Rao Maldeo Rathore

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Maldeo Rathore was a Rajput chieftain who ruled the state of Marwar in India from 1532 to 1562 AD. He was a scion of the Rathore clan. His father was Rao Ganga and his mother was Rani Padmavati of Sirohi.

[edit] Career

The period of Maldeo's reign was marked by the paucity of a dominant power in northern India. In 1540, Humayun fled into exile after being displaced by Sher Shah Suri as ruler of the Delhi sultanate. The Sisodia rulers of Mewar were yet to recover from the defeat suffered by them at Khanwa in 1527. Maldeo used the opportunity to extend his territory to within a couple of hundred kilometers of Delhi. Conflict between Maldeo and Suri became inevitable.

[edit] Battle of Sammel

With 40,000 men, Maldeo advanced to face Sher Shah's army of 60,000 men. Sher Shah resorted to a cunning ploy. One evening, he sent forged letters to Maldeo's camp in such a way that they were sure to be intercepted. These letters indicated, falsely, that some of Maldeo's army commanders were buying arms from Sher Shah. This caused great consternation to Maldeo, who immediately (and wrongly) suspected his commanders of disloyalty. Maldeo left the field with his own 20,000 men, abandoning his commanders to their fate.

When Maldeo's innocent generals Kumpa and Jaita found out what had happened, they did not lose their cool. They decided that they would not leave the field even though they had just 20,000 men against an enemy force of 60,000 men. In the ensuing battle of Sammel, Sher Shah emerged victorious, but several of his generals lost their lives and his army suffered heavy losses. Sher Shah is said to have commented that "for a few grains of bajra (a coarse grain which is the main crop of barren Marwar) I almost lost the entire kingdom of India."