Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Diya Kumari, at an event in Jaipur, recently claimed that Mewar king Maharana Pratap won the battle of Haldighati against Mughal emperor Akbar.
She was speaking at a programme organised by Veer Shiromani Maharana Pratap Sanstha to commemorate the 485th birth anniversary of Maharana Pratap on Thursday.
Diya Kumari said, “The plaque at Haldighati stated that Maharana Pratap lost and Akbar won the battle. In 2021, since I was an MP from there (Rajsamand) – and it is an ASI monument – we tried (to get it changed), including in Delhi with the Minister (of State) for Culture Arjun Ram Meghwal as the department was under him. The words on the plaque were changed and if you go to Haldighati today, you will read that Maharana Pratap won the battle. I would like to say that that was the biggest achievement of my tenure (as an MP).”
“We need to think; the true and correct history of Rajasthan should reach people. Not the history written by Mughals. What did the Mughals do? Divide and rule, the same thing which the Britishers did,” she said, adding that the Mughals made Rajputs fight Rajputs, Hindus fight Hindus. She said that it was unfortunate that for a long time, the political parties too pushed the same history, according to a report by the Indian Express.
Kumari’s comments came a day after Rajasthan Governor Haribhau Bagade claimed that several inaccuracies have been recorded in Indian history due to the early influence of British historians, including the widely cited story of the marriage of Jodha Bai and Mughal emperor Akbar. Speaking at an event in Udaipur, the governor had said that this story is a lie, instead claiming that “There was a king named Bharmal and he got the daughter of a maid married to Akbar.”
What happened in 2021?
In 2021, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) had taken off the plaques claiming Rajput retreat during Maharana Pratap-Akbar Battle of Haldighati (1576) from Rajsamand district’s Rakta Talai.
Members of the Rajput community and some public representatives had taken offence to the information relayed by the plaques, and had raised the issue with ASI. On June 25, the then Rajsamand MP, Diya Kumari, had requested the Union Ministry of Tourism and the culture minister Arjun Ram Meghwal to remove the plaques, Hindustan Times reported.
According to an Indian Express report, the plaque installed at Rakta Talai conveyed: “The fight was so deadly that the whole field was strewn with dead bodies. However, circumstances forced the Rajputs to retreat and the struggle ended at mid-day of the 21st June 1576 AD.”
These plaques were later updated by the ASI.
History of it
Belonging to the Sisodia clan of Rajputs, Maharana Pratap ruled the region of Mewar in present-day Rajasthan. He is best remembered for his bravery and strong resistance against the powerful Mughal emperor Akbar. Despite facing overwhelming odds, Maharana Pratap refused to surrender and continued his struggle to protect his homeland and uphold Rajput honor.
According to history books, the Battle of Haldighati, fought in 1576, was won by the Mughal forces led by Man Singh I of Amber, but the victory was not decisive. Maharana Pratap, the leader of the Mewar forces, and his army were driven from the battlefield, but he escaped uncaptured and continued to resist Mughal control.
The battle was fought between Maharana Pratap and Akbar as part of the latter’s plan to expand control.
The plaque placed at the Rakta Talai earlier read: “Pratap’s Forces retreated” from the battle. Rakta Talai is 4 km away from Haldighati, where the battle was fought, and was the last spot of the battle, according to ASI.
However, over the years, there have been several questions raised about who actually won the battle.
The Rajputs and several political leaders have argued that Maharana Pratap rather won the battle.
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