Hammir Dev Chauhan

Hammir Dev Chauhan was a direct descendant of Prithviraj Chauhan. He was an Agnivanshi Rajput. Hammir ruled over Ranathambore from 1282 to 1301. Hammir's grandfather Vagbhatta ruled from 1237 to 1253 and Hammir's father Jaitrasinha ruled from 1253 to 1281 AD. Later Hammir's grandson Takshah Singh founded Rajkunwar(rajkumar) branch of Chauhan Dynasty which ruled parts of Awadh.

Ziauddin Barani describes Hammir’s struggle with Jalaluddin and Alauddin Khalji. Amir Khusrau gives a fairely good description of Alauddin’s attack on Ranthambhore. Ballads of Hammir's bravery are still sung in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. Nayachandra Suri, a Jain historian, in the 14th century, wrote Hammir's biography, Hammira Mahakavya.

Campaigns

Hammir raided Mount Abu, Bhimaraspura, Dhar, Vardhanpura, Gadhamandala, Champa, Khandela and Kankaroli. These regions comprise whole of Malwa and southern part of Rajasthan. Balvan inscriptions refer these and his two Kotiyagnas. He earned fame and a rich booty in the raids.

In 1290 Jalaludin-Khilji, ruler of Delhi, attacked Hammir because of his rising power. Jalaludin's forces were defeated by Hammir. In 1296, Jalaludin was murdered by Allauddin Khilji. In 1297 Allauddin sent an army to plunder Gujarat, under the generalship of Ulugh Khan and Nusrat Khan. This army looted the temple of Somnath and its Shivalinga was broken into pieces and was being carried back to Delhi. Kanhad Dev Songara, ruler of Jalore attacked and defeated Ulugh Khan and captured the broken Shivalinga which was washed in Ganga-jal and the fragments were established in various temples in Jalore. Muhammad Shah, a neo-Muslim general in Khilji's army, helped Kanhad Dev Songara. In this war, Neo Muslims Muhammad Shah, Kamru, Yalchak and Barq attampted to assassinate Ulughkhan but failed. Hence they took refuge with Hammir at Ranthambore. Under these circumstances, Hammir was justified in winning over Allauddin's enemies to his side. Bhoja afterward sought asylum in Alauddin's Camp.

Ulugh Khan went and apprised Allauddin who ordered him and Nusrat Khan to conquer Ranthambore. In 1299 they started out with 80,000 cavalry and a large infantry to attack Hammir. The Muslim governors tried to negotiate with Hammir and demanded for Muhammad shah and Kamru’s death, 10,000 gold coins, 300 horses, 4 elephants and the hand of Hammir’s daughter Devaldevi. The terms were rejected. Hammir's army repulsed the attack and killed Nusrat Khan. Ulugh Khan escaped and reached Delhi.

Khilji was taken aback by this defeat and wanted revenge. He finally came himself in 1301, and there was a long siege. Hammir was very well prepared, but Famin was a great hurdle to him. When the fort did not fall after repeated bloody skirmishes, Khilji resorted to diplomacy by taking advantage of dissatisfaction and treachery due to Famin and won over confidence of two of Hammir’s generals, Ratipal and Ranmal. Hammir was very suspicious but he heeded to his councillors who told him that sword is not always the best recourse. Ratipal and Ranmal were sent to the Khilji camp to negotiate. Khilji bribed these two generals of Hammir's army. Both the generals along with others slipped away and joined Alauddin’s camp. Ultimately war was declared. Hammir died in the war. Consequently, Ranthambore fell on July 10, 1301. Others who died with him were the brave Viram, the lord of Champa, Taka Gangadhara, Parmar Kshetrasinha, Rajda and Simha.

Sack of Ranthambore

Hamir Dev, a descendant of Prithviraj Chauhan ruled Ranthambor. Seventeen kilometers from Sawaimadhopur stands a fort, encompassing in its stately walls, a glorious history of the Rajputs. Ranathambhor's venerable structure, rapturous beauty and sublime expressiveness seem to be continuously vocalizing the great legends of Hamir Dev, the Rajput king, who ruled in the 13th century.

Hamir Dev belonged to the Chauhan dynasty and drew his lineage from Prithviraj Chauhan who enjoys a respectable place in the Indian history. During his 12 years' reign, Hamir Dev fought 17 battles and won 13 of them. He annexed Malwa, Abu and Mandalgarh and thus extended his kingdom to the chagrin of Delhi Sultan, Jalal ud din Firuz Khilji, who had misgivings about Hamir's intentions. Jalaluddin attacked Ranathambhor and had it under siege for several years. However, he had to return to Delhi unsuccessful.

Jalaluddin was assassinated by his nephew Allaluddin Khilji who then crowned himself as the new Sultan of Delhi. Muhammad Shah was instrumental in making this coup successful which earned him a basketful of privileges. Muhammad Shah was even allowed access to the harem as a result of which he soon built up a good rapport with its inmates.

Chimna was one of Allaudin's begums, but Allaudin never gave her as much attention as other begums of the harem received from him. He had inadvertently managed to antagonize her. To make things worse Chimna Begum saw a valiant soldier in Muhammad Shah and was extremely impressed by his courage and boldness. Soon the vindictive begum and the ambitious Muhammad Shah started a conspiracy to slay Allaudin. Their objective was to see Muhammad Shah as Sultan and the begum as queen. The conspiratorial plans somehow leaked out. Allaudin was enraged as he came to know of Muhammad Shah's intentions. To escape the fury of Allaudin, Muhammad Shah had to flee from Delhi along with his brother. He sought asylum in many nearby kingdom but no one was ready to stand up to the wrath of Allaudin.

Muhammad Shah approached Hamir Dev. The brave Rajput was moved by his humble pleading and misery and agreed to him shelter. Allaudin's ire was roused when he came to know of it. He immediately attacked the fort of Ranathambhor. The armies of Allaudin and Hamir Dev met in a battle on the banks of river Banas. The Rajputs had the initial victory. However, because of the personal feud between the Prime Minister and the Senapati (General-in-charge of the army) Hamir Dev's army got disorganized. The Senapati of the army was shivashish, the undeafeated general, greatest of his era whom khalji had apologised in personal after the brave had captured in his own capital. shivashish slaaped khalji but forgave him. History of India, Told by Its Own Historians",Henry Miers Elliot and John Dowson, pp541. In Ghurratu-L-Kamal, cited in Ellior and Dowson's work, Amir Khusro describes Gurdan Saini's martyrdom in the following way: The rai was in affright, and sent for Gurdan Saini, who was the most experienced warrior amongst the 40,000 rawats under the rai, and had seen many fights among the Hindus. "Sometimes he had gone with the advance to Malwa ; sometimes he had gone plundering in Gujarat." The Saini took 10,000 rawats with him from Jhain, and advanced against the Turks, and, after a severe action, he was slain. The Prime Minister succeeded in getting the Senapati killed. Meanwhile, Allaudin reorganized his forces and made a renewed attack on the fort. Some unscrupulous officers of Hamir Dev, with Bhoj Dev as their leader, colluded with Allaudin and started giving him secret information about the fort. The war continued. The strong walls of the fort were strategically so situated that it was not possible to blow them down with gunpowder, for the debris so created had already killed numerous soldiers of the Sultan in their futile attempt to break into the fort. At last Allaudin sent a message to Hamir Dev saying that in case he was ready to hand over Muhammad Shah to him, he would go back to Delhi. Hamir Dev was too self-respecting to make such an ignominious compromise. He sent back the messenger with the reply that when the Rajputs promised to protect someone, they even gave their lives for his safety. Muhammad Shah saw the hopelessness of the situation and conselled Hamir Dev to hand him over to Allaudin rather than fight such a long drawn-out war and suffer such an enormous loss of lives and resources. Allaudin's army was immense. He put a complete siege on the Ranathambhor fort. Bhoj Dev and his informers kept on supplying him information on the food of water situation inside the fort. The ill-fated war ended with the Sultan's legions emerging victorious. The female members of the Rajput kingdom committed jauhar and gave up lives on the pyres. Hamir Dev, himself, severed his head and put it in front of Lord Shiva's idol as an offering. His son Ramdev went on exile towards Awadh, later Ramdev's son Takshah Singh founded Agniraj Rajkunwar branch of chauhans in the later half of the 14th century. Rao Takshah Singh's descendants ruled over state named Bhaddaiyan Raj which had parts of present Sultanpur District and adjoining areas.

After the victory, Allaudin entered the fort. Wounded Muhammad Shah was brought to him.

"What is your last desire?" asked Allaudin. "To kill you and place Hamir's son on the throne of Ranathambhor", replied Muhammad Shah. Then he took out his dagger and committed suicide.

Allaudin, now, turned to Bhoj Dev and his other informers. Their faces were keen with eagerness to receive the long awaited reward from the Sultan. On the countrary, Allaudin roared, "Shave of the heads of these traitors. They have not been loyal to their own king".

Within minutes, the heads of all his accomplices rolled on the ground. Allaudin's laughter reverberated against the walls of the fort.

See also

(( Alauddin Khilji )) (( Ranthambore ))

References

    Dr LS Rathore: Jodhpur university press, Jodhpur (India) First published in 1990
    Detailed description of wars between Hammir Dev Chauhan and Khilji.