Tag: Rajputs

Introduction

The Mughals built their empire in the Indian subcontinent from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries. They mostly achieved this through military conquests, but they continued to solidify their position by keeping diplomatic ties with other kingdoms. When the Mughal kingdom reached its pinnacle, other kingdoms began to recognise its authority, formed allies with the Mughal emperor, and merged with the Mughal empire. The rulers who readily merged with the Mughal empire was respected and honoured. In this way, the Mughal empire grew and ruled most parts of India for a very long time.

Mughal Relations with other rulers

• The Mughal state began to prosper and eventually attained its zenith. They adopted a policy of conquering kingdoms that refused to recognize their rule  through military operations.
• However, many nations accepted the Mughal empire’s subjection after learning of their strength and splendour. 
• The Mughals honoured the devotion of such kings who accepted their authority during the construction of the Empire.
• The Mughals let them keep their privileges in place of paying annual tributes, and on the other hand, gave members of that clan important positions in the court.
• In this way, the Mughals maintained a balance of power by not humiliating kingdoms that were annexed and submerged into the Mughal empire.
• Mughals had an extraordinary relationship with the Rajputs, this was so because King Akbar considered Rajputs as the primary concern which can hinder the growth of the Mughal Empire.

Mughal relations with Rajputs

Regarding Mughal connections with the Rajputs, it was Akbar who realized that the Rajputs’ assistance was essential for expanding and consolidating his kingdom.

Prior to him, Babur and Humayun had no clear policy to embrace the Rajputs; instead, Babur grew their empire by overthrowing Rana Sanga (of Mewar) and Medini Rai (Chanderi). Similarly, Humayun was also unable to maintain cordial ties with Rajputs despite his marriage to a Rajput princess and  Rani Karmavati (of Mewar’s) offer to accept him as a brother.

He made an effort to gain the Rajput’s trust in the following ways:

• The specific Rajput policy was developed by Akbar as a part of his empire-building efforts.
• He cultivated his relationships with Rajput’s through marriages. He married several Rajput princesses.
• He also married off his son, prince Salim, to the daughter of  Bhagwan Das of Amber.
• Rajput lords like Raja Todar Mal, Raja Birbal, and Raja Man Singh received significant posts in his army and government.
• He allowed the Rajput rulers that they could retain their kingdom and continued to rule by accepting Akbar’s overlordship and paying him regular tributes.
• Akbar adopted a wise strategy of refraining from interfering in the internal issues of the Rajputs.
• Rajputs were permitted to practise their religion, construct temples, and participate in festivals during King Akbar’s rule.
• King Akbar also abolished jizyah and won the trust of various Rajputs.
• Not all Rajputs embraced Mughal rule or made friends with them; some Rajput kingdoms posed a serious threat to the Mughals and had to be forcibly incorporated into the Mughal Empire. 
• Even though these kingdoms were defeated, these Rajputs were not humiliated; rather, they were honoured, and their territory was given to them as watan jagir during Akbar’s reign. 

King Akbar is referred to as “the real founder of the Mughal Empire” since his this Rajput policy during the 16th and 17th centuries was one of the key causes of the Mughal empire’s stability and continued expansion.

Summary

The way the Mughals interacted with other kings was crucial to the growth and stabilization of the Mughal Empire. Babur and Humayun held a neutral view of other kings, particularly Rajput’s, as they did not see them as the main obstacle to the empire’s growth. But after Akbar came to power, the Mughals’ perspective on Rajput’s started to alter. As a result, he maintained cordial ties with Rajput’s by granting them special privileges because he saw them as the greatest threat to the Mughal empire. King Akbar respected and honoured all the various clans which had surrendered to the Mughal empire, he not only gave those emperors respectable positions in the Mughal court but despite of conquering their land he allowed the respective rulers to run their own kingdom. Jahangir and Shajahan kept this liberal attitude toward Rajput’s, but as Aurangzeb came into power he destroyed all relations with the Rajput’s and brought the downfall of the Mughal empire.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Explain the term Watan Jagir.
Ans: Watan jagir is the name for the substantial autonomy that the Rajput chieftains received in their native regions even after the Mughals took control of the region, provided that they were willing to recognise Mughal rule.

2. What was Aurangzeb’s religious policy?
Ans: The fundamental goal of Aurangzeb’s strict religious policy was to convert India into an Islamic nation. For that he did the following-

• He took anti-Hindu measures like destroying temples, imposing jizyah, and expelling Hindus from important posts.
• He urged individuals to become Muslims to be exempt from numerous taxes.
• His religious policies caused a great deal of division and sparked a number of revolts by Rajputs, Sikhs, Jats, and Satnamis.

3. What does sovereignty mean to you?
Ans: The term “sovereignty” describes the absolute power of one person to run a state.

Introduction

During the Mughal era, the Mughals established the idea of Watan jagirs, where Watan denotes the realms of the local kings in that region and jagir denotes the land gift. After repeated conflicts with the Mughals, these regional kingdoms, in a sense, recognized their suzerainty over them. Akbar, who understood the value of Rajput support in enabling him to consolidate and expand his kingdom, initiated this watan jagir policy throughout his rule. He, therefore, made an effort to win the Rajputs’ allegiance by putting the Watan Jagir philosophy into practice by providing them with important posts with lots of autonomy.

What is Watan Jagir?

The Rajputs remained the Mughals’ greatest obstacle to extending and establishing their empire during this time. Mughals devised the concept of Watan jagirs to address this. Even though the Mughal kings prevailed in the fight, they did not acquire the kingdom of the victorious ones under this system. Instead, the king of that particular region or province was permitted to continue ruling his kingdom as long as he was willing to submit to the Mughal emperor. According to this idea, a king continued to rule his kingdom while the Mughal emperor was in charge. These monarchs eventually received a significant amount of authority in their watan jagirs.

One of the intriguing things about this watan jagir was that it wasn’t hereditary, so if the king of a watan jagir dies, his successor won’t get the entire watan; instead, the portion of it will be given to him by his mansab. The Mughals used to exert authority over Rajput monarchs in this manner.

How did Watan Jagirs rise under Rajputs

Gaining the respect and confidence of the Rajputs was crucial for the Mughals to grow their empire. As a result, the Mughals made an effort to win the support of the Rajputs by deepening their relations with them, giving them important positions in the government and army, adopting non-interference policies in their internal matters, and giving them watan jagirs. Rajput-Mughal ties were well-managed before Shajahn’s rule, but things started to deteriorate after Aurangzeb assumed the throne of the Mughals. And this started to worry both the Mughal elite and the Rajput kings.

Although Watan Jagir was first implemented by Akbar, it was effectively entrenched under Jahangir’s rule. Rajput’s rajas of Amber and Jodhpur, for example, received great autonomy to rule their watan. Some of these Rajput rajas provided the Mughals with steadfast service. They received outside jagirs (the nearby ones) or subas as payment for their service, in addition to their watan jagirs. The Subedari of Gujarat and Malwa were greeted by Raja Ajit Singh of Jodhpur, and the Subedari of Malwa was held with Sawai Raja Jai Singh of Amber.

As Mughal power waned, these Rajput monarchs began expanding their domains by conquering the regions surrounding their watans, which were portions of imperial or Mughal lands. The Rajputs of Jodhpur’s conquest of Nagpur and Amber‘s takeover of Bundi are two instances of this type of expansion.

Roles and Duties

• Chiefs from the Rajput tribe held important positions in the Mughal era. Raja Todarmal, Birbal, Man Singh, and other significant Rajputs from the Mughal government and army are a few noteworthy instances. 
• During Akbar’s rule, Raja Todarmal was in charge of the revenue administration. In the area of revenue administration, he made changes. As a result, the entire revenue structure he created was known as “Todar Mal’s Bandobast.” 
• Birbal, the emperor’s principal advisor and the head of the Mughal army, was another significant Rajput in Akbar’s court. Another significant general in the Mughal army was Raja Man Singh.

Rise and Decline

• The Mughal-Rajput relations were badly harmed by Aurangzeb’s accession to the throne since his predecessors had done a great job of maintaining them because they understood how significant the Rajputs’ assistance was to the expansion of their empire. 
• The policies of Aurangzeb underwent numerous revisions. The ‘watan jagirs’ territories granted to Rajput kings were taken away, they were denied crucial positions, and the government began meddling in their internal and religious issues. 
• These were all offences by the Rajputs. They then began planning an attack on the Mughals. Rajputs began to lose prominence in this way.
• At the same time, Rajputs and Mughals were being overthrown by Marathas, who had begun to take control of the position. Thus, the Rajput influence as well as the subsequent Mughals came to an end, and the Maratha confederacy emerged in India.

Summary

Due to a pressing political need for two of the major governing elites of northern India to strengthen their positions, Mughal-Rajput relations emerged during the sixteenth century. The allocation of watan jagirs to Rajput rulers with some authority was a significant step toward this arrangement. These Rajput kings gradually began expanding their watan jagirs by annexing the surrounding lands. But as the empire continued to grow, this partnership began to experience problems by the seventeenth century. Both the collapse of the Rajputs and the declaration of the independent regional kingdom were facilitated by internal strife among the Rajputs. In the end, the dominance of the Mughal-Rajput ties faced a significant threat from the advent of the Maratha.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

 1.Who were the Rajputs?
Ans. The Kshatriya clan of the Varna system gave rise to the Rajputs. These Rajputs were primarily warriors who participated in conflicts and battles. They are responsible for the area’s defence.

2. How did Aurangzeb’s religious policy offend the Rajputs?
Ans. Since the Rajput kings were all Hindu, Aurangzeb sought to convert all of India to Islam. He conducted numerous actions against Hindus to achieve this purpose, including the imposition of Jaziyah, the destruction of temples and idols, and discriminatory tolls for Hindu traders. The Rajput kings were upset by all of these actions, and they began to lose faith in the Mughals.

3. What were the revenue reforms known as Todarmal Bandobast?
Ans. A tool called a jarib was used to measure the land. According to its quality, the land was split into good, intermediate, and terrible areas. One of the goods had a fixed revenue over ten years. The collection of taxes had to be done kindly. The payment was cancelled in the event of a natural calamity.