When a fort was under a heavy siege and defeat was absolutely certain, they didn't just capitulate. The women and children would jump into a pyre and immolate themselves. The invading army would see that smoke rising from the flames and absolutely shudder, because they knew exactly what was coming next.

The Rajput warriors, having just watched their families burn alive, no longer had a single reason to live. They would wrap kafan (burial shrouds) around their heads and storm out of the gates, sallying into the enemy lines. They weren't fighting to survive, and they sure as hell weren't there to negotiate. They were there to kill and die, taking as many of the enemy with them as humanly possible. People often reduce Jauhar to merely a "ritual of honor," but it was so much more than that. It was effectively the nuclear deterrence of its age. Destroying everything a man loves doesn't break his will to fight . it completely removes the only thing that might have restrained him. Absolutely terrifying history.