Battle of Haldighati (1576): Akbar Won the Battle. So Why Was He Furious?

18 June 1576. In a narrow yellow pass in the Aravalli hills, Maharana Pratap of Mewar faced the army of the Mughal emperor Akbar, led by a Rajput, Raja Man Singh of Amber. By the afternoon, Akbar's army held the field. A few weeks later, Akbar banned the general who won it from his court.

Why was the winner punished? To answer that, we go back to the fall of Chittor, Pratap's vow, four messengers, a captured war elephant, a false rumour, a royal umbrella, and twenty-one years in the hills.