First Maharana of Rajputs

After the Rajput defeat in the fort of Chittod, the Chauhan branch and Rawal branch were killed while performing saka but, one branch persisted, the Rana Branch.

Rana Lakshma Simha had nine sons before the battle of Chittod, seven of them died in the battle. Of his two remaining sons, Rana Ajay Simha was smuggled out of the fort of Chittod to preserve the last remaining royal bloodline of Rajputs by carriage and sent towards the old fort of Bhangarh.

After recuperating for a while, Rana Ajay Simha took control of the Rana branch's last remaining village. The village was named Shishoda village. All Rajputs knew that this village was their last hope along with their king. But, Rana Ajay Simha was childless.

At the time he had heard about the heroic deeds of his nephew, Rana Hummir Simha who had just defeated the raiding parties of Munja Balecha in Godvar. Seeing his excellent aptitude as well as vast might, Rana Ajay Simha appointed him as his successor.

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While the Rajputs were stabilizing and collecting their remaining forces, The Khilji dynasty appointed Sonagara Maldev as their administrator of Mevad. Rana Hummir Simha took the opportunity and started raiding nearby villages. The same tactic that Arab invaders used against Indian kings to decrease their strength. Rana Hummir Simha raided the region of Mevad to the point where, to please the Rajputs, Sonagara Maldev proposed the marriage of his daughter and Rana Hummir Simha.

Rana Hummir Simha accepted his proposal but Alauddin Khilji was not pleased with this news. He removed Sonagara Maldev from his post, appointing his son Jaiza as the puppet administrator while personally controlling the fort.

The Rajput warriors kept their cool and waited for the right opportunity to take the royal fort of Chittod back from the Arab invaders.

Their chance arrived in 1316 when Alauddin Khilji passed away and the war of succession started in Delhi. Rajputs quickly started to increase their activities in Mevad region. They regained partial control of Kumbhalner and sent their forces northwards.

By 1325, they managed to take back the fort of Chittlod from the Arab control. Rana Hummir Simha took the throne and declared himself as MahaRana (Similar title to Maharaja…) and became the first Maharana of Rajputs. He also banished the Arab administrator of Mevad (Jaiza).

Jaisa hurriedly fled from the Rajput kingdom and travelled to Delhi where he urged the invader-king of Delhi (they called him Delhi Sultan and whatnot…) to attack Mevad.

Muhammad bin Tughluq, the king of invaders at the time decided to attack the kingdom of Mevad and personally marched personally towards the fort of Mevad.

Unafraid, Maharana Hummir Simha led his Rajput army and confronted the Tughluq forces near the village of Shingoli (present-day Madhya Pradesh).

Just by the numbers, it was impossible for the Rajput forces to win against the Mughal forces. So, Maharana Hummir Simha decided to use the same raiding tactics against the Arab forces who were camping near Shingoli Village. The camping site was ideal because it had a vast grassland around it so that the attacking enemy could be spotted from a mile away.

But, such a flat grassland was also ideal for Rajput raiding cavalry to march at top speed and confront the enemies. Maharana Hummir took advantage of the situation and attacked the Arab forces in the middle of the night. Be it carelessness or their faith that told him Hindus never attacked at night, Arabs were sleeping soundly.

Little did they know that the Hindus that they thought abided by their war rules had already started changing their tactics. The Arab camp got ambushed by the Rajput forces of Maharana Hummir Simha. Unprepared, the Rajput cavalry tore through the Arab camp before they could collect themselves.

They killed all the Arab invaders and captured their king Muhammad bin Tughluq. This was one of the biggest victories that Rajput warriors got after the defeat at Chittod.

Maharana Hummir Simha brought the Arab Invader-King back to the fort of Chittod where he imprisoned him for 6 months. Finally, after six months of negotiations Arabs ceded, giving Maharana Hummir Simha the territory of Ajmer, Ranthambore, Nagaur and Sooespur. They also gave him 5,00,000 gold coins and 100 elephants as ransom in exchange for their king Muhammad bin Tughluq.

This major victory allowed the kingdom of Mevad to be independent of the rest of India which was under the invader's control.

This freed the Rajput territories in the Mevad region which later wholeheartedly supported the Rana family of Rajputs in defending against the Mughal invaders.

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Bonus Story of Maharani Naiki Devi as Promised.... The story is written by Amartya Dey... A massive shout-out to her for sharing her work.

At the time, Muhammad Ghori had just conquered Multan (Punjab, now in Pakistan). he wanted to move further into India through Gujarat. He had heard a lot about the beautiful Queen Naikidevi who ruled Gujarat on behalf of her newborn child Bhimdev Solanki and the wealth of the kingdom.

He could not resist and march towards Gujarat's capital of Anhilwara with his massive army.

The Queen knew what was coming. She assembled whatever forces she had and marched ahead to intercept the army of Ghori as far away from the capital as possible. If they lose, at least the civilians would have time to either escape or die than be plundered by invaders.

The two armies met each other at Kayadara, forty miles from the capital city.

After the two armies confronted one another, Ghori sends his messenger saying, "Hand over the Queen and her child to me. Give me all your women and gold. And I will spare you."

The Queen is not disturbed by this. She smiles. Ties the baby king on her lap and gets on a horse. Asks the messenger to go back to Ghori and tell him that his demands are accepted. She would first like to pray to Dwarkadheesh (Lord Krishna).

Naikidevi closes her eyes and silently prays for some time. Then shouts, "Jai Dwarkadheesh".

Meanwhile, the messenger reaches Ghori and shares the good news. Ghori is aroused at the prospects of such an easy victory. He starts dreaming fetishes of his dirty experiments with a Hindu Queen and a cute baby a few moments from now. He gazes in direction of the Solanki camp. Sees someone approaching his camp on a horse. As the dust settles and the rider slowly comes closer, he can see – it is a beautiful woman having a baby tied on her lap. His heartbeats increase with every step of the horse. He can feel sensations across his body pushing his mind towards blankness. Pants heavily and struggles to speak.

The queen stops in front of him. He is confused. Suddenly there is a noise that keeps increasing. Before he understands what is happening, he sees horses and elephants racing towards his camp from behind the queen. And then they spread around the desert terrain.

Before he could switch gears from lust to fight, the camp is surrounded by three sides. How can Hindus be so fast! What is this? Prophet told that one Muslim is more than ten kafir Hindus. I thought I deserve a woman more beautiful than the virgins in Paradise. He has no time to understand. Gets on a horse beside and runs towards the back of the camp.

The brave Rajputs of Gujarat butcher one pig after another. They explain why theirs is a land of lions. Ghori can think of only one thing – Run for life!

The queen has a sword each in both hands and cuts several heads and hands as she races towards Ghori. Ghori catches a glimpse of her. She is now the goddess of death. He races fast. The queen throws one sword and pulls the reins of the horse to speed further. As she closes the distance with her stalker, she cuts through many more pigs.

Finally, she is close enough. Strikes the sword with full might. But narrowly misses the mark as one kafir-hater has attacked her from behind. It turns out to be the most expensive miss in the history of India.

Naikidevi's sword dispatches the attacker to his Jannat (paradise). But Ghori is saved. Instead of ripping apart his head, the sword elongates the slit in his rear.

Before she could aim for the next strike, more pigs surrounded her and Ghori was saved.

Ghori and his army of goons were thoroughly chased off and crushed. Ghori was so scared that he did not get down from the horse despite a bleeding rear until he reached Multan a few days later. He ordered his soldiers to keep the horse running even if he falls asleep or needs treatment. And shift him to another horse if this one cannot run. When he reached Multan completely soiled, he realized the damage to certain organs on the front and rear was permanent.

Ghori never dared to think of attacking Gujarat. He did not even think of attacking India for the next 13 years. Had Prithviraj Chauhan helped Naikidevi, we would have been reading a different history of India.