Maharana Pratap

Maharana  Pratap the Hindu Rajput ruler of Mewar. He belongs to the Sisodia clan of Rajput. Maharana pratap is considered to exemplify qualities of bravery and Chivalry to which the Rajputs aspire, especially in the context of his opposition to the Mughal emperor Akhbar. Maharana Pratap was said to be a man of strong Rajput Character. He was far more brave and chivalrous. He is the only ruler of India that didn’t give into Mughal rule.

Maharana Pratap was born on 9th may 1540 in Kumbhalgarh, Rajasthan.  He was the son of Maharana Udai Singh II and his mother was Rani Jeevant Kanwar. Maharana Udai Singh II ruled the kingdom of Mewar, with his capital of the Chittor. Maharana Pratap was destined to be the 54th ruler of Mewar in the Sisodiya Rajput. Maharana Pratap was the eldest of 25 sons and he was given the title of crown prince.

In 1567, when Prince Pratap Singh was only of 27, Chittor was surrounded by Mughal Emperor Akhbar. Maharana Udai Singh II decided to leave the Chittor and also decided to move his family to Gogunda, rather than fighting with the Mughals But youngMaharana Pratap Singh wanted to stay back and wanted to fight with the Mughals but his elder intervened and convinced him to leave Chittor.

Maharana Pratap Singh never accepted Mughal’s as the ruler of his own country, India. Just due to this reason he never bowed in front of Akbar and fought with him till his last breath.

Battle of Haldighati:

The famous battle – Haldighati Battle is the historical event in the history of India. Haldighati battle took place in 1576. Battle of Haldighati was fought with the 20,000 Rajputs against the army of Mughals of 80,000 men which was commanded by Raja Man Singh. Army of Maharana Pratap was not defeated but Maharana Pratap was surrounded by Mughal soldiers.

Another casualty of the war was Maharana’s Pratap famous and loyal, horse Chetak, who gave up his life to save the Maharaja. Chetak was injured in the battle of Haldighati. Just to save the life of his master, he jumped over a big canal. The brave and strong Maharana cried over the death of his faithful horse but later on he constructed a beautiful garden at that place where the Chetak had breathed last. After this Akbar attacked Rana Pratap but after 6 months fighting, Akbar could not defeat Maharana Pratap and went back to Delhi. In year 1584, Akbar sent another great warrior Jagannath with the large army to Mewar. He tried relentlessly for 2 years then also he was not able to catch Rana Pratap.

In this battle of Haldighati, Maharana Pratab was supported by the Bhil tribes of the nearby area. This contribution of the Bhil tribe in battle is still remembered till date and given an honor by Rajputs of Mewar regimen. Also, this battle is considered to be the first milestone of the victory over Mughal emperor.

Maharana Pratap died at the age of 27 in year 1597 due to the multiple injuries in an accident. In his life the main goal of Maharana Pratap was not to surrender in the front of Mughals. Even while lying in the lap of death Maharana Pratap made his son and successors to maintain the eternal conflict against the Mughal Emperor.

Maharana Pratap is the great example of freedom fighter, bravery and patriotism against the Mughal ruler in India. It is just because of this brave freedom fighter, Mewar got appreciation and honor to be the only kingdom to get merged with its state in the Independent India. He died in fighting for his own nation, for his people and importantly for his honor.

Resources:

http://www.eternalmewarblog.com/rulers-of-mewar/

Tamerlane

Timur, historically known as the Tamerlane (Timuur the Lame) was the Turko-Mongol conqueror and the founder of the Timurid dynasty in the Central Asia. Born into the Barlas confederation in the Transoxiana during the 1320s or 1330s, he gained control of the Western Chagatai Khanate by the 1370. From that base, he held military campaigns across the West, South and Central Asia and emerged as the most powerful ruler in the Muslim world after defeating Mamluks of the Egypt and Syria, the emerging Ottoman Empire, although it fragmented shortly after his death.

He is considerable the last of the great nomadic conquerors of the Eurasian steppe and his empire set the stage for the rise of the more structured and lasting gunpowder empires in the 1500s to 1600s.
Timur envisioned the restoration of the Mongol Empire of the Genghis khan. As the means of the legitimating his conquests, Timur relied on the Islamic symbol and the language, referring to himself as the Sword of the Islam during his lifetime. The army of the Timur were inclusively multi-ethnic. Timur also decisively defeated the Christian Knights Hospitaller at the Snyrna, styling himself a ghazi. By the end of his reign, Timur had also gained the complete control over the remnants of the Chagatai Khanate, I khanate, Golden Horde and even the attempted to restore the Yuan dynasty.
 Armies of Timur were throughout the Asia, Africa and Europe,sizable parts of which were laid waste by his campaigns, scholars estimate that his military campaigns caused the death of the 17 million people.

He was grandfather of the Ulugh Beg who ruled the central Asia from the 1411 to 1449 and the great-great-great grandfather of the Babur founded of the Mughal Empire which ruled parts of the South Asia for the art and architecture as he interacted with the Muslim intellectuals such as  Ibn Khaldun and Hafiz-i-Abru.

Capture of Delhi:

The battle took place on 17 December 1398. Sultan Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq and Mallu Iqbal's army had war elephants armored with chain mail and poison on their tusks. With his Tatar forces afraid of the elephants, Timur ordered his men to dig a trench in front of their positions. Timur then loaded his camels with as much wood and hay as they could carry. When the war elephants charged, Timur set the hay on fire and prodded the camels with iron sticks, causing them to charge at the elephants howling in pain: Timur had understood that elephants were easily panicked. Faced with the strange spectacle of camels flying straight at them with flames leaping from their backs, the elephants turned around and stampeded back toward their own lines. Timur capitalized on the subsequent disruption in Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq's forces, securing an easy victory. Delhi was sacked and left in ruins. Before the battle for Delhi, Timur executed 100,000 captives.
The capture of the Delhi Sultanate was one of Timur's greatest victories, arguably surpassing the likes of Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan because of the harsh conditions of the journey and the achievement of taking down one of the richest cities at the time. After Delhi fell to Timur's army, uprisings by its citizens against the Turkic-Mongols began to occur, causing a bloody massacre within the city walls. After three days of citizens uprising within Delhi, it was said that the city reeked of decomposing bodies of its citizens with their heads being erected like structures and the bodies left as food for the birds. Timur's invasion and destruction of Delhi continued the chaos that was still consuming India and the city would not be able to recover from the great loss it suffered for almost a century.

Just before his death, Timur designated his grandson Pir Muhammad ibn Jahangir as his successor. However, his other descendants did not abide by this wish, and spent the next fifteen years engaged in violent infighting.

Shahabuddin Muhammad Shah Jahan

Shahabuddin Muhammad Shah Jahan, Shah Jahan : January 1594 – 22 January 1666,  was the fifth Mughal Emperorof India. He is also known as Shah Jahan I. He ruled from 1628 until 1658. Born Prince Khurram, he was the son of EmperorJahangir and his Hindu Rajput wife, Taj Bibi Bilqis Makani.

He was chosen as successor to the throne after the death of his father in 1627. He was considered one of the greatest Mughals. His rule has been called the Golden Age and one of the most prosperous ages of Indian civilization. Like Akbar, he was eager to expand his vast empire. In 1658, he fell ill and was confined by his son and successor Aurangzeb in Agra Fort until his death in 1666.
Shah Jahan was a more orthodox Muslim than his father and grandfather. His policies towards non-Muslims were less liberal than Jahangir and Akbar.

The period of his reign was considered the golden age of Mughal architecture. Shah Jahan erected many monuments, the most famous of which is the Taj Mahal at Agra, built in 1632–1654 as a tomb for his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal.

Shah Jahan’s name in Persian means “Ruler of World,” Despite such a boastful name however; his actual domain was limited mainly to Mughal India. His long reign from 1628 to 1658 is considered that empire’s “Golden Age.” Of all of Jahan’s numerous architectural and military achievements, his single most famous accomplishment is one of the early modern wonders of the world: the Taj Mahal.
This beautiful monument was built for Jahan’s reportedly-captivating wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Jahan imported great builders from the Ottoman and Persian empires to construct this marvel of Mughal civilization. After Jahan’s death, he too was entombed in the magnificent example of Islamic-Indian architecture.