Panipat due to sheer bad luck. His triumphant march from Bihar to Dilli (Delhi) can be equated to the Italian campaign of Napoleon: "He came, he saw, he conquered".[33] Hemu never saw the defeat in a battle and romped from victory to victory throughout his life (he died in the only battle he lost). If Napoleon promised his soldiers a glorious future they fought bravely in his Italian campaign and instilled in them a new vigour and enthusiasm by an excellent address[34] leading to glorious victories, Hemu practiced[12] it by his lavish distribution of the spoils of war among his soldiers.

After winning Agra, Hemu moved towards final assault on Delhi. Tardi Beg Khan who was Governor of Delhi, representing Akbar, sent a despatch to Akbar and Bairam Khan that Hemu had captured Agra and was intending to attack the capital Delhi which could not be defended without adequate reinforcements.[8] Bairam Khan who visualised the gravity of the situation, sent his ablest lieutenant Pir Muhammad Sharwani with other brave commanders to Tardi Beg to hearten him advising to do his utmost for the time being. Tardi Beg Khan summoned all the Mughal commanders of the neighbourhood to the rescue of Delhi and a war council was held. It was decided to fight Hemu and plans were made accordingly.

Sir Jadunath Sarkar writes in detail about the "Battle for Delhi" at Tughlaqabad:

"The Mughal army was thus drawn up. Abdullah Uzbeg commanded the Van, Haider Muhammad the right wing, Iskander Beg the left and Tardi Beg himself the centre. The choice Turki Cavalry in the Van and left wing attacked and drove back the enemy forces before them and followed far in pursuit. In this assault the Victors captured 400 elephants and slew 3000 men of the Afghan army. Imagining victory already gained, many of Tardi Beg followers dispersed to plunder the enemy camp and he was left in the field thinly guarded. All this time Hemu had been holding 300 choice elephants and a force of select horsemen as a reserve in the centre. He promptly seized the opportunity and made a sudden charge upon Tardi Beg with this reserve."

The result was confusion and defeat for the Mughals. Hemu was helped by reinforcements from Alwar with a contingent commanded by Hazi Khan and desertions of various Mughal Commanders along with Pir Muhhammad Khan who fled away from the battle field to the utmost chagrin and surprise of Tardi Beg who followed suit.

Hemu won Delhi after a day's battle on October 6, 1556. Some 3000 soldiers died in this battle. However, Mughal forces lead by Tardi Beg Khan vacated Delhi after a day's fight and Hemu entered Delhi victorious under a royal canopy.

Hemu's Rajyabhishek (Coronation)
Sir Wolsey Haig[14] writes, "Hemu was so elated by the capture of Delhi as to believe that he had already reached the goal of his ambition."

Vincent A. Smith who puts Hemu as the third claimant to the sovereignty of Hindustan at the time, the other two being the Suris and Akbar, affirms that Hemu after his occupation[35] of Delhi came to the conclusion that he had a better claim to the throne for himself rather than on behalf of Adil Shah and ventured to assume the royal state under the style of Raja Vikramaditya or Vikramaditya, a title borne by several renowned Hindu Kings in ancient times. Hemu assumed the royal robes and declared himself the Emperor of India under the title of Vikramaditya.

His Afghan officers were reconciled to the ascendancy of an infidel by a liberal distribution of plunder,[8][29] and probably also by the fact that Hemu had proved to be a successful general.

Hemu had his formal Rajyabhishek or coronation following all Hindu religious ceremonies in Delhi and became the ruler under the title 'Raja Vikramaditya'. Hemu was crowned at Purana Qila, on 7 October 1556, in the presence of all Afghan Sardars and Hindu Senapatis (military commanders). The picture above shows a painting of the occasion of Hemu's coronation, where he is flanked by his Afghan and Hindu military commanders. K.K.Bhardwaj writes,[8] thousands of guests would have been invited, along with various Rajput chiefs and Afghan governors along with various scholars and Pandits and the festivities continued for three or four days. "Essential parts of a Hindu King's coronation are" writes, Sir Jadunath Sarkar,[36] "washing him (abbhishake) and holding the royal umbrella over his head (Chhatra-Dharam)" and Hemu must have followed these ancient traditions, accompanied by costly gifts and robes to priests. He made various[37] appointments on the occasion, appointing his brother Jujharu Rai as governor of Ajmer and his nephew Rammayya as a general in his army. He also appointed his various supporters as Chhaudhuris and Muqqudams based on their merit so that they continued to maintain their respective positions in the reign of Akbar.

Thus Hemu was the last Hindu Emperor (albeit for a short duration) in North India, after over three centuries of rule by various Islamic invaders and rulers.

Administration under Hemu

Hemu revitalised the administrative set-up which had lagged after the demise of Sher Shah Suri. With his thorough knowledge of trade and commerce, which he achieved as Shangha-i-Bazar, injected fresh blood into the arteries of the mercantile system throughout the length and breadth of the country. He spared none indulging in black-marketing, hoarding, overcharging and less-weighing.[29] After his victory over Agra and Delhi, he dismissed all the corrupt officers and replaced them.[38] He also introduced coins bearing his pictures.

Second Battle of Panipat
Main article: Battle of Panipat (1556)
On hearing about Hemu's continuous victories and fall of large terrories like Agra and Delhi from Akbar's control, the Mughal army at Kalanaur lost heart and many commanders refused to fight Hemu.[5] Most of the commanders advised Akbar to retreat to Kabul as he would be safer there. However, Bairam Khan, the guardian of Akbar and chief strategist for army matters, insisted on fighting Hemu in an effort to gain control of Delhi.

On November 5, 1556, the Mughal army met Hemu's army at the historic battle field of Panipat. Bairam Khan motivated his army by a religious speech and ordered them to move for battle; Akbar and Bairam Khan stayed back eight miles from the battle ground. However, Hemu led his large army himself, sitting atop an elephant. He was poised to achieve victory, when he was wounded in the eye by an arrow, and collapsed unconscious. This led to extreme confusion in the soldiers, as no commander was able to make coordinated decisions. Thus a sure victory was converted by a stroke of chance into defeat.

Unconscious, the almost dead Hemu was captured by Shah Qulin Khan and carried to the camp of Akbar and Bairam Khan to be executed. He was smitten first by Akbar himself, so that Akbar could earn the title of "Ghazi" (holy warrior). He was then beheaded by Bairam Khan.[39]. His head was sent to Kabul, where it was hanged outside Delhi Darwaza, while his body was placed in a gibbet outside Purana Quila in Delhi.

After Hemu's death, a massacre was ordered by Bairam Khan of the followers of Hemu. Thousands of persons were killed to create terror among Hindus and minarets were built of the skulls of the dead. At least one painting of such minaretts is displayed in "Panipat Wars Museum" at Panipat in Haryana. Such minarets were still in existence about 60 years later as described by Petre Mundy, a British traveler who visited India during the time of Jahangir.[40]

For on none of those former occasions was there a ruler of India, possessed of such courage, enterprise and plan (as Hemu) - Abdul Fazal*

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## AgNoStiC MuSliM

What nations does 'South Asia' cover? Because some definitions include Iran and Afghanistan as well.

The Iranian influence (from my limited knowledge of history) was not too great to the East, but the Afghan influence in the form of empires and warriors was considerable.

So if we include Afghanistan in South Asia, we should probably include Ghauri and Ghaznavi as well.

And any information on Sri Lanka?


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## Kambojaric

*General Shahbaz Khan Kamboh *

(1529  11 November 1599) was one of the most capable and trustworthy Generals of Mughal Emperor Akbar . He participated in some of the most difficult expeditions of Akbar and annexed numerous territories to the empire. He was too orthodox a Sunni Muslim for Akbar's taste, but not only was he tolerated but also was greatly valued.


Early life and family Background

Shahbaz Khan's real name was Shahrullah. He is believed to have born in 1529 AD. His sixth ancestor, Haji Ismail Kamboh was a disciple of the renowned saint Bahauddin Zakariya of Multan. His fore-fathers were all celebrated for piety, asceticism and religiosity. He belonged to the Kamboh lineage whose roots are traceable to the well-known ancient Indo-Iranian or better, Iranian tribe -- the Kambojas, whose name looms large in ancient Sanskrit and Pali texts as well as in king Asoka's edict records..

Shahbaz Khan Kamboh had entered Mughal service during Akbar's time. The Emperor was very much impressed by his sagacity and sharpness of intellect at the very first sight and soon elevated him to the rank of Mir Tozak (Quarter-Master General) and later to an Amir (minister). Shahbaz Khan was a very capable officer and a brave soldier, and had rendered meritorious service to the Mughal empire in various capacities . From a mansab of 100, he rapidly rose to that of 1000 horses, then to Char-hazari (4000) and soon to 5000 . As a Governor of Bengal, when operating in Brahmputra, Shahbaz Khan had commanded 9000 strong cavalry.

As a General

In 1572, General Lashkar Khan entered the royal court in a drunken state and challenged anybody to come and fight with him. His rowdy and blatant behavior annoyed His Majesty so much that he was ordered to be arrested, tied to the tail of a horse and dragged and finally thrown into the prison. He was replaced with Shahbaz Khan whom the emperor made his Mir Bakshi (Paymaster-General). The title of 'Shahbaz Khan' was also conferred on him.

As soon as Shahbaz Khan became Mir Bakshi, he introduced the Dagh-o-mahali or branding system which had considerably cut down the over-heads as well as the corruption prevalent in the military departments of the kingdom. The system had been earlier in vogue during Alauddin Khilji as well as Sher Shah Suri but was discontinued during Mughal rule and was replaced with fief system which came to be badly misused by the Amirs and the officers. Under this system, the country was divided into numerous fiefs which were distributed among the Amirs. Unfortunately, they had become greedy, corrupt and oppressive and often also rebellious. Major part of the revenue was misappropriated by the fief-holders for personal use. Shahbaz Khan changed the system and handled the branding system with such a skill and competency that not only it ended the rampant corruption but also improved discipline in the military and reduced needless financial burden on the imperial treasury. But the new system had earned Shahbaz Khan the hatred of the nobles like Mirza Aziz Koka who severely criticized the new system.

In 1581, when Emperor Akbar marched against Mirza Hakim to the Punjab, Shahbaz Khan Kamboh came to Fatehpur and for about ten months, *he took in his hands the reins of state administration in the absence of the Emperor*.

In 1589 AD, General Shabaz Khan led an expedition from Attock against the Eusafzai or Yousafzai Afghans and defeated and dispersed them.

Shahbaz Khan died of illness on 11 November 1599 at Ajmer at the age of over 70 years. He was then on a military expedition against the Rajputs of Rajasthan.

Shahbaz Khan was a very able and efficient officer and his military division was always found in excellent conditions. Historian Abu-L-Fazl Alami, the author of Aiana-i-Akbari, attests that Shahbaz Khan was a very competent and capable General but Abu-L-Fazal also accuses him for his bigoted Sunni views and arrogance. Many a times, he strongly opposed the emperor, but Akbar had a great regard for Shahbaz Khan and took it lightly. But once, the defiant Shabaz Khan had to be imprisoned and was released only after three years.

*The 9000 strong cavalry of General Shahbaz Khan is said to have comprised mostly the Kamboj (Kamboh) horsemen and it included both the Muslim as well as the Hindu Kamboj soldiers*. He used to pay an annual salary of one lakh rupees each to ten of his officers and none (of his servants) had a subsistence-stipend less than five six thousand [26]. The total annual expenses on his division was over 30 lakh Indian Ruppees during those times. "He did not leave the Kambohs clan in the whole of India unemployed; he took all of them in his service" [27]. Abu-al-Fazl writes: "To Kambohs, he gave so much that no Kamboh in India was in bad circumstances" [28].

Shahbaz Khan was known for his generosity and liberality and the money he spent was so great that it made the people think that he had in his possession Philosopher's stone [29]. He left behind a huge Jagir and treasure exceeding ten millions rupees and other wealth [30] which was seized by Jahangir (Salim), son of Emperor Akbar after his death [31][32].

As a religious man

*A leading courtier of Akbar, he was a strict follower of the law of Shariah and profusely recited blessings on the Prophet and distributed large sum of money in charities [34]. Every Friday, he would donate one hundred Asharfis (gold coins) in memory of Gavas Sikalayan (Abdul Kadu-i-Jilani).*

Shahbaz Khan was deeply religious and pious man. He did not put on dress outside the sanction of simna (i.e. which had no sanction of the Prophet's action). He always carried a rosary in his hand, reciting all the while invocations of God's salutations on the chief of the world (prophet Muhammad) and between the evening and sunset prayers, he would sit down facing west (qibla) and offering nimaz. *He did not follow other Khans as long as he was alive in shaving off his beard and drinking wine and did not have (the word) Murid on his signet. He remained steadfast in the religion of Islam* and left his name in the world of generosity and religiosity [35].

*Emperor Akbar tried his best to bring General Shahbaz Khan and another General Qutb-ud-din Muhammad Khan Koka into his new faith known as Din-i-Ilahi but the move was strongly criticized both by General Shabaz Khan Kamboh as well as Qutb-ud-din Khan.[36] This, according to Abu-L-Fazl had created obstacles in his promotion upwards*. On the other hand, many incompetent and junior officers got promoted which they did never deserve.

General Shahbaz Khan Kamboh - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kamboh Pride

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## ambidex

I think it should be by general definition not by the one Included by UN or called as South Asia sometimes.






Many references has been given about warriors those who conquered or ruled Sri Lanka.


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## Joe Shearer

@AgNoStIc MuSliM



AgNoStIc MuSliM said:


> What nations does 'South Asia' cover? Because some definitions include Iran and Afghanistan as well.
> 
> The Iranian influence (from my limited knowledge of history) was not too great to the East, but the Afghan influence in the form of empires and warriors was considerable.
> 
> So if we include Afghanistan in South Asia, we should probably include Ghauri and Ghaznavi as well.
> 
> And any information on Sri Lanka?



I took a little time to respond, in order to get the wording correct, and convey the right things.

At this moment, as the mapped reference a few posts after yours indicated, the typical extent of South Asia is more or less the membership of SAARC. Obviously, this is a political and diplomatic definition, and nobody can - or should - really object to Afghanistan being included. Or Burma, for that matter. 

Iran is a tougher case.

It is wholly mistaken to say that Iranian influence was not too great in the East - permit me a liberty in making this blanket statement and running away, but at a later stage, all going well, I hope to return to this; you might find the exegesis interesting.

If somebody were to include Iran and forward an account of a military personality from there, I doubt strongly that there would be violent protests. [In fact, I have some very interesting profiles in mind, but as the Colonel said, _that's_ another story].

One of the reasons why I would hesitate to include Afghanistan and Iran at the moment is because I do not know if we are really mature enough to handle what might ensue. You pointed out correctly that Ghazna and Ghor would then figure. This is a minefield. Mahmud of Ghazni and Muhammad of Ghor are figures loaded with nuance and meaning in the annals of the sub-continent. I can foresee very easily that a situation might arise very very rapidly where the thread degenerates rapidly into a Hindu-Muslim dogfight. Having said that, the possibility of this happening is no reason to fiddle with history. Afghanistan definitely ought to be considered South Asian. If so, stories from there should find a place. 

Obviously it will be up to the contributors, to a lesser extent, to the readers, to keep objective, and to concentrate on the lessons that arise out of this narration. Our aim, after all, is the cultivation of military history; any digression, and a sidetracking of the aim will be far more dangerous than any other kind of conflict.

In my opinion, profiles should be written by authors selected by a panel of readers. This panel, to be drawn from Pakistan and Indian readers, should select Indians to do Mahmud and Mohammed, Pakistanis to do Rana Pratap, or Ajit Singh Rathore. I suspect we will see a lot of fun and games, and unexpected insights in that case.

Oh, and I have not seen much writing on Sri Lanka. If time permits, I would love to jump into _that_!

Regards,


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## Bhairava

*Thanks for all members to spread awareness about our forgotten heroes.I too will follow the steps and contribute my two cents.
*
----------------------------------------------------------------------------


*Maruthu Pandiyar*






*Overview:*

The Marudhu Pandiyar brothers (Periya Marudhu and Chinna Marudhu) ruled Sivagangai, Tamil Nadu towards the end of the 18th century. *The Marudhu brothers were the first to issue a proclamation of independence from the colonial British rule from Trichy *Thiruvarangam Temple, Tamil Nadu on 10 June 1801, more than 56 years before what is generally said to be the First War of Indian Independence which broke out mainly in Northern India in the year.
1857.

*Childhood and early life:*

The Marudhu brothers were the sons of Udayar Servai and Ponnathal. Marudhu Pandiyar, the Elder was born in 1748 in a small hamlet called Narikkudi near Aruppukkottai in then Ramnad principal state . In 1753 the younger Marudhu Pandiyar was born in Ramnad. Their father "Udayar Servai" served as the General in the Ramnad state military and he shifted his family to Virudhunagar from Narikkudi.


*The Marudhu brothers were trained in native martial arts at Surankottai* which traditionally served as a training centre for the Ramnad state army. They contested in and won many competitions of martial arts and distinguished themselves as brave warrirors. *The Raja of Ramnad Muthu Vijaya Raghunatha Sethupathy issued the title of Pandiyas to honour the Marudhu Pandiyargal.*

*Bravery:*

The Raja of Sivagangai, Muthu Vaduganadhar came to know of their brave and courageous deeds and requested the Ramnad king to assign them to serve the Sivaganga state army. *They were appointed as Generals of the Sivaganga military and the brothers left an indelible impression in the military history of India.*

In the year 1772, the English military of the British East India Company, under the command of Lt.Col. Bon Jour attacked the state at Kalayar Kovil. During the war, Raja Muthu Vaduganadhar lost his life in the battlefield. But the Marudhu brothers managed to escape along with Rani Velu Nachiar, wife of Raja Muthu Vadughanadhar and arrived at Dindigul which was ruled by Hyder Ali &#8211; the Sultan of Mysore as refugees. Hyder Ali supported them in all respects.

*The Nawab of Arcot*, the alliance partner of British East India Company, *was not able to collect any taxes from the people of Sivaganga state for eight long years*. He entered into an agreement whereby the rule of Sivaganga was restored to "Rani Velu Nachiar" after he collected his dues from her. The Marudhu brothers with 12,000 armed men surrounded Sivaganga and plundered the Arcot Nawab's territories. *The Nawab of Arcot on the 10th of March 1789 appealed to the Madras Council for aid.* *On 29 April 1789, the British forces attacked Kollangudi. It was defeated by a large body of Marudhu troops*. It is said that the Marudhu brothers could kill a tiger without using any weapons

*Battles against the British*

They were *in close association with Veera Pandiya Kattabomman of Panchalankurichi.* Kattabomman held frequent consultations with the Marudhus. After the execution of Kattabomman in 17 October 1799 at Kayattar, Chinna Marudhu gave asylum to Kattabomman's brother Oomaidurai (mute brother). But the British took this reason to invade and attacked Sivaganga in 1801 with a powerful army. *The Maruthu Pandiyars and their allies were quite successful and captured three districts from the British.* The British considered it such a serious threat to their future in India that they rushed additional troops from Britain to put down the Maruthu Pandiyars' rebellion. *These forces surrounded the Maruthu Pandiyars' army at Kalayar Koil, and the latter scattered. The Maruthu Brothers and their top commanders escaped. They regrouped and fought the British and their allies at Viruppatchi, Dindigul and Cholapuram.* While they won the battle at Viruppatchi, they lost the other two battles.


*Capture and death:*

The Marudhu Pandiyars and many of their family members were captured at Cholapuram and they were infamously hanged on the English month of October 24, 1801.1873


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## KSRaj

ganimi kawa said:


> It is our duty to learn about these great *men *and pass this heritage to the next generation. I request you to please post stories of such heroes from your part of the country for others to read and take inspiration from!



Well... let me go against your advice and post something about a woman instead! 

About a queen... 

Before telling you the actual story, as written by Neria Harish Hebbar, let me post you a view about this lady by an Italian tourist, Pietro Delavale.



> _&#8220;Alighting from the canoe, I was walking along the bazaar in search of a house where I could spend the night, whereupon I virtually stumbled upon the queen quite inadvertently, so to speak. I saw her coming in my direction from the opposite side. Barring a couple of soldiers, perhaps as escorts, there were no women accompanying her. The soldiers were marching in front of her. They had put on clothes sparingly as was customary here. A piece of cloth round the waist and another over the shoulder running across the body and knotted at the other end. They had sword and armour in their hands. A few were marching behind the queen as well. One of them was holding an umbrella, made of pinnate fronds of palm tree, over the queen.
> 
> She was dark complexioned. She was obese yet agile. Her steps were measured and quick. She must have been around forty. She had worn a dull white sari. She had no sandals on because Indian women of gentile birth usually remain bare footed, be it indoors or outdoors. And men follow suit. Only some wealthy people use footwear. Save for a piece of garment worn round the head and one hanging down her arms and breast, above the waist, the queen did not have any other embellishments on her person.
> 
> *I wondered if this was the woman who was eulogised and made a cult figure all over Europe overnight for having made Portugal bite the dust by decimating its troops with a vengeance. Whatever her appearance, she was all dignity and aplomb in her bearing.* Her words were soft and balmy. It looked as though she had a clear-cut vision and a well-defined purpose. And I feel the way she covered her face at times during interlocution represented the politeness and geniality of the Orientals. It would be wrong if I do not add that though a bit fat, she never looked ugly. She must have been beautiful in her youth. *Her sober and nonchalant elegance has earned her the nick name `tough woman&#8221;.*_


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## KSRaj

The Intrepid Queen
Rani Abbakka Devi of Ullal 

Little is written about the valiant Queen of Ullal in the history books. In her infallible bravery and indefatigability she is in par with legendary Rani Laxmi Bai of Jhansi and Rani Chennamma of Kittur, who fought the British in the 19th century. Like them she fought imperial foreigners gallantly and roused her forces to do the same. People of all faiths responded to her call, with the common goal of preserving motherland and defeating the invaders. Rani Abbakka Devi was the only woman in history to confront and fight the Portuguese, handing them defeat repeatedly, thus foiling their designs for supremacy of the Western Indian coast. When the Portuguese tried to exact the tax (known as kappa), the Queen, incensed and exasperated, refused to pay. Thus began her heroic battles for freedom and honor. Yet, she is rarely mentioned in history, and her accounts of her encounters with the Portuguese are mired in ambiguity.

Nestled in the strip of land between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea is the small coastal town of Ullal. The confluence of River Netravati and River Gurupura pouring its water into the sea on its northern border makes the little settlement a unique port. It is about 8 km from the city of Mangalore, a major settlement even in the sixteenth century, the period of this story. Ullal and the nearby Someshwar (where the Somanatheshwara temple is located) played a major role in the sixteenth century India when the Portuguese were vying for control on the West coast of India.

The Tulu Nadu, as region is referred to, along the western coastline of the State of Karnataka, is a fertile land that gets plenty of rain from the Southwestern monsoons. The Western Ghats are thick with rain forests and the villages and towns along its shoreline are natural harbors and ports. Fishermen and traders sailed from their ports taking their wares across the Arabian Sea to the Arab peninsula, well before recorded history. Trade routes with the Arabs had been established as early as the seventh century and the Maplah (Muslims of Malabar) communities of Kerala and Biary (Muslims of Tulu nadu) communities of Tulu nadu were also thriving in maritime trade of pepper and ginger. 

In the year 1498, Vasco da Gama from Portugal landed his vessel in the town of Kozhikode (Kerala), to the south of Tulu nadu. In the ensuing years, the Portuguese consolidated their power and Goa became their colony. The Portuguese were interested in all the harbors and ports along the western coastline of India so that they could monopolize the spice trade. In their competition for supremacy of the high seas with the British and the Dutch, the Portuguese had an upper hand. They had full control over the Arabian Sea and thus all the vessels attempting to come to the Indian shores had to navigate through the blockade of the Portuguese naval armada. The Portuguese intended to control all trade between Europe and the Western Indian coast. To this extent they were largely successful in the sixteenth century.

However, smaller settlements along the coast like the port of Ullal, ably led by their rulers, did not obey the Portuguese laws and refused to pay the taxes imposed by the imperialists. In this effort they were also joined by the Maplah communities of Malabar and the Zamorin of Kozhikode. The effrontery of the Queen of Ullal, Rani Abbakka Devi infuriated and frustrated the Portuguese government headquartered in Goa.

Rani Abbakka Devis Reign

Rani Abbakka Devi II had been crowned as the Queen of Ullal by her uncle Thirumala Raya. They belonged to the Jain royal dynasty of the Chautas,** ruling their tiny kingdom but the family deity was from the Hindu temple at Somanatheshwara. Chauta rulers were one of the many small feudatory states in Tulu nadu that paid their allegiance to the rulers of Vijayanagara. The Chauta dynasty followed the matrilineal system, and the ruler Thirumala Raya had carefully prepared his niece both in art of diplomacy and the martial arts, in anticipation of her taking the reign of the kingdom. By the time she came to rule, she was well versed in fencing and cavalry combats. She had been taught the strategies and the nuances of warfare.

The peaceful kingdom was caught in the wave of the Portuguese colonization and commercial exploitation through hegemony in the region. The Portuguese ploy was to bargain for trade links as the initial step. Once control of trade is accomplished, conquest of land followed suit.

The Rani was fiercely independent and was a symbol of the patriotic fervor of her subjects. She refused to bargain with the Portuguese and prevented them from having any foothold in the region. Rani Abbakka Devi became a major thorn in the side of the Portuguese imperialistic design. She, in turn rallied her people in stubbornly opposing any Portuguese advances. She deservedly earned the sobriquet Rani Abhaya  the fearless queen.

The Chauta king Thirumala Raya astutely arranged an alliance of marriage between Abbakka Devi and Lakshmappa Banga-raja of the powerful Banga dynasty of Mangalore. This strengthening of the position of Queen Abbakka Devi foiled the calculations of the government at Goa. The export trade from the port of Ullal was revamped and expanded by the queen to such an extent that the Portuguese desire of control of the maritime trade was rattled.

A demand of payment of tribute by the Portuguese was promptly rejected by the Rani. She knew that any such payment would be construed as her succumbing to the Portuguese authority. The first battle at Ullal took place in the year 1556, under the command of Don Alvaro de Silveyra. When there was no clear winner, an uneasy truce was declared. The second battle took place two years later under the command of Louis De Mellow. The Portuguese had attacked with a larger force this time, and were able to ransack the settlement at Ullal. However, stiff resistance by the people with the aid of the Maplahs, the Arab Moors and the Zamorin of Kozhikode was too much for the Portuguese force. The battle plans were personally drawn by the queen, and her masterly diplomatic skills as well as the expertise in the warfare became the subject of folklore for centuries to come.

After a period of lull, the Portuguese were alarmed at the pace of expanded trade at the port of Ullal under the Rani, and resorted to harassing tactics again. First they passed a series of edicts against Ullal calling her alliance with the Zamorin of Kozhikode illegal, and her trade with Persia an unfriendly act. All commercial transactions could only be conducted solely through Portuguese intermediaries, who must be permitted to set up trade posts in the port of Ullal. Rani Abbakka Devi dismissed these rulings with contempt and with scorn.

The stunned Portuguese decided to bide for time. What could not be won on the battlefield, they knew could be won by treachery and larceny. Lakshmappa Arasa, the Banga king of Mangalore, Abbakkas husband, was warned not to send any reinforcement to Ullal under the threat of burning his capital of Mangalore. His nephew, Kamaraya was secretly recruited to plot against his uncle, and usurp the throne at Mangalore. The conspiracy by his own nephew and the threat of a Portuguese invasion left Lakshmappa Banga-raja helpless and unable to aid his wife during the next offensive by the Portuguese. In 1567, when Abbakka Devi stopped paying tribute, there was another encounter with the rani, in which she was defeated and sued for peace. Yet, Abbakka remained a non-conformist and a rebel, which irritated the Portuguese to no end.

Viceroy of Goa, Anthony DNoronha led 3000 strong troops and several battleships against Ullal with designs of overthrowing the queen and annexing the port. The surprise pre-dawn attack, in the year 1581, caught Abbakka Devi off guard. She was returning from a trip to the family temple at Somanatheshwara but wasted no time in donning her battle garments and mounting her horse to fight the aggressors. Her clarion call was to defeat the invaders and push them back to sea. Let us fight them on land and the sea, on the streets and the beaches was her battle cry, as she faced the enemy in fierce counter offensive. Unfortunately, she was wounded in a barrage of gunfire and was whisked away by her loyal soldiers to a secluded place. The Portuguese searched in vain for the wounded Queen. Until the end, she was encouraging her soldiers and asking them never to give up the fight for their motherland.


Links:

1. The Intrepid Queen

2. ABBAKKA RANI : THE UNSUNG WARRIOR QUEEN

3. Abbakka Rani

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## KSRaj

One more article on the same... just posting it as it describes the influence that our queen 'supposedly' had in Persia and Europe!

Abbakka: The Warrior Queen of India 

Excerpts from the above blog:

Warrior Queen Abbakka
Four hundred years ago, the emperor of Spain was fuming with anger and asked his Minister to bring the Commander of the Portuguese forces to his presence immediately.

The Portuguese Commander presented himself before the emperor soon. The emperor chastised the Commander and shouted with anger, "Are you not ashamed of being defeated again and again by a black dwarfish Indian woman by name Abbakka? Who is she? Is she superhuman as to challenge us? The entire Europe today is talking about our defeat; in the Clubs, the Churches, the markets and everywhere people are discussing about our defeat by a woman. Though she is our enemy, I have great admiration for that heroic woman Abbakka. Tell me something more about her".

The Portuguese Commander heaved a sigh of relief and said, "Your Majesty, there is a small State called Ullala, very near Mangalore, where we have our trading centres and that area is under our control. Abbakka belongs to a family known as Chauta; her husband belongs to Banga family and Mangalore is under his control. But husband and wife do not like each other and have fought many battles too. Taking advantage of their quarrel, we helped the husband to wage a war against his wife Abbakka, but she repulsed us and we had to withdraw many times."The Portuguese Minister joined the conversation and said, "There are two queens by the same name Abbakka, the mother and the daughter. Both of them have defeated us but the daughter Abbakka is more dangerous and she is the one who has brought disgrace to us". Are there no kings in that kingdom, asked the emperor. "Your Majesty! They have a different system of succession. If a king dies, his sister's son becomes the King. If the sister has no son, then the daughter gets the kingdom. This is called Aliya Santana in their language. That is how senior Abbakka's kingdom has come down to junior Abbakka about whom we are talking". The emperor walked out in disgust.

Pietro Della Valle was an Italian traveller and when he was in Persia, he had an audience with Persian emperor Shiya Abbas. During the conversation with the emperor, Pietro told him that he would be visiting India shortly. The Persian emperor was supremely happy and told Pietro, "When you go to India, please go to Mangalore without fail. There is a pepper queen by name Abbakka, who is the talk of the town in Europe for her victory over the Portuguese. Do not miss to meet that heroic woman.

The wretched Portuguese are most unethical I have seen. There was a family quarrel between Abbakka and her husband Narasimha, and taking advantage of this, the treacherous Portuguese sided with the husband and made him fight a war against his own wife. Of course, ultimately queen Abbakka taught a lesson both to her husband and to the Portuguese. I admire that great queen". Pietro became curious and he came to India, went to Ullala and met the queen Abbakka many times and had dinner with her and subsequently wrote gloriously about her. The Portuguese had the monopoly of trade in the Western coast and compelled all the kings and merchants to sell pepper, cardamom, cotton, rice and other commodities to them only at very low prices.

Abbakka refused to the Portuguese terms of trade. She sent ships laden with pepper and other commodities directly to Arabia and Persia and earned huge profits. The Persian and Arabian merchants were also happy because the prices quoted by Abbakka were far less as compared to the prices demanded by the Portuguese and hailed Abbakka as a trader practicing fair means. She became famous as pepper queen. The Portuguese obstructed her trade and waged wars against her. Undaunted Abbakka with the help of Keladi King Venkatappa Nayaka and Zamorin of Calicut, fought against the Portuguese, seized four Portuguese ships and made the Portuguese withdraw.

But the Portuguese did not keep quiet. Again and finally in 1618 AD, the Portuguese attacked Abbakka again and she crushed the Portuguese and their allies and this made great news in Europe, Persia and other countries. Abbakka, though a queen of a small kingdom of Ullala, took great interest in the welfare of her subjects helping them in agriculture by building dams. She also took other measures to help the people.

Actually, she always worked with her people taking part personally and earned a good name as a benevolent queen. She was very simple, always dressed in simple attire and Pietro mistook her for the first time for an ordinary common woman. She never used a parasol or a white umbrella as all queens do but carried an umbrella made of palm or areca tree feather - like leaves.

But she was the first person to stand against the foreigners, in this case the Portuguese, and put an end to their political ambition, commercial malpractices, religious conversions and destruction of temples. From this point of view, she may be considered as an early freedom fighter. But alas! The historians have not paid attention to this aspect and have neglected her. But she received rich encomiums from Persians and many Europeans including her enemies and they saluted her silently. That is the greatness of Abbakka.

Prof. A. V. Narasimha Murthy, Former Head,Department of Ancient History & ArchaeologyUniversity of Mysore.
Courtesy: Star of Mysore

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## Joe Shearer

KSRaj said:


> One more article on the same... just posting it as it describes the influence that our queen 'supposedly' had in Persia and Europe!
> 
> Abbakka: The Warrior Queen of India



Great job done! Is there any information about the strategy used by these alliances against the Portuguese, the coalition of Zamorin and Maplah and Beary and Bunts of Tulunadu? About their arms and equipment and tactics in battle? They were up against experts in naval warfare, sailing in ships far in advance of anything available in the Arabia Sea at the time, and with ship-mounted artillery which was wholly superior to local resources. Any information? 

What about dates? Who was regnant in Portugal at the time (between 1567 and 1581)? Was Portugal under Spain? Who was the common ruler of Portugal and Spain? This was within 7 years of the date of the defeat of the Armada by the English, but were the Portuguese ships like the ships of the Spanish Armada or much smaller, better suited for unknown waters and dangerous coastal waters? Also, how could cotton-clad soldiers handle themselves in battle against cuirasse-clad Portuguese men-at-arms and knights?


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## KSRaj

wow... lot of questions! 

Unfortunately, I do not know the answers to them all... though I can try getting them at a later point of time.

From what I have heard, the Portuguese had their huge ships with cannons mounted on them. Not much of an army, but mainly a very strong and tested navy. They would anchor their ships at some distance from the harbour and then bombard the ports as well as the city, forcing the city into submission. The port city of Mangalore is supposed to have been razed down by them using this tactic.

To counter this technologically superior navy, Abbakka Rani used the Snake boats.... a recent import which is most definitely an idea borrowed from the Zamorins. These boats were very small and narrow which made them very manoeuvrable against the heavy ships deployed by the Portuguese. The cannons were pretty much useless against these small, fast boats.

Also, her navy was supposed to have used the 'Agni baana'. I am not very sure what it really was. But even in wars earlier than this, armies in this region had used explosive laden hollow metal balls which were lighted and then 'manually' thrown. So maybe, 'Agni baana' was an arrow with some explosives laden at the tip! 

Using these fast moving boats and flame arrows, few archers mounted on them would follow a shoot-and-scoot approach. A bunch of these boats following a kind of 'guerilla warfare' technique would harass and damage the Portuguese ships. These tactics were rigorously practiced and people specifically trained as boatmen and archers for the task. Also, they had informers patrolling the seas and the same was done even by the neighbouring kingdoms who would forewarn of any incoming enemy ships.

This strategy would make approaching the ports an expensive affair to the Portuguese and prevented them from coming anywhere near to shooting-distance of the ports!


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## KSRaj

Joe Shearer said:


> What about dates? Who was regnant in Portugal at the time (between 1567 and 1581)? Was Portugal under Spain? Who was the common ruler of Portugal and Spain? *This was within 7 years of the date of the defeat of the Armada by the English,* but were the Portuguese ships like the ships of the Spanish Armada or much smaller, better suited for unknown waters and dangerous coastal waters? *Also, how could cotton-clad soldiers handle themselves in battle against cuirasse-clad Portuguese men-at-arms and knights*?



For the first bolded part, please read my explanation in the next post.


For the second bolded part is that I dont think they were as terrifying on land as when compared to sea. Probably, as the numerical superiority of the locals would come into play here. I dont think they had a huge army stationed in Goa. Ofcourse, this is my guess! And I'm not sure why they could occupy Goa but fail to capture coastal Karnataka or Kerala with their navy.


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## KSRaj

Historical Ambiguity

The Portuguese records are the primary source of our information, which certainly could be biased in an attempt to glorify the battles fought by their own commanders.

The dates of the above battles have become a matter of speculation. In the true Indian tradition, history was not written down contemporaneously or if written it has been lost. When history is passed down as oral tradition, much is lost. Even the dates of the battles are uncertain. The rani was said to have ruled for fifty-four years, according to one account, which makes her the ruler of Ullal from 1544 to 1598. This certainly puts the last battle with the Portuguese not in 1581 but much later.

Ganapati Rao Aigal in his account of the local history (Dakshina Kannada Jilleya Prachina Itihasa, published in 1928) was able to reconstruct in some detail the genealogy of Chauta rulers. Thirumala Raya III ruled from 1510 to 1544 and Abbakka Devi II from 1544 to 1582. She was followed by a Thirumala Devi from 1582 to 1606. There was also one queen Abbakka Devi preceding the Rani and one followed her later. The genealogy of the Banga kings of Mangalore shows that Lakshmappa Banga-raja II was ruled from 1545 to 1556. His nephew, Kamaraya III, was in power from 1556 to 1612. 

Similarity in some of the names of the rulers and the fact that they followed a matrilineal system might have contributed to the confusion. It is not clear from the historical accounts whether Rani Abbakka Devi died in 1582 or in 1598. It is possible that two rulers of similar names followed each other and this has led to the historical quandary.

The Intrepid Queen by Neria Harish Hebbar, MD


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## Joe Shearer

KSRaj said:


> wow... lot of questions!
> 
> Unfortunately, I do not know the answers to them all... though I can try getting them at a later point of time.
> 
> From what I have heard, the Portuguese had their *huge ships* with cannons mounted on them. Not much of an army, but mainly a very strong and tested navy. They would anchor their ships at some distance from the harbour and then bombard the ports as well as the city, forcing the city into submission. The port city of Mangalore is supposed to have been razed down by them using this tactic.



My reference is to the fact that the Portuguese in particular had three different kinds - and sizes - of ships: in order of size, the Caravel, the Carrack and the Galleon. The Caravel was about 50 to 100 tons, about the size of an ocean-going dhow, and carried maybe 20 people, and guns if required (only if built to carry a broadside of guns); the Carrack was an intermediate size but could go up to a maximum of 1,000 tons; the Galleon was longer in build than the Carrack, and therefore speedier through the water, and between 500 to 2,000 tons! Carracks were unarmed ships occasionally armed, Galleons were built to carry guns normally. 

Probably these were Carracks sailing out of Goa, unable to come inshore, with a deep draught and not good for inshore work. They may have been rigged fore-and-aft or with a lateen sail; this is important, as it would determine their handling. They carried different types of guns. It is worth looking up culverin, demi-culverin, and saker, and then cannon and carronade (the last two are later than the period that we are talking about, more in the 17th and 18th centuries).



KSRaj said:


> To counter this technologically superior navy, Abbakka Rani used the Snake boats.... a recent import which is most definitely an idea borrowed from the Zamorins. These boats were very small and narrow which made them very manoeuvrable against the heavy ships deployed by the Portuguese. The cannons were pretty much useless against these small, fast boats.



Where are you getting these priceless details from?

That would make perfect sense; the large Portuguese vessels would be fearful to come close inshore, where the slope of the beach would not necessarily be measured or known; if they came close in, they would be fearful of being becalmed, being dependent totally on wind for propulsion, and be completely at the mercy of quick, paddled boats which could attack them on a quarter not covered by their fixed-position artillery. The classic problem of sailing boat facing galley. There is a famous Hornblower story about this which is a must-read.



KSRaj said:


> Also, her navy was supposed to have used the 'Agni baana'. I am not very sure what it really was. But even in wars earlier than this, armies in this region had used explosive laden hollow metal balls which were lighted and then 'manually' thrown. So maybe, 'Agni baana' was an arrow with some explosives laden at the tip!
> 
> Using these fast moving boats and flame arrows, few archers mounted on them would follow a shoot-and-scoot approach. A bunch of these boats following a kind of 'guerilla warfare' technique would harass and damage the Portuguese ships. These tactics were rigorously practiced and people specifically trained as boatmen and archers for the task. Also, they had informers patrolling the seas and the same was done even by the neighbouring kingdoms who would forewarn of any incoming enemy ships.
> 
> This strategy would make approaching the ports an expensive affair to the Portuguese and prevented them from coming anywhere near to shooting-distance of the ports!



While you have described grenades quite accurately - it was from these that troops got the name grenadiers; only bigger, heftier men were selected to be grenadiers, as they needed to be stronger than ordinary to hurl the steel and iron cased grenades long distances - an 'Agni-baan' need be nothing more than a fire-arrow, a deadly weapon against a sailing ship dried in the tropical sun, the gaps between its deck and hull planking plugged (caulked) with pitch, its rigging of highly inflammable manila rope and canvas sails. In the Anglo-Dutch Wars, and Napoleonic Wars, fire ships were used with deadly effect; the earliest use I can think of was contemporary to your account, in the battles between Elizabethan England and the Spain of Habsburg Philip II.

An extraordinary account. Have you more information?

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## KSRaj

Joe Shearer said:


> Have you more information?



A local weekly magazine was bringing out the life story of Abbakka Rani. Must be about 10 years back! It must have been 30-40 episodes long. All in hard copy, I dont think you will find it online.


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## Joe Shearer

@K. S. Raj

It would be so nice to receive other such notices as well. 

I was reading up on the Gardners, who rapidly became Anglo-Indian, although retaining their peerage as Barons of Uttoxeter till today. Their ancestor set up Gardners' Horse. Or Claude Martin, from France, who became the principal military commander at the court of the King (not Nawab, mind you) of Oudh. Or Allard, or Venturi, of the Lahore Court.

This is an Anglo-Indian, or an Indo-European selection. There must be dozens of similar personalities from Persia or Afghanistan, who served the Mughals, for instance, or, in later years, the Nizam of Hyderabad. Surely somebody has the material to write on them? And on the methods of warfare that were practised then?


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