Page:History of India Vol 3.djvu/263

 THE BATTLE OF KANWAHA 215 man orders how to proceed and engage. Then, when all was arranged, I moved the army on in order of battle for a couple of miles, when we camped." On Saturday, March 16, 1527, the two armies met at Kanwaha. The battle began by a desperate charge of the Rajputs upon the emperor's right, which he instantly supported from his reserves, while opening fire with his artillery from the centre. It was impossible to stop a Rajput charge, however; they came on, wave after wave, against the cannon, and the fight grew more and more desperate. After several hours of hand-to-hand conflict, Babar sent orders to his flanking columns to wheel and charge in the famous Mongol tactics, while at the same time he ordered his guns forward, and sent out the house- hold troops at the gallop on each side of his centre of matchlockmen, who also advanced firing. This com- bined manoeuvre shook the enemy. Few Indians will fight when taken in the rear. The Rajputs were pressed into a disordered crowd, and nothing but their indom- itable gallantry prolonged a battle that was fast be- coming a massacre. Ustad Ali's cannon did fearful execution, and at last the splendid chivalry of India gave up hope, forced its way through the encompassing Turks, and fled in every direction, leaving heaps of slain upon the fields. Many chiefs had fallen, and the heads of the noble Rajputs rose in a ghastly tower erected by their conqueror. Sanga escaped, severely wounded, and died soon after, but no raja of his line ever again took the field in person against an emperor of Babar 's house.