Hi all,
Just now posted the 3rd article in the series of posts which i am making for Chittor War. Took lot of time, to get info from different sources and understand it and then post it.!
As we know, this war was not only restricted to the Fort of Chittor, but was a well planned move on the different regions of Mewar as well.
This talks about the war at Kumbhalgarh. Akbar had sent Husain Quli Khan at Kumbhalgarh, but the fort could not be taken. Same for Udaipur also, where Akbar had sent his general to get Rana Udai Singh when he came to know that the Rana has left Chittor Fort.
At Mandalgarh, the battle was fought by one of the best generals of Akbar - Asaf Khan ; and Wazir Khan. This fort was captured by them after Rau Ballu Solanki fell in this war, when the Rajput forces were exhausted. Mewar forces never had numerical advantage as they were generally outnumbered.
Udaipur and Kumbhalgarh remained in Mewar's control only. Mandalgarh and Bijolia were lost to the Mughals. Rampur was also attacked and prisoners/spoils were taken from there.
Though, this may look bad to many of us now, as we are thinking from the perspective of 21st Century, but in those days of warfare, this was a normal practice.! The population of the captured area was normally rallied. This was done after capturing Kashmir too.! Scholars also point that the same strategy was also employed in Chittor area after capturing it, but Akbar was not successful in doing so.
Prisoners were taken captive and spoils of war taken from these areas are mentioned in the records. Also lays emphasis on the strategy followed by Mughal forces and mentions how Akbar encircled the fort from all sides. How more and more troops kept joining him from time to time. How his officers placed canons at different locations for sudden attacks on the fort in order to surprise to his enemy. He waited for a long time, before launching this attack.
The strategy on both sides was that of wait and watch..Overall a good read. The language is cumbersome, though i tried to narrate the events at each point.!
More details given the post itself. Here is the link of Part-3:
Battles before the Battle of Chittor | At Udaipur, Kumbhalgarh, Rampur, Mandalgarh etc. | Part-3 Chittor War
367