page_title: Jauhar
section_title: Jauhar of Ranthambore: Alauddin Khalji
hierarchical_section_title: Jauhar / Occurrence / Jauhar of Ranthambore: Alauddin Khalji
caption_attribution_description: English: Sultan Alau'd Din put to Flight; Women of Ranthambhor commit Jauhar Indian, Pahari, about 1825 The Family of Nainsukh, Kangra style, Punjab Hills, Northern India Dimensions Overall: 22.2 x 32.6 cm (8 3/4 x 12 13/16 in.) Image: 19.2 x 29 cm (7 9/16 x 11 7/16 in.) Medium or Technique Opaque watercolor on paper
context_page_description: Jauhar, sometimes spelled Jowhar or Juhar, is the act of mass self-immolation by women in parts of the Indian subcontinent, to avoid capture, enslavement and rape by foreign invaders, when facing certain defeat during a war. Some reports of jauhar mention women committing self-immolation along with their children. This practice was historically observed in northwest regions of India, with most famous jauhars in recorded history occurring during wars between Hindu Rajput kingdoms in Rajasthan and the Muslim Turko-Mongol armies. Jauhar originated from the sati ritual, the process of widow burning, and sometimes referred in scholarly literature as jauhar sati. However jauhar is performed during war, usually when there was no chance of victory. The practice was accompanied by saka, or a last stand in battle.
  The term jauhar often connotes with both jauhar-immolation and saka ritual. During the Jauhar, Rajput women committed suicide with their children and valuables in massive fire, to avoid capture and abuse in the face of inescapable military defeat and capture.
context_section_description: In 1301, Alauddin Khalji of Delhi Sultanate besieged and conquered the Ranthambore fort. When faced with a certain defeat, the defending ruler Hammiradeva decided to fight to death with his soldiers, and his minister Jaja supervised the organization of a jauhar. The queens, daughters and other female relatives of Hammiradeva committed suicide in this jauhar. The jauhar at Ranthambore has been described by Alauddin's courtier Amir Khusrau, which makes it the first jauhar to be described in a Persian language text.
caption: Sultan Alau'd Din put to Flight; Women of Ranthambhor commit Jauhar. Indian, Pahari style painting from c. 1825
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