The Tiger's throne : An Indian TL.

[mad orc]

Prologue.

Shiladitya looked off towards the horizon. Bleaching white on other days, the desert horizon today was turning increasingly green. Babur's majestic Mughal banners fluttered in the wind amongst the huge puffs of smoke raised by his swift brigades of cavalry.

The plan was crystal clear in his mind.

It was not that he considered himself a Sant. He knew well enough that Yama would not forgive him from the hot rivers of Hell for committing treason against his overlord. But then again, the earth had its own pleasures.

The Timurid invader had promised him Mewar for his treason.

A sudden roar of a lion broke his thoughts. It was the Rana. Huge, muscled, loud, he was a leviathan on the battlefield. The hideousness of his missing arm and eye made him look more fierce than meek.
Shiladitya was too far away from him to actually hear his words, but they were having an electrifying effect on every single Rajput and Afghan in the army including himself.

Then after a minute more, as the Mughal army finally became visible, the Rana raised his red banner.

"Charge" shouted everyone.

"CHARGEEEEE" shouted Shiladitya.

His second in command Medeni Rai made sure that the order was heard clear as crystal.

While Shiladitya had handled the politics, it was upto Rai to take care of the actual execution of the treason.
But for now, his men, the Purbhiyas, were marching at a slow pace, their treason yet unapparent to the hot blooded Rana.

Suddenly, for the first time Shiladitya heard the roar of those cannons, those ghastly things that had brought down Lodi's elephants and wrought his empire and legacy to dust. They were terrifying. Fortunately, none of them were directed at him, except a few shots which rung up here and there. But then, that was perfectly fine. A few shots do go..............................................

A blast, a warm wet sensation on his ear....................................a searing pain.....................the grip on his saddle loosening.....................................even as he fell to the ground, Shiladitya's only thought was forgiveness from Yama's wrath.

 

[PulkitNahata]

Rana Sanga. An awesome start

 

[mad orc]

Chapter 1.

Vayur anilam amritam. Athedam Bhasmatam shariram .

Medeni Rai was crying like an orphaned child as the priest continued to recite the verses. Their meaning was quickly becoming apparent to him. We come to this earth as a body and it goes back in ashes. But the breathe of life can never be extinguished.

Suddenly the crowd of men assembled at Shiladitya's cremation separated and dispersed.

It was the Maharana himself. The victor of Khanwa, the saviour of Hindustan, the Vighnaharta(Destroyer of evil).

Himself covered with numerous wounds, the Rana carefully walked the few meters upto the very edge of the cremation fire and bowed down. "May god help his soul find peace" said the Rana. Then he made an offering to the Pandit and gracefully walked backwards to a more respectable distance.
Slowly the Rana made his way towards where Rai was standing.

It took a supreme effort but Rai managed to cease his sobbing and salute the Maharana just as he came near him. He put his one hand on the Rai's shoulder and said
"This is not a moment of gloom brother, this is a moment of pride, he died bravely, he died for Mewar, I am going to erect a Stambh(Pillar) for him soon on Chittor" .

"You are gracious Maharana" said Rai.
"And you were brave brother, the way in which you suddenly attacked the Mughal rear after his death, it turned the tide in our favour, or we would have been cut down by Babur's cannons" said the Maharana.
"It was my duty to fight for Mewar Maharana" said Rai.
"You are truly a servant of Lord Ekaling, from today on, you will be known as 'Hanuman Purbhiya' , as the loyal Hanuman, the mighty mythological fighter who served his lord Rama, so are you a true servant of Mewar" said the Maharana .
Medeni Rai could only bow down his head, partly from pride and partly from shame that the Maharana knew so little of what had actually happened.

But Medeni Rai knew that he would no longer stay on in Mewar. Yes, after Shiladitya's death he had did a noble thing by changing his decision and not betraying the Maharana, but that was no excuse for his earlier treason against his own clansmen, his own religion. No, he made his decision that night and left alone, never to be seen again.

 

[mad orc]

Hi, hello readers.
First of all, thanks for reading this thread.

I need someone as a co-writer, this person won't be given much work as such, but I really need some help in posting images, especially from Imgur and I also need a lot of help in making maps for this Tl.
Please apply if you think you can make some good maps.

 

[Madhukar_Shah]

Do I smell a Rajput empire on the way? The thing is, Babur was given a pretty decisive edge from his artillery, which was pretty much non existent at this time in India and so if you did have a mughal defeat, i imagine they’d a) make it hurt b) be back later with their guns and finish what they started. You’d need to figure out a way to change the entire outlook of the Rajputs on strategy for them to be able to project power. I think the most likely situation that would happen is the Lodhi dynasty of Delhi lasts a bit longer but still fall to the Mughals. I’m excited to see how you’re going to turn that on it’s head!

 

[markus meecham]

Nearly not enough subcontinental tls here, watched.

 

[mad orc]

Do I smell a Rajput empire on the way? The thing is, Babur was given a pretty decisive edge from his artillery, which was pretty much non existent at this time in India and so if you did have a mughal defeat, i imagine they’d a) make it hurt b) be back later with their guns and finish what they started. You’d need to figure out a way to change the entire outlook of the Rajputs on strategy for them to be able to project power. I think the most likely situation that would happen is the Lodhi dynasty of Delhi lasts a bit longer but still fall to the Mughals. I’m excited to see how you’re going to turn that on it’s head!

Yes.

The next chapter is going to be discussing pretty much the same thing.

Khanwa was a close victory indeed and a costly one.

 

[mad orc]

Nearly not enough subcontinental tls here, watched.

Thanks for commenting.

Also thanks to Madhav for commenting.

 

[mad orc]

Chapter 2

It was now two days since Khanwa. Looking out towards the horizon, the field now seemed clear to the Sangram. All the martyrs had been taken care of. The Hindus had cremated their dead and the Muslims had buried their dead on the order of Mahmud Lodi, his ally.

Presently he was dying to hear news on what was happening on the other side. In the confusion of the cremation processes Sangram had still not received any clear numbers of casualties and losses. So he entered his royal tent.
Inside, his generals were waiting. Their faces were filled with a mix of fear, terror and uneasiness.

"So my loyal ministers, brave Rajputs, tell me, how have we really faired" asked Sangram.

"We have won, but at what cost?" remarked Maldeo Rathore, the proud faced and firm ruler of Marwar. He had sustained several injuries and his body was covered with bandaging.

"Yes Maharana, the Rathore says the truth, our army has been sevearily damaged and we have lost so many brave warriors and mighty war elephants, here..................on this ledger are the exact figures" said Ratan Singh, the ruler of Meerta .

Sangram quickly accepted the documents. What they were saying was apt. It looked like he had lost much more men than Babur in terms of ratios. Out of his 540 war elephants, only 83 remained alive.

"Maharana their cannons destroyed our heavy troops and their horse archers continued to fire even while retreating" said Madeo.

"Hmm" Sangram could only reply.

"Hasan Khan, what is your opinion, how are the Afghans and Muslims doing?" asked Sangram.

Until then, the ruler of Mewat had been silent, for he was just a Muslim among a dozen Hindus, but now that he had been given the chance, he took half a minute to think, and then he replied.

"My opinion differs Maharana, yes, we have lost too many men, but then so has Babur, we have captured some of his cannons, we have killed his son Askari and most most importantly, his allies like Alam Khan Lodi and some minor Punjabi warlords have betrayed him, he cannot stop at Punjab now. He has to go straight back to Kabul" said Hasan Khan.

"Hmm, so our decision to not give chase was right eh..............................................and what about Politics, how is Sultan Mahmud feeling of our victory" asked Sangram to Hasan Khan.

"He is thrilled Maharana, he says that our victory has brought political gains overnight, those Afghans and Paharis who would have otherwise supported Babur are now supporting us or staying neutral. The traitorous Sultan of Bengal and other strongmen from Juanpur and Bihar have betrayed Babur like the dogs that they are". said Hasan.

Suddenly another voice broke in "Maharana may I speak?" . It was Manik Chand Chauhan, one of the bravest ground fighters that the confederacy had.

"Yes, speak up Chauhan" said Sangram.

"My men were looking for dead bodies in Babur's positions yesterday, among the bodies, we found a young Turkish man. He was very much alive, but unconscious. When he came back to senses, he claimed that he was a military engineer. He knows how to operate cannons. He wants to help us." said Chauhan.

"But why, why does he wants to hep us now?" asked Sangram.

"Because he is terrified of going back to Kabul now Maharana, you know these Barbarian scum, the moment they feel something is wrong, they dish out barbaric justice." said Chauhan.

"Hmm, I would like to personally meet this man, make arrangements" said Sangram.

"Yes Maharana" replied the general.

"Ok, despite everything, by the grace of Eklingji, we have won, now taste this sweet victory, as for me, I have to meet Mahmud Shah." declared Rana Sanga.

 

[Taloc13]

Wow that was quick, you made a TL afterall! Looks really good and it's nice to have a TL wth Hindu kings, finally.

 

[mad orc]

Wow that was quick, you made a TL afterall! Looks really good and it's nice to have a TL wth Hindu kings, finally.

Thanks so much for commenting.

Please keep commenting.

 

[Srihari14]

Watched, this is a great timeline, I just hope that you complete it

 

[mad orc]

Chapter 3.

The crowning of Mahmud Shah Lodi as the Sultan of Delhi was a grand affair. It took place on May 2, 1527 at a Old Lodi palace.
It happened exactly 47 days and one hours after the great battle of Khanwa which restamped the authority of the Lodis on the throne of Hindoostan.

Well, that was what the puppet Sultan thought. In reality, his puny kingdom comprised only the land from Delhi to the borders of Juanpur. The Rajputs had annexed Sirihand, Panipat and Jammu and installed vassal rulers in these places.

The tyrant Babur had managed to secure minor victories in the hills near Punjab after that, thus making his position in Kabul atleast, quite safe for the moment.

But Sanga, the real puppetmaster of Mahmud Shah knew that a man like Babur never retreats from one battlefield to stop. He comes again............and again................and again.............until he wins or he dies.
He remembered a story which a noble of Mewar had told him in his childhood days, the noble, who belonged to Ajmer had recited to him the story of how the great warrior king Prithviraj had defeated the invader Ghori multiple times in battle, only to spare his life and send him back to Ghor each time. Ultimately, like a snake, Ghori had reentered Hindoostan and used treachery to win over Jaichand, the king of Kannauj to his side, together, the two of them defeated Prithviraj, and then they did not spare his life like he had done before. Worse still, Ghori later also betrayed Jaichand and conquered Kannauj.

Maharajah Prithviraj.

From this memory, Sanga could draw two morals.
1)The borders of Afghanistan and Bharatvarsha(India upto the Indus river) had to be made strong enough to deter Babur.
2)Unreliable Afghan nobles who could plan the seed of ambition in Mahmud Shah's mind had to be removed and replaced with royal and trusty men.

The terms of Mahmud Shah's coronation had been many. But chief among them had been.
1)He had to consult Rana Sanga before taking any political or diplomatic decisions.
2)He had to demolish all fortifications in and around Delhi.

But all in all, things had finally started to calm down since 1526.

 

[Taloc13]

Great to have this TL back up. Looks like Babur needs to have his wings clipped.