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.