The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c14.44

v4.c14.44

Before leaving Rāisen Sher Shāh had wisely rejected the advice of some of his counsellors to invade the Deccan. For years past the Rājputs had been a persistent menace to Muslim rule in northern India. Sangrām Singh of Mewār had defeated and captured Mahmūd II of Mālwā though he was aided by a contingent of 10,000 horse from Gujarāt, and had later borne a part in inviting Bābur to India with the object of profiting by the dissensions of the Muslims. At Khānua he had wellnigh succeeded in subverting Muslim rule in Hindūstān, and, though the capture of Chitor by Bahādur of Gujarāt in 1534 had broken the power of Mewār, other chiefs had taken the place of the Rānā. Pūran Mal, who had taken advantage of the hostilities between Sher Shāh and Humāyūn to found an independent principality in Mālwā, had been crushed, but the great state of Mārwār had become dangerous to Sher Shāh’s rule. Its sovereign, Māldeo the Rāthor, had established his influence in Mewār, had recovered Ajmer and Nāgaur, and while Bābur and Humāyūn were establishing their dominion over Hindūstān proper had annexed fortresses and districts which had been held by officers of the Lodī dynasty. Sher Shāh had good reason to be alarmed by the growth of a hostile power on the borders of his dominions, and in the autumn of 1543 marched from Āgra with the greatest army which he had ever led in the field to attack Māldeo. He adopted his usual precaution of entrenching his camp at every halt, but on entering the sandy desert of Rājāsthān found it impossible to throw up a parapet. His grandson, Mahmūd Khān, said to have been only seven years of age, suggested that the parapet should be constructed of sacks filled with sand, and this precocious young soldier seems to have been the inventor of sandbags in the East.