Maha Rana Pratap was well aware of the numerical superiority of the Mughal Army, so he decided on a full & ferocious attack with speed & hoped to pierce the Mughal bastion quickly & end the battle.
As soon as the Battle started the screen of Mughal skirmishes was blown away by a ferocious cavalry charge from Pratap. Advance reserve & vanguard of the Mughals were pressed into service. The Mughal van managed to attack the Rana with Behlol Khan leading the charge. Pratap himself came forward to counter him, what happened next froze the blood of the onlookers. Before Behlol Khan could even complete his blow, Pratap seated on his favorite horse Chetak delivered a mighty blow on the helmet of Behlol Khan. The blow was struck with such ferocity & precision that Behlol Khan was vertically cut into two pieces with his helmet, armor & even his horse. The Mughal army was petrified looking at this & their charge withered.
Meanwhile Pratap had reached the centre of the Mughal forces & had spotted Raja Man Singh on his elephant. Pratap attacked him knowing that if he can bring down Man Singh the battle would be won immediately. Chetak was a fearless steed & planted its front legs on the trunk of the elephant & Rana threw his mighty spear (35kgs) at Man Singh. However the Mahawat of Man Singh came in between & was pierced. This sacrifice saved Man Singh (history would have been different then). This incident rattled Man Singh. The force of the blow of the spear was so strong that it even broke the Howda on the elephant back on his Man Singh was seated.
Chetak was already wounded by a sword cut on the hind leg which was caused by the sword tied to the trunk of the Elephant of Man Singh. Rana was also severely wounded by now with a musket shot, spear & sword cut. Sensing his Rana in danger Jhala Maan raced to his help & took the Royal Banner on his shoulder allowing Chetak the time to run away with the Rana & him attending martyrdom.
Pratap had a half- brother Shakti Singh who had earlier joined Akbar & was witnessing all these actions himself. And after looking at the supreme sacrifice of Jhala Maan changed his mind & pressed his forces into holding back the Mughals & giving cover for the planned retreat of the Rajputs & Bheel soldiers.
Mughals had however captured one of the precious possessions of Rana, his favorite Elephant Ram Prasad, who was later gifted to Akbar. Akbar renamed it as Pir Prasad. The beast was so loyal to the Rana that it starved himself to death.One of the bloodiest battles of history, where Haldighati saw as estimated 4000 Rajputs & 14000 Mughals perish in a span of 6 hours.
The Rana on the other hand within a short span of time with the help from Bhama Shah the wealthy trader of Mewar reorganized his army & won back almost all his lost territory & forts except Chittor, pointing to the fact that the battle ended in stalemate.
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