Sanga, Rana

(?-1528)

   He came to the throne of Mewar in 1508 after the death of his father, Raimal (1473-1508), against the latter's expressed wishes. The nobles, passing over the person nominated by the deceased raja as his successor, invited Sanga from exile to ascend the throne. In 1517, Rana Sanga went to help Medini Rai, who had seized power at Mandu after Mahmud Khalji II's escape to Gujarat; he captured a number of strongholds in Malwa. In the ensuing con-flict, Mahmud Khalji II was defeated and captured by Sanga at Gagraun but was restored in Malwa after ceding to Mewar the fron-tier strongholds of Chanderi and Ranthambhor. Three years later, a conflict arose between Rana Sanga and Muzaffar Shah II of Gu-jarat, leading to Sanga's advance up to Ahmadabad (1520) and the siege of Chitor by Muzaffar Shah II and Mahmud Khalji II (1524), which ended only after Sanga agreed to send one of his sons as hostage to Gujarat. Next year, there arose a conflict between Sanga and Ibrahim Lodi in the course of which the Lodis were defeated at Ghalote.

   After Babur occupied Agra (1526), Rana Sanga mobilized a mil-itary alliance of local rulers, including Hasan Khan Mewati and Ibrahim Lodi's brother Mahmud Lodi, that confronted the Mughals at Kanwa (1527). Sanga and his allies were defeated at Kanwa, ow-ing to Babur's superior battlefield management where the use of firearms was effectively combined with mounted combat. Following his defeat at Kanwa, Sanga withdrew to Ranthambhor but soon moved out from there with the intention of engaging Babur again, this time near Chanderi. On the way, he was poisoned by his enemies and died at Kalpi on 30 January 1528.