Dewair - Maharana Pratap's Unsung Battle

Towards the South East of small town of Pali in Rajasthan lies Dewair, a village enclosed in the hills of Aravali and between the pages of history, the latter often of an untold nature.

Image: Statue of Maharana Pratap in Mewa Ka Mathara

This however was not so till about four and a half centuries ago. Dewair was the gateway (read strategic) to the kingdom of Mewar and hence provided access to the supercluster of fortresses spread across the hills, valleys and ravines of the region. And why just Mewar, Dewair due

to its geographical location was an important access point to Marwar, Gujarat, and Malwa as well. The region's control was incomplete, and ineffective without the control over Dewair. About 2 kilometers south west of the village of Dewair, lies the topic of this buildup - the

Battlefield called "Dewair ki Naal", loosely translated as the Horseshoe of Dewair, a local name of the Dewair Valley.

After the historic battle of Haldighati that ended in a stalemate, Akbar changed his strategy and started sending his soldiers through Mewar's North-Western

borders namely, Mandal, Madaria, Mohi and most importantly Dewair. Several garrisons were established in this region for exercising a better control. The forces of Maharana and Mughals contended against each other, through both symmetric and asymmetrical warfare. Several Generals

and Commanders of Mughal forces were deployed in trying to control Maharana's rise but these efforts turned out to be futile as the Maharana was utilizing this period to organize his forces, collecting rations, & getting support of the rulers of Sirohi, Idar, Jalore among others.

It was Vijaya Dashmi of the year 1582, when it all came to its climactic conclusion. Under the ruse of a planted rumor that he had left Mewar, the Maharana with his army marched unnoticed through secret paths to Dewair and attacked the Mughal Garrisons unexpectedly with his son

Amar Singh commanding a separate flank fighting beside him bravely. This resulted in the flight of the Mughal soldiers and the closing of all the 36 Mughal posts in Mewar including a surrender of about 36000 soldiers of the Mughal Army.

After a number of failed attempts at conquest after their defeat at Dewair, including one Akbar himself commanded, Mughals never returned to Mewar in Maharana's lifetime.

A war memorial at Mewa Ka Mathara, was erected later to commemorate historic victory of brave son of Mewar.