The Defender of Mewar

Turning the Tide Against Arab Expansion

In the 720s and 730s CE, Arab armies that had conquered from Spain to Sindh threatened to sweep through Rajputana and into the heart of India. A coalition of Hindu kings assembled to resist, and among them emerged Bappa Rawal - no longer a hidden prince but a battle-tested leader. The campaigns that followed would halt Arab expansion into India and establish Bappa as one of the foremost defenders of the dharmic civilization.

The Umayyad Tide

By the 720s CE, the Umayyad Caliphate had built the largest empire the world had ever seen, stretching from the Atlantic shores of Spain to the banks of the Indus. Arab armies had swept through Persia in a matter of years, toppled the ancient Sassanid dynasty, pushed into Central Asia where they clashed with Tang China, conquered all of North Africa, and crossed the Straits of Gibraltar to establish Muslim rule in the Iberian Peninsula. The speed and totality of these conquests stunned the world. Only India remained largely unconquered - a subcontinent of wealthy kingdoms, ancient temples, and trade routes that brought gold and spices from across Asia.

The conquest of Sindh in 712 CE gave the Arabs their foothold in the subcontinent. Muhammad bin Qasim had defeated Raja Dahir and established the first permanent Arab governorate on Indian soil. From Sindh, successive governors launched raids deeper into the subcontinent, probing defenses, assessing wealth, identifying weakness. The pattern was grimly familiar to those who had watched Persia fall: probe, raid, weaken, then conquer. The question hanging over every Indian court was whether the subcontinent would follow Persia into submission.

Junaid ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Murri, governor of Sindh from 723-726 CE, launched the most aggressive campaigns yet. According to Arab historian Al-Biladuri, Junaid's forces overran Kathiawar, Kutch, Saurashtra, and Mandor. His armies struck Ujjain in central India, sacked Broach on the Gujarat coast, and pushed deep into southern Rajasthan. For Rajputana's rulers, this was no longer a distant threat but an existential crisis knocking at their gates. The great fortress of Chittor - held by the Mori Rajputs under Man Mori - stood directly in the path of invasion. The smaller Rajput kingdoms faced a stark choice: submit and pay tribute, flee and abandon their ancestral lands, or fight and risk annihilation. Bappa Rawal, now established as a leader with his coalition of Bhil warriors and loyal followers, chose to fight.

The Hindu Coalition and the Battle of Rajasthan

No single kingdom could withstand the Arab onslaught alone - this much was clear to every ruler who had watched the news from Sindh. A remarkable coalition emerged, one of the first pan-Indian alliances against external invasion: the Gurjara-Pratiharas under their formidable king Nagabhata I; the Chalukyas of Lata from southern Gujarat; various Rajput clans including the Moris of Chittor; and Bappa Rawal with his Guhila forces and Bhil allies. This coalition represented something unprecedented: coordinated defense of dharmic civilization against a threat that endangered them all. The kingdoms had their rivalries and old grudges, but they recognized a common enemy whose victory would mean the end of their world.

The decisive confrontation came around 738 CE. The Arab governor Al-Hakam ibn Awana led a major expedition into Rajasthan, his army reinforced with fresh troops from the Caliphate, aiming to establish permanent control over the wealthy trade routes and rich agricultural lands. The coalition forces met them somewhere in Rajasthan - the exact location is still debated by historians, though some traditions place it near the banks of a river where the terrain favored defenders. The battle was fierce and long, fought over multiple days as each side committed its full strength.

"The Mlechcha forces, vast as the ocean, broke upon the mountains of Rajput valor like waves upon rock."

The result was a decisive Hindu victory - one of the most consequential battles in Indian history, though it remains less famous than it deserves. Arab sources themselves acknowledge the defeat: the governor Al-Hakam was killed on the battlefield and his army shattered, survivors fleeing back toward Sindh with the coalition in pursuit. No major Arab expedition would threaten Rajasthan again for generations. The frontier stabilized at Sindh.

Several factors suggest Bappa played a significant part in this victory. His forces controlled key terrain in the Aravallis, and any Arab advance had to contend with his guerrilla-capable warriors threatening their flanks and supply lines. His Bhil auxiliaries were experts at the harassment that exhausted invading armies - attacking baggage trains under cover of darkness, picking off stragglers, denying water sources by fouling wells, appearing and disappearing like ghosts in the forested hills. And as the chosen of Eklingji, blessed by the renowned sage Haritarashi, Bappa provided spiritual motivation for resistance. Warriors fought harder believing divine favor was on their side.

The Conquest of Chittor

The aftermath of the Arab defeat created opportunities for those bold enough to seize them. Man Mori had been weakened - perhaps by Arab raids that had devastated his lands, perhaps by losses in the coalition war, perhaps by the strains of maintaining a great fortress while threats pressed from every direction. What happened next varies by source, and the truth likely involves elements of multiple traditions. In one version, Bappa married Man Mori's daughter, gaining a legitimate claim to Chittor through alliance and inheritance. In another, Bappa seized the fortress by force after Man Mori's defeat, his battle-hardened warriors overwhelming a garrison depleted by years of conflict. In a third account, Man Mori, lacking a suitable male heir and recognizing Bappa's worth as a warrior and leader, granted Chittor to his proven ally rather than see it fall to less worthy hands.

What is certain is that by around 734-753 CE, Bappa Rawal controlled Chittor, transforming the Guhilas from minor hill chiefs into lords of Rajputana's greatest fortress. The timing of his patience was masterful: he had not attempted to seize Chittor during the Arab crisis when it would have weakened the coalition and invited disaster. He waited until the common enemy was defeated, then moved when Man Mori's position had weakened. His patience turned a defensive alliance into personal advancement without betraying his allies during the crisis.

Chittorgarh was no ordinary stronghold. Rising 180 meters above the plains on a plateau covering 700 acres, protected by cliffs on all sides and accessible only through narrow, winding gates that an army could defend against forces many times their number, it was virtually impregnable. Legends connected it to the Mahabharata itself. For Bappa, acquiring Chittor meant military dominance over the surrounding region, legitimacy as heir to centuries of tradition, and finally a proper royal capital from which to govern an organized kingdom rather than scattered hill territories.

Securing the Kingdom

With Chittor secured, Bappa consolidated his new kingdom with the same combination of boldness and wisdom that had won it. Rather than eliminating the Mori clan and creating bitter enemies, he absorbed their nobles into his administration, preserving their expertise and demonstrating that submission to Guhila rule brought safety rather than destruction. Surrounding territories - Nagda where he had grown up, the Aravalli valleys that had sheltered him, the vital trade routes to Gujarat - were brought under Guhila authority. Marriage alliances with other Rajput clans created a network of relationships that would sustain the dynasty for centuries. And the Eklingji temple was established in permanent form, institutionalizing the ideology of rulers as divine servants that Haritarashi had first taught the young cowherd in his mountain cave.

The Significance of Resistance

Some traditions claim Bappa led counter-offensives into Sindh and beyond, even reaching Ghazni in Afghanistan - though historians debate whether these are medieval embellishments. According to legend, Bappa established trading posts every 100 kilometers while returning after defeating the Arabs; one of these outposts reportedly became Rawalpindi (now in Pakistan), believed to be named after "Rawal" - Bappa Rawal. While historically debated, such legends reflect how later generations viewed his mythic reach.

What is certain is that under Bappa and the coalition, the Arab advance into India was halted. Sindh remained in Arab hands, but no further expansion occurred. The defensive victory of 738 CE was a turning point comparable to the Battle of Tours in Europe just six years earlier - indeed, historian C.V. Vaidya called Bappa Rawal "the Charles Martel of India," comparing him to the Frankish leader who stopped Arab expansion into Western Europe. In both cases, a coalition united against a common threat; determined resistance proved the seemingly unstoppable Arab conquests could be stopped; and defenders secured their civilization's independence for centuries to come. This victory earned Bappa the title "Hindua Suraj" (Sun of the Hindus), placing him among the great defenders of dharmic civilization.

Bappa Rawal emerged from these struggles as a defender of dharma - one who stood against the Mlechcha invasion and prevailed. This identity would define how later generations remembered him. The Bappa who secured Chittor around 740 CE was now a king, ruler of a major fortress-state. But the warrior who had won the kingdom now faced the challenge of ruling it. Military prowess alone does not make a successful state. Bappa would need to transform himself once more - from battle commander to administrator, from war leader to sovereign building institutions for the long term. The battles were won. The harder work of governance lay ahead.