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The heroes who beat Taimur Lang – the world’s most dangerous invader, out of India were an army led by Veer Gurjar Jograj Singh Pawar and Ram Pyari Gurjar.
It is said that all Indian castes and communities of India had united to form a private army to face and eventually defeat these large forces of barbarian invaders.
Also, this was perhaps the first time in recorded history in which an all-female regiment of 40,000 women was formed and commanded by Gurjari Rampyari Chauhan.
Taimur Lang (his lineage is called Timurid dynasty), in 1398 AD invaded India. He had made it to Delhi, and started to commit mass genocide. On a daily basis, he killed more than 100,000 captives, including women and children.
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On hearing of this invasion and genocide, a panchayat was called under Gurjar Raja of Meerut and a voluntary army was raised to fight these murderous invaders.
Jograj Singh Pawar was chosen Supreme Commander General of this army – he was a renowned wrestler. It is said that he was 7 feet, and 9 inches tall. His armor and weapons were so heavy that he had chopped off multiple soldiers of Taimur’s army with a single swing of his huge, heavy sword.
Many generals and leaders were chosen from different caste and social statuses to lead small battalions.
Rampyari Gurjar was chosen to lead the regiment of the 40,000-strong women’s army.
The troops under various commands and generals spread out to Delhi, Meerut, Muzzafarnagar, Saharanpur and Haridwar. On reaching these places, they fought with the armies of Taimur and used Guerilla warfare against a much larger, experienced invader army.
The women wing of the army poisoned the waters on the way right to Hardwar which killed the Taimur’s soldiers who drank it. Three heroic battles took place simultaneously.
The Battle of Delhi
At that time Taimur’s forces were looting Delhi, 20,000 warriors of Jograj Singh’s army made a surprise attack on the forces of Taimur in the middle of the night and killed 9,000 of them. In the evening, these heroic soldiers escaped and returned outside the city walls. The battle carried on like this for three days.
Timur was very upset with these attacks, he left Delhi and advanced toward Meerut to destroy these guerilla tactic warriors.
The Battle of Meerut
Taimur with his powerful army of over 100,000 soldiers and large stocks of weaponry, advanced toward Meerut. Taimur’s army was attacked heavily and not given any space to breathe.
The battles continued all through the day, every day. Wherever the Army of Taimur would stop for the night, Jograj Singh’s army would attack and uproot them.
The heroic Devis led by Rampyari handled supplies and would deliver food and war material to their soldiers and would also attack and loot the supplies of the enemy.
500 horsemen were used for keeping everyone together and to pass information and instructions to these dispersed heroic forces. Gurjar women made sure that supplies were not reaching Taimur’s army.
Taimur then advanced towards Haridwar, which was the home of Jograj Singh Pawar, in an attempt to crush the head of attacking Indian forces.
The battle of Haridwar
Here too Taimur met with resistance from Gurjar forces. The army of Taimur however eventually reached Jwalapur, which is 5 km south of Haridwar.
At this spot, three major battles were fought with the army of Taimur to stop him from reaching the holy land of Haridwar.
1. Harbir Singh Gulia, along with 25,000 warriors, made a fierce attack on a big group of Taimur’s horsemen. Taimur was protected by a large force of his very best warriors and horsemen. Harbir Singh Gulia broke through these protective forces and hit Timur on his chest with a spear, grievously wounding him and Taimur almost fell off under his own horse, his army’s commander Khijra, managed to save him.
Harbir Singh was attacked by a large number of soldiers he got severely wounded and fell unconscious on the battlefield. Upon hearing this Jograj Singh rushed to the scene and rescued unconscious Harbir Singh. However, a few hours later, the hero warrior Harbir Singh Gulia achieved martyrdom.
2. Soon after this, in the Jungles of Haridwar, the guard of Taimur were attacked by Dhula Dhardi with a small force of 190 soldiers. They managed to kill a large number of the Taimur’s guard but all 190 of these valiant soldiers achieved martyrdom.
3. In the third battle, Taimur made a final attempt to attack and destroy Haridwar but Jograj Singh and Rampyari, their heroic warriors bravely defended the revered pilgrimage place. Their strength scared the barbarians and they eventually fled the battleground.
In this final battle, the hero commander Jograj Singh Pawar said to have suffered 45 wounds but he kept his senses to motivate his forces. They did not allow Taimur’s army to touch the banks of the holy Ganga.
Taimur was defeated and fled away by way of the Hills. This fleeing army of Taimur were chased from Haridwar right upto Ambala to ensure their final exit from these lands. Taimur never returned back and there were no invasion of India for another 150 years.
In this fierce battle Atleast 35,000 of the heroic Indian warriors were martyred.
(Dr Sindhu Prashanth)