Hamir, Maharana of Mewar

Rana Hammir was a 14th century ruler of Mewar in present-day Rajasthan, India. Following an invasion by the Delhi sultanate at the turn of the 13th century, the ruling Guhilot clan had been displaced from Mewar. Hammir, who belonged to an impoverished cadet branch of that clan, regained control of the region, re-established the dynasty, and became the first of his dynasty to use the royal title 'Rana'. Hammir also became the progenitor of the Sisodia clan, a branch of the Guhilot clan, to which every succeeding Maharana of Mewar has belonged.

Heritage

The ruling dynasty of Mewar had been founded, supposedly in 734 AD, by Bappa Rawal, a semi-legendary figure; the family had ruled its portion of southern Rajasthan from the fort of Chittor ever since. After many uneventful centuries, Chittor was besieged in 1303 AD by the marauding army of Alauddin Khilji, sultan of Delhi, who is said to have coveted Padmini, Rani of Chittor, a legendary beauty of her day. The famous "Jauhar" followed, wherein Rani Padmini, consort of Rawal Ratan Singh (the then ruler of Mewar), led the ladies of the fort into death by self-immolation, "to find security from dishonour in the devouring element" in the words of James Tod. The next morning, the menfolk of Chittor rode out to face certain death on the field of honour.

After the "Jauhar" took place and Chittor was lost, an extremely distant kinsman of Rawal Ratan Singh, by name 'Laksha' or Lakshman Singh, proclaimed himself Rana-in-exile. Laksha was descended in direct patrilineage from Bappa Rawal, and hence belonged to the Gehlot clan, but his claim to the throne was tenuous in the extreme: he was an eighth cousin twice removed of Rawal Ratan Singh. Laksha hailed from the village of Sisoda near the town of Nathdwara and hence his descendants came to be known as 'Sisodia'. Laksha was the father of nine sons, of whom the eldest, Ari, married Urmila, a lady from the nearby village of Unnava, who hailed from an impoverished rajput family belonging to the Chandana clan. Hammir was the only child of this couple.

Career

Both Laksha and Ari died in various skirmishes when Hammir was yet an infant; resultantly, Hammir grew up under the tutelage of his uncle Ajay, the second son of Laksha. Hammir gave his uncle an early proof of his valour when, at a young age, he killed a bandit named Munja who was wreaking havoc in the nearby area. It is said that this incident so impressed his uncle, that he forthwith invested Hammir with the claims of rulership. Actually, this investiture availed Hammir nothing; the clan were in exile and Mewar lay occupied.

The Khiljis had assigned their newly conquered territories to the administration of Maldeo, ruler of the nearby state of Jalore, who had allied with them during the recent war. In a bid to reconcile and co-opt the natives of the land to his rule, Maldeo arranged for the marriage of his widowed daughter Songari with Hammir, the scion of an impoverished cadet branch of the erstwhile ruling dynasty. Rana Hammir Singh re-established the state of Mewar in 1326 by engineering a "coup d'état" against his father-in-law. The dynasty thus founded by Hammir, who was descended in direct patrilineage from Bappa Rawal, came to be known as Sisodia after Sisoda, the mountain village whence Hammir hailed.

Legend

Ranathambhor's venerable structure, rapturous beauty and sublime expressiveness seem to be continuously vocalizing the great legends of Hamir Dev, the Rajput king. 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, Jalaluddin, 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 Gurdan Saini ["The History of India, as 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 gunpower, for the debris so created had already killed numerous soldiers of the Sultan in their futile attempt to break in to 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 bended 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.

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. There 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.

ee also

*List of Rajputs
*Ror community

References

*"Maharana Hammir of Mewar: Chittor's lost freedom restored" by Dr. L. S. Rathore