The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c25.120

v3.c25.120

Bahādur was seriously perturbed by the news of the defeat and death of Tātār Khān Lodī and by apprehensions of being attacked by Humāyūn, and would have raised the siege but for the confident assurance of Sadr Khān, one of his officers, that Humāyūn would never attack him while he was besieging Chitor. After a lapse of three months an extensive breach was made in the rampart, which had never before been exposed to artillery fire. It was stoutly defended but with a terrible sacrifice of life, and the valiant Jawāhir Bāi led a sortie from the fortress and was slain at the head of her warriors. The garrison lost hope. The infant heir, Udai Singh, was conveyed by Surjan, prince of Būndī, to a place of safety, and the surviving Rājputs performed the rite of *jauhar*. Thirteen thousand women, so the legend says, headed by Karnavatī, the mother of the young prince, voluntarily perished in an immense conflagration fed by combustibles, and the survivors of the slaughter in the breach, led by Bāghjī, prince of Deola, rushed on the Muslims and were exterminated. Chitor was for the moment a possession of the king of Gujarāt, and received a Muslim governor.