Maldeo Rathore: The Lion Tamer
Maldeo Rathore, The Lion Tamer
Story time! The Rajput who humbled the lion. Known for his huge frame and famed mustache. The focus in our stories are not purely on the Mughals, sometimes they are on the independent, and ambitious people shaping their path. Meet Maldeo Rathore, the lion tamer.
Maldeo’s story starts not with Humayun, but with Babur. Rana Sanga, the ambitious leader of the Rajput Confederacy was resisting the Mughal expansion at Khanwa, on his flanks were Rao Ganga and his notable warrior son, Maldeo.
Babur’s son, Askari Mirza, along with the Ottoman generals Ustad and Mustafi Rumi had humbled the Confederacy with their cannon and matchlock corps. But soon enough, it would be Maldeo’s turn to be teaching the Mughal’s a lesson.
When Maldeo had eventually taken power at Jodhpur after the untimely death of his father (potentially an accident, potentially foul play), he inherited a shadow of the empire previous Rathore’s had ruled. He had set about reuniting the Marwari territories, and then some.
Among those conquests was Bikaner, the splinter kingdom ruled by his cousin in the Rathore family, sending many of its generals fleeing to Sher Shah Sur (we will come back them momentarily)
Uniting half of Rajasthan under one banner, and influencing the thrones of Sindh and Gujarat, Maldeo rose from the remanence of a great house, to sitting on a great throne once more. But brewing to his north was the coming clash of two great powers, and everyone needed to pick a side.
Nominally, Maldeo chose to ally with Humayun, the older brother of the general he faced at Khanwa. However, the Rathore’s did not send assistance to the showdown at Chausa, and Humayun was thoroughly routed in the wake of the ensuing Bihari monsoon.
The good ally that he was, Maldeo allowed Humayun to flee through his lands towards Persia, with Askari, Maldeo’s old nemesis hot on his heels. In the meanwhile he took the opportunity to march north, bringing the Rathore Empire to within eyesight of Delhi and Agra.
However, Sher Shah could not let this stand. Maldeo soon would have his own showdown with the ambitious Lion of Bihar.
Through a clever trick, Sher Shah was able to fool Maldeo into abandoning his line, however, two of his officers still gave Sher Shah a high cost for victory. This was the battle of Sammel. A token of Maldeo’s army vs the full cavalry and cannon barrage of Sur Army.
The incident cost Sher Shah dearly. He remarked at how he had given up so much for a pitense in the battle. This was not the end of the exchange though. After the fierce resistance at Sammel, the Sur’s would continue to attack.
Sur empire pushed deep into Rajasthan all the way to Mount Abu. Khawas Khan Marwat and Isa Khan Niazi, famed officers from the Chausa offensive led in the domination of the region. But it would not last.
Sher Shah would be dead within the year besieging Kalinjar Fort held by Kirat Singh, and with it the opportunity for Maldeo to retake the region opened during the ensuing chaos among Sher Shah’s sons.
Maldeo went on to survive to face off against a third Mughal Emperor, meaning he had been both allies and enemies to the Mughals for the entirety of their presence in the region.
But his legacy goes deeper as granddaughter would go on to marry Jahangir, and his great grandson would be the 5th Emperor, Shah Jahan. The intertwining of Rathores and the Mughals started as tense, but ended as inseparable.
The dynasty did not peacefully survive Maldeo, in tradition of the times, his sons broke out into a fratricidal civil war. But the legacy is undeniable. With Maldeo and his descendants, we have a positive beginning of the blending of Rajasthani culture into the Mughal court.
The Mughals hereafter were no longer only the cousins of Timur and Genghis, but continued to infuse local elements, and patronize local temples, and became inseparable from the local people. This sowing of these seeds began with the Rathores.
