Management lessons from Battle of Haldighati

Management lessons from Battle of Haldighati

Throughout history, wars have left an indelible mark on human psyche. Serious debates have been held on the morality of and the strategic necessity for war. And yet, like every dark cloud that has a silver lining, wars too at times leave a society wiser.

India too is no stranger to wars. And there are many lessons to be learnt from each of those battles -- management lessons, to be precise. Here we present the first of a series of articles on management lessons drawn from Indian history. This one picks out management gems from the Battle of Haldighati.

Battle of Haldighati (1576 AD)

1) Mughal Emperor Akbar had captured Chittorgarh (Chittor fort) from Maharaja Udai Singh II in 1568. But before this, Udai Singh sensed the Mughals' intention to capture Chittor and the strength of the army. Thus, he built a new town at Udaipur near the foothills of the Aravali mountains. Udai Singh II, father of Maharana Pratap, shifted his capital to Udaipur, when Chittor fell.

Lesson: Prepare a backup plan to face any contingency. This plan should be executed at an appropriate time when the current plan fails to deliver the desired result. This is what Maharaja Udai Singh II had done by building a new town and seamlessly shifting the capital when Chittor fell.

2) Udai Singh II wanted his favourite son Jagmal to be his successor, but his ministers instead preferred his eldest son Pratap. They argued that Pratap had the required skill to fight the Mughals in these difficult times to retain Mewar's independence and to recapture Chittor. Finally, they made Maharana Pratap the king of Mewar.

Lesson: Succession planning should be reviewed periodically, and modified based on the ground realities. It should be done on merit, not on favouritism.

3) Maharana Pratap was unlike many other Rajput rulers who had joined hands with Akbar and had matrimonial alliance with Mughals. He turned down multiple proposals from Akbar to join hands with him.

He was determined to take over the Chittor fort and avenge the killings of innocents during that battle. Maharana Pratap knew it was not easy to capture Chittor.

Lesson: One could set an aggressive goal even if it is against popular belief or practice, provided one is determined and weighs the decision well by considering the full perspective.

4) In 1576, a big army of Akbar led by Kunwar Man Singh (who later became Raja Man Singh) met Maharana Pratap's men at Haldighati. Maharan Pratap was riding his famous horse, Chetak.
Maharana Pratap and his few men fought valiantly, but his army was no match to the numerical strength of Man Singh's army. When defeat looked imminent, Maharana Pratap's general, Jhala Mansingh, convinced Maharana Pratap to change the clothes and escape from Haldighati as he had bigger mission to accomplish.

Pratap agreed and escaped from the battlefield. Jhala Mansingh fought well, but was killed on the battlefield.

Lesson: Don't be rigid. One should be flexible in entertaining new ideas and suggestions from the team members, and take corrective actions if convinced.

5) Shakthi Singh was the brother of Maharana Pratap, but was fighting along with the Mughal army due to the family feud. He was amazed at Maharana Pratap's skill in the battlefield.

A couple of Mughal soldiers realized that Maharana Pratap had escaped and they followed him. Sensing this, Shakthi Singh followed the soldiers. When Maharana Pratap's famous horse Chetak died on the way, and Mughal soldiers came close to attacking Maharana Pratap, Shakthi Singh killed these soldiers and saved his brother's life and joined him in his battle against the Mughals.

Lesson: Leadership does not come by position, but by the qualities one demonstrates. This can turn the person into a role model, someone people would like to emulate. Here, Pratap's leadership qualities impressed Shakhti Singh, who, in turn, showed a higher sense of maturity. Bravery and leadership of Pratap appealed to his higher senses. Leadership guided by higher senses and great value systems are sustainable. It makes others follow the path.

6) The Mughal army suffered heavy casualties due to the arrows shot at them by the Bhils from the Aravali mountains. Bhils sided with Maharana Pratap during this battle and later too.

Maharana Pratap realized that defeating the Mughal army in a face-to-face battle was difficult and, therefore, he changed tack, shifting to guerilla warfare. His guerilla war was supported by tribes in the mountains and others, who kept attacking the Mughal army in whatever way they could. They even provided a spy network that saved Maharana Pratap several times.

Lesson: Willing to change the strategy by learning from the failed ones. The goal is to find a winning strategy. It's a case of using one's strength against the enemy's weakness. Lack of knowledge of the local terrain made Mughals vulnerable to guerrilla attacks that Maharana Pratap together with Bhils utilised to their advantage.

7) Pratap captured many areas of Mewar, but Chittor remained elusive. He made sure that the Mughals would never be able to rule in peace in Mewar. Even Akbar sent multiple expeditions to ferret out Maharana Pratap from his hideouts, but to no avail.

During this period, in one of his weak moments, Maharana Pratap decided to give up the fight and negotiate a peace treaty with Akbar. Knowing this, Pratap's cousin Prithiviraj Rathore, who served in Akbar court, wrote a letter to Pratap, urging him not to go ahead with his plan, as he was the only Rajput whom everyone respected. He urged Pratap to continue to be the custodian of this great responsibility.

Maharana Pratap responded positively and continued to fight till his last breath.
Lesson: During execution, it is sometimes common to lose sight of the goal and move away from the path and take one that is not aligned with the end goal. During this time, one needs mentors, friends and allies to provide the right guidance.

Maharana Pratap started his campaign with an aggressive goal to capture the Chittor fort. Approximately, 20 years after the battle of Haldighati, Maharana Pratap died. He had captured almost all of Mewar, except the Chittor fort.

He was such an icon of patriotism and the fight for freedom that four centuries later Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, one of the stalwarts of India's freedom struggle, commented that if Mewar could merge with independent India, then no other state had the right to remain independent.

Lesson: One should not be worried about setting aggressive goals for the fear of failure. Even if one cannot achieve the entire goal, partial achievement in the right direction is far more commendable than taking an easy way out.