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History of India 1
HISTORY
Subject : History (For under graduate student)
Paper No. : Paper - III
History of Mughal India
Unit No. & Title : Unit – 8
Patterns of Regional Polity
Topic No. & Title : Topic - 1
Rajasthan
Lecture No. & Title : Lecture - 3
Rajput Polity (Part-3)
Script
Aurangzeb and the Marwar Succession Dispute
Introduction
The Rajputs have played a very important role in the
consolidation of the Mughal Empire. Akbar’s inclusion of the
Hindu Rajput rulers into the Mughal nobility was a most
significant development. By means of his famous
matrimonial alliances, Akbar generally recruited Rajput
History of India 2
chiefs who either claimed royal blood or were scions of
noble houses. The Rajputs in return for rank and privileges
conceded tight Mughal domination in Rajasthan. For
Rajputs, the brotherhood to which they gave daughters or
took wives became the second primary unit of recognition
after their own brotherhood. Marriage created an alliance
with his wife’s male relatives that could be called upon at
any time for assistance and support. However, for some
Rajputs, such as the Ranas or Mewar, the offer of Rajput
noblewomen to the Mughals, meant disgraceful submission.
The conflict between Akbar and Rana Pratap of Mewar has
to be understood within this larger ideological conflict about
sovereignty. The conflict between Akbar and Rana Pratap of
Mewar has to be understood within this larger conflict about
sovereignty. Akbar remained firm on the principle of
personal homage while Pratap envisaged—quite rightly—
matrimonial alliances and personal visit to the Mughal court
as gestures of ultimate submission. At the same time,
control of Mewar was a necessity for its strategic location
along a crucial trade route control of which would have in
turn secured the Mughals enhanced revenues from trade
and, commerce. This Mughal victory at Haldighati cannot be
History of India 3
termed as a setback for Rajput struggle for independence
from foreign rule. Neither was it a religious war between
Hindus and Muslims. Within a generation, Prtap’s son Amar
Singh accepted service in the Mughal nobility and
particularly significant in this instance was the role of fellow
Rajput princes who persuaded him to do so. During
Jahangir’s reign, therefore, there was a greater
institutionalization of mansabdari privileges into the entire
Rajput polity and Shajahan more or less followed the same
strategies. Mughal Rajput relations underwent a qualitative
change during the reign of Aurangzeb.
The Mughal Rajput relations became particularly strained
around the succession dispute in Marwar after the death of
Jaswant Singh. It is to the significance of this dispute for the
larger Mughal Rajput relations that we shall now turn.
Marwar Succession Dispute during Aurangzeb’s reign
Ranas of Marwar served the Mughals with distinction. Gaj
Singh had an illustrious career under the Mughals until his
death in 1638 while in service at Agra. His youngest son
Jaswant Singh who performed the cremation was
History of India 4
immediately anointed the new chief by emperor Shah
Jahan, overruling the claims of his elder brother Amar
Singh. The new Rana remained with the emperor for the
next two years before he returned to Jodhpur in 1840 to
formally take over the authority. He maintained close
contact with the emperor throughout his reign and served
the Mughals in the capacity of a senior amir. Forty years
later, Maharaja Jaswant Singh Rathor died while in duty as a
military commander (thanadar) in near exile at Jamrud,
Afganistan.
At the time of Jaswant’s Singh’s death he had no living male
heir although two of his wives were pregnant. On receiving
the news from Jamrud, Aurangzeb immediately took the
bureaucratic step of formally transferring all of Marwar to
the status of imperial crown territories (Khalisa). It was not
an annexation, but a necessary measure to reallocate the
kingdom in Jagirs. The emperor brought his court to the
Mughal capital at Ajmer to monitor the officials and soldiers
sent to take over the kingdom. The army, while occupying
Jodhpur, the capital of Marwar, indulged in acts of temple
and idol smashing to a considerable extent. Aurangzeb also
History of India 5
invested Indra Singh Rathor, son of Jawant’s Singh’s elder
brother Amar Singh, as the new Rana of Marwar. He was to
pay the annual ‘peskash’ of 35 lakhs rupees.
The aftermath of these events ushered in a prolonged phase
of tension and mistrust in the Mughal Rajput relations. The
subsequent crisis between Marwar and the Mughals that
grew around the succession is popularly known as the
Rathor Rebellion. By investing Indra Sigh, Aurangzeb chose
in fact to ignore the fact that on their delayed return
journey from Jamrud both the queens bore live sons. The
elder son, born to a Sisodia queen from Mewar, was called
Ajit Singh and accepted by senior Rathor officials as the
legitimate heir of Jaswant Singh. Even the Mir Bakshi of
Mughal Empire as well as the Rana of Bikaner, supported
the claim of Ajit Singh.By June 1779, Durgadas Rathor,
senior official of Jawant Singh brought the family and
household to the Rathor mansion in Shajahanbad. Alogh
with a few senior Rathor officials, he pleaded before the
emperor the case of Ajit Singh to be recognized as the new
king of Marwar. Aurangzeb refused the proposal and offered
to raise the infant in the Mughal imperial Harem and confer
History of India 6
the title of raja and noble rank when he came of age. The
Rathor chiefs flatly rejected this proposal.
At this point the younger infant died. Aurangzeb sent an
armed detachment under the Delhi kotwal to the Rathor
Mansion to seize the queens and the surviving infant.
Durgadas’ refusal to turn over the raja’s widows and the
surviving heir sparked off a musketry exchange. As
mounted rajput lancers charged the imperial detachment,
Durgadas put the queens disguised in male clothes on
horses and carrying the infant himself rode to a desparate
flight out of the city. Twice parties of Rajputs fell back to
sacrifice themselves and slow the pursuit. Finally Durgadas
reached Jodhpur and entrusted Ajit Singh and his mother to
a safe refuge with sympathetic Rajput lineage mates.
A slave girl with her infant left behind as dummies of Ajit
Singh and his mother was eventually captured by
Aurangzeb who claimed he was the real Ajit Sungh, turing
him over to the Harem to be raised as a Muslim Rajput king.
From a political point of view, this was certainly an unwise
move.
History of India 7
This boy by becoming a Muslim effectively lost all claim to
the throne of Marwar. No Rathor Sardar would accept him,
even if he were to be the real Ajit Singh. An outraged
Aurangzeb called Ajit Singh a ‘jaali baccha’ (an impostor),
that is, not the real son of Jaswant and refused to enter into
any negotiation with his supporters.
Aurangzeb thereafter sent an army under prince Akbar, his
youngest son, to capture Marwar. Jodhpur was already
under the Mughal faujdar Tahir Khan who joined in the
invading Mughal Army. He personally went to Ajmer and
called Asad Khan and Shaista Khan over to Ajmer to
conduct the war. The Rathors simply did not have the
resources to face such a large army in frontal warfare. They
chose therefore to wage a sort of guerrilla warfare,
occasionally harassing the Mughal army from within their
hideouts in the desert. Valiant, almost sucidal attamepts by
the Rathors to defend their capital city did not prove strong
enough to prevent the capture of Jodhpur by the Mughal
army. Prince Akbar’s army occupied Jodhpur and Rani Hadi
was forced to surrender. She was no longer allowed to stay
in the fort of Jodhpur. According to the requests of the
History of India 8
Sardars, some parganas were allotted to her for the
maintenance of the family.
At this point, the Rana of Mewar decided to throw in his lot
with the Marwar royal family against the Mughals. He was
certainly moved by the plight of his kinswoman, the Sosodia
princess who was the mother of Ajit Singh. But a greater
influnece was perhaps the threat of an imminent Mughal
campiagn against Mewar and a renewed desire to assert the
supremacy of Mewar in the Rajput polity, apart from his
personal reservation against Aurangzeb. Earlier, he had
sided with Aurangzeb at a crucial moment during his battle
of succession against Dara. Aurangzeb had promised him to
restore the honour and prestige enjoyed by Rana Sanga. On
becoming the emperor he did not keep his word although he
was elevated to a 6000 Jat/Sawar mansab, granted a few
additional Rajput chiefdoms such as Dungarpur, Banswara
and Deolia as ghair amali jagir (jagir away from his own
patrimony for maintenance of large troops) and an extra
income of two crore dams in the form of inam (revenue free
land grant). But one of the conditions for his coronation was
a pledge of non support for Marwar. Subsequently, he was
History of India 9
also forced to cede the parganas of Mandal, Bidur, etc in
lieu of jiziya. The grievance of the Rana of Mewar had
therefore acquired a strong symbolic content, caused partly
by the declining necessity of his support to the Mughals.
Even this combined Rajput army could not hold out against
the main Mughal force, primarily because it had no field
artillary. In any case, Raj Singh’s support for Ajit Singh’s
candidature was half hearted on account of earlier secret
attempts by Rathor Sardars to take over some territories
from Mewar. By the end of the year the Mughals had
occupied Udaipur, the capital of Mewar. Several big and
small temple were demolished by the rampaging Mughal
army and the Rana fled to the mountains, left to wage a
guerilla warfare. However, in early 1680 Aurngzeb returned
to Ajmer, transferring the charge of the campiagn to his
sons Akbar, Muazzam and Azam. For the next year or so,
Mughal success against the Rajput guerilla attacks was
limited. The Rana died of natural causes but his son kept up
the resiatance. Aurangzeb, on the other hand, kept sensing
reinforcements and reprimanding each of his sons for lack of
success.
History of India 10
The Rajputs complememnted their guerilla tacticcs in the
field of war with some adveturous diplomatic moves.
Throughput this period, secret Rajput emissaries
encouraged prince Akbar to rebel against his father.
They complained that Aurangzeb’s bigoted policies against
Rajputs harmed the stability of the empire in the long run
and assured Akbar that with thier support he could gain the
throne and reverse the discriminatory policies of his father
to the empire’s advanatge. The defection of Akbar had
meanwhile reduced the imprerial pressure on the Rajputs.
In fact, Akbar’s rebellion suddenly converted the Rathor
resistance into a full blown imperial crisis. Unfortunately,
Akbar was slow and indecisive in his moves and by the time
his forces reached Aurangzeb’s camp in Ajmer, the latter
cunnigly engineered a division between him and his Rajput
supporters. Rajputs, whio had meanwhile discovered the
reality, offered shelter to a fleeing Akbar.
The failure of Akbar’s rebellion took the sting out of the
Rathor upsurge to a large extent. Resistance in Mewar
gradually died down, with the Rana offering a surrender and
History of India 11
agreeing to pay the jiziah for Mewar and Auranzeb formally
endorsed his right to the throne. In Marwar, however,
resistance continued for another generation.
The fugtive prince Ajit Singh remained the symbolic focus of
Rathor guerilla war. It would be another twnety years
before a settlement was reached between a mature Ajit
Singh and the emperor. During this critical period, the
Mughals lost the service of most Rathor Rajputs.
The motive of Aurangzeb is not easy to determine.
Jadunath Sarkar (1870-1958) suggested that Aurangzeb
wanted Jodhpur to be under the direct control of the
Mughals and to convert Hindus into Muslims. This is difficult
to accept, because if he wanted Jodhpur to be in his direct
control, it was already there as a khalisa. Except Jodhpur,
the Rathors were willing to give the rest of the state as
khalisa. So, he could have accepted it, but he did not do
that.
Strategically, too, it did not make great sense. Aurangzeb at
the same time was occupied with the Deccan war (called
History of India 12
Deccan ulcer by some historians) and war with
Maharashtra. He was forced to fight in two fronts, one in
Maharashtra and the other in Rajputana. In fact, quite a few
Rajput states like Amber, Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Bundi, Kota,
etc. were all with the Mughals. They did not fight in the
Marwar war, but they participated in the Deccan war.
Therefore, this was certainly not a fight against the Rajputs
as such.
Gradually, Aurangzeb realized the futility of the enterprise
and began to devise exit options. Logistical concerns such
as money and the declining morale of the soldiers proved to
be particularly worrisome. There was in fact a division in the
Mughal nobility on the question. The Mir Bakshi advocated a
compromise with the Rajputs, in order to concentrate on the
Marathas. Even if it was not difficult to occupy Jodhpur,
revenue collection from adjacent areas was a near
impossible task. One of the exit options suggested by
Aurangzeb was a division of the state between two main
claimants, Indra Singh and Ajit Singh. But the Rathors did
not agree, because such a division of the state was likely to
weaken it.
History of India 13
Aurangzeb was now at a bitter end. Durgadas Rathore had
meanwhile managed to get Tahir Khan, the faujdar of
Jodhpur, in his side, and they seized Ajmer. But they then
could not maintain themselves there, and had to flee from
there.
Between 1681 and 1686, Durgadas and Prince Akbar, who
was in rebellion in 1681, went to Maharashtra. From there
in 1686, Durgadas came back to Marwar. During, these five
years the individual Rathore captains continued their
warfare without much coordination and success.
With Durgadas’ return Ajit Singh who was in hiding in
Sirohi, now came back to Marwar and became the head of
the resistance against the Mughals. In 1696, Ajit Singh got
married to the niece of the Rana of Mewar. There was one
implication in this marriage which was difficult for
Aurangzeb to ignore. The implication was that the other
Rajput states, particularly the premier ones like Mewar now
accepted Ajit Singh as the genuine heir of Jaswant Singh.
This had completely nullified the Aurangzeb’s claim of Ajit
Singh being an impostor.
History of India 14
Aurangzeb himself by that time had been getting older and
preoccupied completely with the Maratha problem. In 1698,
he finally accepted Ajit Singh as the Rana of Marwar on
condition that Jodhpur would remain in the hands of the
Mughals. But the Rana’s objection was was that Jodhpur
was the hereditary patrimony (i.e. ‘watan jaigir’) of the
Rana of Marwar. This stalemate between Ajit Singh and
Aurangzeb continued, although outwardly the fighting came
to a halt.
Ajit Singh rebelled twice in 1702 and 1707, but he did not
succeed. In his venture to enlist the help of other Rajput
states his success was limited. Except, Rana of Mewar
nobody supported him with any real terms. Rana of Bikaner
supported him, but did not send any force. Even Rana of
Mewar too offered only half hearted support.
This limitation became clearly visible when Durgadas and
Ajit Singh escaped to Mewar. The Rana gave them asylum,
and the Mughals immediately retaliated. They invaded
Mewar and occupied Kumbhalgarh (Rana Kumva’s palace).
Rana fled and tried to start the guerrilla warfare from there,
History of India 15
but Durgadas and Ajit Singh refused to participate in
guerrilla warfare. Ajit Singh actually did not have much of a
say, it was Durgadas who refused on the ground that the
Rajputs fight openly, not from under the bushes. Now this
was the situation when Raj Singh, the Rana of Mewar, died.
Then Durgadas and Ajit Singh turned to Udaipur for support.
Udaipur verbally agreed, but offered nothing substantial. It
was in this condition that Aurangzeb died.
It is difficult to assess whether this rupture with Sisodias
and Rathors was inevitable. Had Aurangzeb been more
attentive to Rajput sensitivities, the revolt might not have
occurred. Aurangzeb was certainly irritated with Jaswant
Singh over his support of Dara in the battle of succession
and his reported complicity in the escape of Shivaji from
Puna. But these grievances need not have encouraged him
to interfere with what for all practical purposes appeared to
be a smooth succession.
Mughal Rajput encounter since Aurangzeb
After the death of Aurangzeb Bahadur Shah became the
emperor. Bahadur Shah’s policy can be divided in to 2
History of India 16
phases. In the 1st phase he followed the policy of Aurangzeb
of going against the Rajputs, putting them down and trying
to control them. In the 2nd phase it became exactly the
opposite. Rajputs were honoured and given very high ranks.
Now in the beginning Ajit sing and Jay Singh submitted. But
bahadur Shah offered the throne of Marwar to Vijay Singh
who was another claimant and had earlier supported
Mughals and Bahadur shah in several cases. Jay sing
naturally became very upset and began resistance once
again. Jay sing recovered Ambar, and drove away Vijay sing
outside and And Ajit Singh recovered Jodhpur. Then they
went to Maharana of Udaipur to make an agreement to start
a joint struggle against the Mughols. The Maharana who had
lost some territories earlier to the Mughals now recovered
some of those territories. So, he agreed with that proposal
but didn’t give any help. Soon after recovering Amber, Jay
Singh became quiet. Ajit sing seized Ajmer but then he was
defeated by the Faujdars and he had to retreat from Ajmer
after paying 80 thousands rupees.
History of India 17
On the other hand, Bahadur shah realized that this policy of
Aurangzeb could not be maintained. So he changed his
policy now. He accepted Ajit Sing as the ruler of Marwar and
returned the property of Jay Singh. Beside this they were
given high Mansabs. They were asked to guard the foothills
of the Siwalik Mountains against the Sikhs because the war
with Banda Sing Bahadur (1670-1716) was in progress at
that particular time. After Banda had been imprisoned and
executed, the two Rajput Ranas were assigned good post
viz. Faujdari of Mathura and Governership of Gujrat.
As we have seen, there had emerged by now two distinct
schools of opinion in the Mughal court—one against the and
the other was to conciliate the Rajputs and enlist their
military support. Against the growing threat of factionalism
in the court, it was the second one that was now favoured
by the emperors. Bahadur Shah was deposed and his
successor Farrukhsiyar (1683-1719) gave lucrative Jagirs to
Rajputs. For the time being Jiziah was abolished on the
request of Ajit Sing in 1712. The tide had now turned in
favour of the Rajputs. The Mughal emperors tried all the
time to enlist the two Rajput chiefs Ajit Sing and Jai Sing
History of India 18
and other Rajout chiefs to their sides because now they
were all facing a continuous war of succession.
Farrukhsiyar too was deposed very soon. The reign of
Muhammed Shah began but in 1739 the invasion of Nadir
Shah starkly exposed the weakness of the Mughal empire.
There was also the Marathas attack in north India. During
this critical period, it was the bravery of Raja Jai Sing who
defeated the Marathas and kept them at bay for some time.
In 1741 there had been a pact between Marathas and the
Mughals which bought temporary peace. The Mughals by
then had very little actual authority left. But in the bargain
Rajputs secured themselves very good positions. Ajit Sing
received the governorship of Ajmer and Gujrat, and Malwa
was given to another Rajput king. Therefore they became
the most powerful elements in the Mughal court by 1750.
The Rajput policy under the Mughals thus underwent
various kinds of evolution influenced partly by the internal
dynamics of the Rajput polity as well as the changing
dynamics within the Mughal court.
History of India 19
Conclusion
Mughal-Rajput relations in the 16th century developed
according to the political requirement of the two most
powerful ruling elites in North India-the Mughals and
Rajputs. In the 17th century, however, it suffered a setback
against the backdrop of steady expansion of the Empire,
internal conflicts among the Rajputs and proclamation of the
principle of regional autonomy by different sections.
During Jahangir's reign the rulers of four leading states of
Rajputana-Mewar, Marwar, Amber and Bikaner-held the
mansab of 5000 zat or above. The rulers of the Rajput
states now got higher mansabs in comparison to Akbar's
time. An analysis of the mansab and offices conferred
during Jahangir's reign shows that they were type-cast on
the basis of ethnic origin, caste, etc. The Rajputs were
mainly employed as qila' dars of forts as faujdar. But this
type casting was neither inflexible nor rested on communal
considerations.
During Shah Jahan's reign, they were given important
commands and assigned high mansabs. This reflected his
History of India 20
trust on the Rajputs. The Rajputs continued to be given
posts such as qila' dar and faujdar. The differentiation
between civil and military assignments was still made on the
basis of caste and ethnic origins. During Jahangir's and
Shah Jahan's time, the Rajputs continued to be allies but
their role in civil administration was negligible.
Two conflicts against Bundelas and Mewar took place during
Shah Jahan's reign and both occurred due to conflicting
interpretations of concept of paramountcy and suzerainty.
The Mughals who held hegemonic power wanted to control
these conflicts out of self-interest and because the
subordinate chieftains had direct relations with the Mughals
to protect themselves and seek Mughal help whenever
necessary. Thus, the class allies-Rajputs and Mughals-had
common interests as far as collection of land revenue and
maintenance of law and order were concerned, but there
were differences in perceptions about respective rights and
privileges. They could be sorted out by a process of give
and take or could lead to tensions. The Mughals tended to
make it clear that no subordinate raja could extend his
territory without the consent of the Mughal Emperor.
History of India 21
Aurangzeb's policy towards the Rajputs from 1680's worried
both Rajputs as well as a section of the Mughal nobility. This
is evident from the Rajput-Mughal nobles' complicity in the
rebellion of Prince Akbar. The rulers of Mewar and Marwar
were dissatisfied with Aurangzeb's policy and they wanted
restoration of territories sequestered by Aurangzeb. A
section at the Mughal court, e.g., Prince Azam considered
Aurangzeb's Rajput policy faulty and attempted to conspire
with the Rana of Mewar expecting his help in the war of
succession. In the second half of the 17th century
Aurangzeb became lukewarm towards the Rajputs. Rajputs
were not given important assignments. He interfered in
matters relating to matrimonial alliances among the
Rajputs. However, Aurangzeb's breach with Mewar and
Marwar cannot be interpreted as a breach with the Rajputs
in general. The rulers of several Rajput states such as
Amber, Bikaner, Bundi and Kota continued to receive
mansabs. But they were not accorded high ranks or
positions in Aurangzeb's reign.
Aurangzeb's orthodoxy alone did not shape his Rajput
policy. There were larger dynamics of power which
History of India 22
influenced the shifts in Mughal Rajput relations more
fundamentally. The Rajput policy was part of a larger policy
of dealing with emerging local powers. As the Mughal
Empire got consolidated in the north, the next step logical
was to extend its boundaries southwards which meant
alliance with local ruling elements, i.e., the Marathas. The
Rajputs had lost their prominent position in the Mughal
system and the importance of the Marathas increased in the
second half of the 17th century. Now, the Rajputs needed
the alliance with the Mughals. The wars with Mewar and
Manvar were a drain on the treasury but not a serious one
and did not in any substantial way affect the overland trade
to the Cambay seaports. However, Aurangzeb's Rajput
policy reflected his incompetence to deal with issues which
affected the prestige of the Empire. It led to political and
religious discord which demonstrated lack of political
acumen. All this gave impetus to rebellions by the Mughal
Princes in league with the Rajputs. This in turn opened the
way for the final twist in the Mughal Rajput relations in the
eighteenth century when, against the background of
continuous succession disputes, Rajputs gradually emerged
as a powerful and decisive influence within the Mughal
History of India 23
court. Earlier, the Mughals interfered in succession disputes
among the Rajputs. Now the Rajputs took great interest in
Mughal succession disputes. The tide had turned
comprehensively. What remained unchanged was the
continuous importance of Rajput military support for the
stability of the Mughal polity.