Now, Rajasthan University to teach about Akbar’s Haldighati ‘defeat’

Rajasthan University’s history department has included in its list of recommended reading a textbook that projects Mewar (a part of present-day Rajasthan) king Maharana Pratap as a victor in the 1576 Battle of Haldighati against Mughal emperor Akbar’s forces.

Historical evidence shows that Pratap had fled the battlefield with more casualties on his side and later continued his guerilla warfare against the Mughals.

The book, Dr Chandra Shekhar Sharma’s Rashtra-Ratna Maharana Pratap, will be included in the list of recommended readings in the MA history semester II paper, History of Rajasthan.

It says Mughal army’s failure in capturing or killing Maharana Pratap, its decision to not pursue the Pratap’s army after he fled, and Akbar’s displeasure with his generals Man Singh and Asaf Khan prove that Pratap was the victor of the battle.

The history department of the university, at a meeting of its board of studies last month, decided to include the book in the list of recommended readings in the paper ‘Rajasthan Through the Ages’ in the second semester of MA History.

School education minister Vasudev Devnani had in March this year questioned Akbar’s victory, asking why he had to attack Mewar six times if he had won the battle. In Devnani’s view, the Rajput king had won the battle of Haldighati.

CONTINUED ON P 5