Campaigns
Hammir raided Mount Abu, Bhimaraspura, Dhar, Vardhanpura, Gadhamandala, Champa, Khandela and Kankaroli. These regions comprise whole of Malwa and southern part of Rajasthan. Balvan inscriptions refer these and his two Kotiyagnas. He earned fame and a rich booty in the raids.
In 1290 Jalaludin-Khilji, ruler of Delhi, attacked Hammir because of his rising power. Jalaludin's forces were defeated by Hammir. In 1296, Jalaludin was murdered by Allauddin Khilji. In 1297 Allauddin sent an army to plunder Gujarat, under the generalship of Ulugh Khan and Nusrat Khan. This army looted the temple of Somnath and its Shivalinga was broken into pieces and was being carried back to Delhi. Kanhad Dev Songara, ruler of Jalore attacked and defeated Ulugh Khan and captured the broken Shivalinga which was washed in Ganga-jal and the fragments were established in various temples in Jalore. Muhammad Shah, a neo-Muslim general in Khilji's army, helped Kanhad Dev Songara. In this war, Neo Muslims Muhammad Shah,Kamru, Yalchak and Barq attampted to assassinate Ulughkhan but failed. Hence they took refuge with Hammir at Ranthambore. Under these circumstances, Hammir was justified in winning over Allauddin's enemies to his side. But it would have been better to win affection of his people and good will of his neighbours. Instead, he taxed his people very heavily to maintain his big army. He even ill-treated his minister and financier, Dharamsinh. Hence, differences between him and his half-brother Bhoja were created by Dharamsinh. Bhoja afterward sought asylum in Alauddin's Camp.
Ulugh Khan went and apprised Allauddin who ordered him and Nusrat Khan to conquer Ranthambore. In 1299 they started out with 80,000 cavalry and a large infantry to attack Hammir. The Muslim governors tried to negotiate with Hammir and demanded for Muhammad shah and Kamru’s death, 10,000 gold coins, 300 horses, 4 elephants and the hand of Hammir’s daughter Devaldevi. The terms were rejected. Hammir's army repulsed the attack and killed Nusrat Khan. Ulugh Khan escaped and reached Delhi.
Khilji was taken aback by this defeat and wanted revenge. He finally came himself in 1301, and there was a long siege. Hammir was very well prepared, but Famin was a great hurdle to him. When the fort did not fall after repeated bloody skirmishes, Khilji resorted to diplomacy by taking advantage of dissatisfaction and treachery due to Famin and won over confidence of two of Hammir’s generals, Ratipal and Ranmal. Hammir was very suspicious but he heeded to his councillors who told him that sword is not always the best recourse. Ratipal and Ranmal were sent to the Khilji camp to negotiate. Khilji bribed these two generals of Hammir's army. Both the generals along with others slipped away and joined Alauddin’s camp. Ultimately war was declared. Hammir died in the war. Consequently, Ranthambore fell on July 10, 1301. Others who died with him were the brave Viram, the lord of Champa, Taka Gangadhara, Parmar Kshetrasinha, Rajda and Simha.
Read more about this topic: Hammir Dev Chauhan
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