________________
146
POLITICAL HISTORY OF N. INDIA FROM JAIN SOURCES
the Muslim king and instigated him to invade the country.' This time. Ulugh Khan invaded Hammira's country with an army of 100,000 horses. The Rajputs, however, fought this battle with great strategy and caused the enemy to flee. The estate of treacherous Bhoja was also captured."
Thus, dejected by these two defeats, Alä-ud-din called upon all the subordinate princes to join him in a war against Hammira. This time, with this mighty concourse, Nasarat Khan and Ulugh Khan, the two brothers, started for Rapathambhor." In a desperate struggle, NasaratKhan was killed." Alarmed by the critical situation, Alä-ud-din himself came and led the army to the gates of Rapathambhor's fort and besieged it. But all his attempts to take the fort were frustrated. Then he began with his schemes of seduction and broke open some of the keymen of Hammira to his side. In the meanwhile, all the provisions ex hausted in the fort. Harassed by the interval intrigues and thus deserted by all the faithful servants, Hammīra sallied out of the fort and fell upon the enemy. Before this all the females of his family perished on the funeral piles. A deadly hand-to-hand struggle ensued. All his heroes. fell fighting. Lastly, fell the mighty Hammira pierced with hundred arrows. Disdaining to fall in the hands of enemy, he severed his head from his body with his own hand and thus terminated his existence. He died in the 18th year of his reign, in the month of Srāvana.
The Muslim sources lend support to the above account given by the Hammira-mahäkävya. In his Tarikh-i-Firuzshahi, Barani relates that the attack on Rapathambhor began as early as the reign of Jalal-ud-din Firuz (1290-1296 A.D.). The Sultan in A.H. 689 (A.D. 1290) led an army to Ranathambhor. The Rai of the place, with his Rawats and followers and with their wives and children, took refuge in the fort of Rapathambhor. The Sultan wanted to besiege and conquer the fort, but finding that it could not
1 Canto X, Vs. 8-31.
2 Ibid.
Ibid., 36-68.
4 Ibid., V. 88.
Canto XI, V. 7.
6 Ibid., V, 105.
7 Ibid., V. 103.
Jain Education International
Ibid., Vs. 29-89.
Canto XIII, Vs. 1-125.
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
