It is alleged that Hindus and Muslims kept fighting with each other. Many examples are quoted for this. We will try to understand some of these. One such major fight, which forms the base of our %u201Cunderstanding%u201D is the battle between Rana Pratap and Akbar. Rana Pratap is glorified as a brave and glorious Hindu king fighting against Islam. Why did this battle take place? Was it for some religious motive? To begin with, was It a Hindu-Muslim battle? Raja Mansingh represented Akbar in this battle. Shahazada Salim assisted him in this battle. Rana Pratap had Rajput soldiers under him and Salim had Muslim soldiers. On the other hand,Rana Pratap%u2019s major associate was Hakim Khan Sur. Rana Pratap had Rajput soldiers under him and Hakim Khan Sur had Muslim soldiers under him. So on both the sides we see Hindu and Muslim soldiers and generals. The battle took place not on the issue of religion, but on the ground of designation. Akbar was expanding his empire and was offering different designations to different kings. He offered the Panch Hazari (One who can keep five thousand soldiers) status to Rana Pratap, which he refused to accept, as he was demanding the status of Das Hazari (Tenthousand soldiers). Later Jahangir offered the same status Das Hazari to Rana Pratap%u2019s son Amarsingh and Amarsingh gladly became Jahangir%u2019s associate. But the communalists see it only through the jaundiced eyes of religion and present a picture, which projects it in a totally distorted light.
