The battle of Haldighati happened on 17th June 1576 in Haldighati, Rajasthan. Maharana Pratap’s army was of 15,000 soldiers and Akbar’s army had 80,000 soldiers. The army in cheif of Maharana Pratap was Hakim Khan Sur of Kabul and Akbar’s army in chief was Raja Man Singh of Jaipur. Man Singh, Jagmal Singh, Shakti Singh betrayed Maharana Pratap by joining Mughal forces. The battle started and Pratap was smashing the Mughals and his sword beheaded many. Raja Man Singh somehow gathered the Mughals and continued fighting. Maharana Pratap was fighting on his horse, Chetak with an artificial elephant trunk attached. Maharana then went ahead to kill Man Singh on his elephant. But he was blocked by a soldier called Behlol Khan who was Akbar’s strongest soldier. Maharana Pratap gave him such a blow by his sword that he sliced him in two pieces by his sword.
The Mughals were absolutely shocked seeing this and Maharana went to kill Man Singh. His horse, Chetak put his legs on Man Singh’s elephant and Pratap went to strike his blow by his spear. However, his spear accidentally hit his driver and Man Singh went down causing him to get narrowly saved.
However in all this, his horse’s Chetak leg got cut by a sword. Guessing the situation, Pratap gave his crown to his lookalike, Jhala Man Singh and had to retrieve from the battlefield. Jhala Man Singh eventually got targeted and became a martyr. Meanwhile Chetak ran for 5km on three legs and jumped 26 feet causing him to die.
This made Maharana Pratap extremely devastated as he loved Chetak more than his son. After the battle, Maharana Pratap went to Aravali forests and vowed that until Mewar is freed from Mughals, he will live in forests. He made new strategies such as Dwikantak Neeti, Guerilla Warfare and made an army of 50,000 soldiers. The day came when he took his revenge in the battle of Dewair and smashed the Mughals. He won that war and took his revenge of Haldighati.
Infact, Akbar never came in front of Maharana Pratap and was so scared of him. Akbar had told his soldiers that they shouldn’t take him name of Pratap in night because he will haunt Akbar in dreams. The conclusion is that no one won the battle of Haldighati as Mughals failed to take Maharana alive or dead.
Maharana Pratap died in 1597, 19 January due to an accident and even Akbar cried on his death. Maharana Pratap was always superior to coward Akbar.
Akbar never won, Rana never lost.