Visal had vowed not to bow his head before a mortal being; his head, he said, would bow only before his sword -- Shakti --  the symbol of Goddess.

Artist  Pratapsinh Jadeja

The Sultan of Gujarat, when he heard about this, got annoyed and upset.
He promptly sent a dispatch to Visal asking him to either bow before him or accept the challenge of a battle with his army.

Rather than bowing his head before the Sultan.
he, on behalf of his friends, took up the challenge of facing the might of the huge Sultanic army.

 He, however, suggested : So that the battle does not appear altogether unfair and lop-sided, and we have a better chance too of showing you our skills as warriors,
the army be forbidden from using guns, cannons, double-barrels and firelocks against the few and far outnumbered that we are with but a sword in the hand of each.

-As they were about to enter the battlefield Visal, with his sword, drew on the ground where they stood a big circle and
asked the friends to return into the fold of this circle on sunset along with all their belongings --
even the bits and pieces of the dismembered parts of their body --
so that they breathe their last on this collective deathbed.

The battlefield on the bank of river Brahmani near Karsangadh village

As the battle raged, the eleven men (Tejrav was, incidentally, away then, having gone out of the town on some errand)
braving the blows of hundreds of enemy warriors, began to sweep across the battlefield.
So swiftly they moved around that the swords swinging violently in their hands flashed dazzles that gave an illusion of each of them fighting the battle in multiple forms.

Fearing defeat, the Sultan went back on his word and, breaking the agreement, ordered his men to attack with arrows and firelocks.

At sunset, as the fighting stopped, the friends, having gathered every dismembered part of their bodies, they managed to hobble back into the circle.

 Bidding farewells, they stretched out side by side and breathed their last.

The last scene so dramatically described by Meghani

It was dusk when Tejrav, the twelfth friend rode back with his cart to the village and learnt about the carnage.

Lamenting like a grief-stricken widow, he raced towards the crematory grounds
where flames were leaping into the sky from the single crematory pyre of the eleven brave men.

Lest he be left behind by his friends in the eternal journey which they had vowed to undertake together,
he then leaped into and clambered up the blazing pile of firewood and took up a sitting posture atop the pyre.

As the flames enveloped him, he began to say his rosary and chant : Har !   Har !   Har !

Only after his entire body was aflame, the rosary fell out of his hand !

 
A Duho in praise of Tejrav

The Memorial at Aambardi

The memorial to Maanju, the Rabaaran (shepherdess)

While the friends were leaving for the battlefield, Maanju offered them water from the earthen water-jug she was carrying on her head.
After they cooled their throats with water, Visal requested her to wait there, if she could, till they returned from the battlefield.
Still badly they would need to sooth their souls then, he murmured as if prophetically.

And, indeed, when they returned --- badly bruised --- Maanju, who was still there as promised, held a tumbler in her hand and
dripped drops of water between the lips of the pilgrims to the eternity 

Mohabattkhan Peer-nee Jagya

The tomb in memory of Prince Mohabbatkhan, the eldest son of the Sultan who was slain by Visal in the battle