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आसिंधु सिंधु-पर्यन्ता यस्य भारत-भूमिका । पितृभूः पुण्यभूश्चैव स वै हिंदुरिति स्मृतः ।।

Jul 4, 2022, 16 tweets

1.
A three-part thread series on one of the greatest Hindu rulers - Maharana Kumbha.

This is the first part, covering the initial half of Maharana Kumbha's reign.

#Hindutva #Rajput #History

2.
~1421: Maharana Kumbha was born to Maharana Mokal Singh & Sobhagya Devi.

1433: Kumbhakarna became Maharana at age of 13, after Mahipal Panwar assassinated young Maharana Mokal. Mahipal fled Mewar & took refuge with Malwa’s Sultan Mahmud Khalji aka Alauddin Mahmud Shah-I.

3.
Rao Ranmal Rathore was the regent of Mewar during the initial phase of Kumbha’s rule. He destroyed the internal rebels.

1439: Maharana Kumbha told Sultan Mahmud Khalji to deport Mahipal Panwar to Mewar for exacting the revenge of the murd3r of Maharana’s father.

4.
The Malwa Sultan refused to do so, & challenged the Maharana for a battle. Maharana set off with 1 lakh army & 1400 elephants to fight Mahmud.

⚔️Battle of Sarangpur took place, in which Maharana defeated the Sultan after a brutal battle. The Sultan fled to Mandu fort.

5.
The Mewar army pursued him to Mandu & besieged the fort. The desperate Mahmud sortied out of the fort to give battle to Kumbha, only to face defeat! Mahmud was held captive for 6 months, & only left free after exacting a monetary tribute.

6.
1442: The Malwa Sultan invaded Mewar. His disgraceful defeat at the Battle of Sarangpur in 1439 was still fresh in his mind.

He marched onto Kumbhalgarh. There was a temple of Bana Mata at Kelwara at foothills of Kumbhalgarh fort. Alauddin targeted this walled temple.

7.
Deep Singh & other Rajputs attained Veergati defending the temple.

Mahmud broke murtis in Bana Mata temple & used the pieces as weights for butchers to weigh meat. The large idol of Bana Mata was pulverized by him, and made Hindus eat the powder with paan as chuna.

8.
On learning the news about Malwa’s invasion, Kumbha marched to return to Kumbhalgarh. On the way, he met the Malwa Sultan at Mandalgarh.

⚔️In the fierce Battle of Mandalgarh, Maharana Kumbha emerged triumphant over Malwa Sultan for the second time!

9.
1446, 11-12 Oct: Mahmud Shah invaded Mewar again, via Mandalgarh.

⚔️At the crossing of River Banas, the Rajputs fell upon his army & defeated Mahmud for the third time. After the 3 consecutive defeats vs Maharana Kumbha, Mahmud did not dare attack Mewar for the next 8 years.

10.
1455: Mahmud attacked Mewar again, but the campaign was cut short due to rainy season.

On the north side, the Nagaur Sultanate underwent a succession dispute after death of Firoz Khan. Shams Khan appealed to Maharana Kumbha for help after being deposed by younger brother.

11.
Maharana Kumbha installed Shams Khan as his vassal ruler at Nagaur on the condition that he weaken the fort defences of Nagaur.

However, true to the typical dishonesty (takaiyya), he strengthened the defences. Enraged, Maharana Kumbha marched onto Nagaur with large army.

12.
Shams Khan fled Nagaur for Ahmedabad (capital of Gujarat Muzaffarid Sultanate). His officers at Nagaur surrendered without a fight to Maharana Kumbha.

The condition of Nagaur after Maharana’s conquest has been described in a Prashasti:- 👇

13.
"Kumbhakarna surprised Gujarat Sultan by capturing Nagaur, bu rning the tall mas jids, dem0lishing fort, filling moats, taking elephants, punishing countless Yavans, rescuing cows from the Yavans, bu rning the town & taking the treasury"

Reminds of Hanuman's Lanka Dahan!🔥

14.
Shams Khan got the Muzaffarid Sultan Ahmad Shah II to dispatch an army for relieving Nagaur, but Maharana defeated this Muzaffarid army as well.

This was his first encounter with the Muzaffarids. The next encounters will be covered in the upcoming thread of thread-series.

15.
The thread-series on Maharana Kumbha 👇

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