एक दुखी परिवार –  49

Present in the mirror of history

As i said earlier, history is not my subject, the present time is, which i am trying to show in the mirror of history, which repeats, mind you and which has already begun to repeat. It is for you to identify the historical charactets in their present outfit. Dont you see them? Digvijay Singh is one. Lalu -. Nitish are other. By Rajput is meant what? Not the breed, but the exact role in life, that of a power constituent. What was sword in those times is vote in the present. 

If Maharana Pratap and Raja Man Singh or Raja Bharmal or even a Jaichand is/are figured out in their respective new Avatar, i.e., in a physical cum political outfit, none would be wielding swords or arrows or spears.Nor would any armed soldiers would be rallying around. Nor would there be counting of heads that roll or are made to roll or are capable of rolling. Now it would be counting of votes that are the present equivalant of the sword power.

Seen in this light, it may be realised that 

the trading in women,  in exchange of power, was preferred by the Rajputs, over joining hands inter se, with rival rajputana kingdoms, which fact singularly brought the Mughals ultimate success.

If they had joined hands inter se, they would have faced two major risks.

One was continued Mughal agression, and the other was power sharing implying exactly that which seat sharing in to-days electoral alliances occasion. Success remains in the wimb if time, whereas forgoing one's present entitlement becomes the first plight against which Mughalisation seemed materially and substantially more preferable path of least resistence.

It is thus an intellectual luxary to opine that nstead of trading women , they should have joined hands together , to fight the Mughal troops. But no, they never came together and continued to fight amongst themselves for their petty lands. This is what is just a belief though fact remains that a Lalu or a Nitish or those times would not have preferred annihilation or exile at the hands of mughals, in preference to the opening up of Mughal treasures in the shape of official power and status which the likes of Maharana Pratap rejected outright.

Lord Rama was a kshtraiya too and from the Suryavanshi lineage just like them. However, he for his lady had gone extremes to fight one of the most intelligent and powerful man of his era. One wonders, what might be his plight when he would have witnessed from the heaven that the Rajputs out of their own cowardice/greed ushered their daughters into the Muslim harems? No wonder, this was the darkest phase in the history of Rajputs till today.

However, even during this time, there were two Rajputs who always remained against it. One was the Hadas of Rathambore and the other, the Sisodiyas of Mewar. Besides, who can forget the brave Maharana Pratap who fought bravely till his last breath?

Still, there were majority of the Rajputs that followed the trend of sending the Rajput Princesses into the Muslim harems who after going there became nothing more than an object of desire for the Muslim rulers, though in exchange of exquisite wealth and power. 

One fact seems to have gone unnoticed. Whose wealth and power it was thstvthe moughalised allies were given to enjoy in exchage of their hobour and self respect? It was that which the non-allies or the non-compromising warlords , in rivallary with one another, were enjoying or would have enjoyed.

Historians  have uncharitably credited the Bitish in the later centuries to have applied the divide and rule device, in that this was primarily a device invented by the Mughals in its strategic exercise of achiving control over its most fierce rivals in Rajputana fragmented kingdoms. 

This makes one wonder , did greed take over their sense of consideration towards their own daughters and sisters?

(Cont.      .)

एक दुखी परिवार –  50

Rajputana's geographic position- repeated  expansionist assaults. 

Parts of Rajasthan may have been occupied by the Indus Valley Civilization (Harappans). Excavations at Kalibanga in northern Rajasthan around 1998 revealed the existence of human settlements of Harappan times on the banks of a river that dried up later, which some people believe to be the Saraswati.

Rajasthan's geographic position in India has caused it to be affected by the expansionist efforts of various empires. It was a part of the Mauryan Empire around 321-184 BCE. It had also been a part of Republics like Arjunyas, Hunas,Kushans, Malavas, Saka Satraps and the Yaudheyas. The Guptas reigned in the 4th century. Some Buddhist caves and Stupas have been found in Jhalawar, in the southern part of Rajasthan.

The decline of the 300 year old Gupta Empire in the 6th century led to the political unrest in the Northern India and was followed by an epoch of instability as numerous chieftains tried to gain power. 

The situation was stabilized when theGurjara-Pratiharas emerged around 700 CE.

Gurjar pratihars were well known for their hostility towards Arab invaders.

The Arab chronicler Sulaiman describes the army of the Gurjar Pratihars as it stood in 851 CE, 

The king of Gurjars maintains numerous forces and no other Indian prince has so fine a cavalry. He is unfriendly to the Arabs, still he acknowledges that the king of the Arabs is the greatest of kings. Among the princes of India there is no greater foe of the Islamic faith than he. He has got riches, and his camels and horses are numerous, he says.

Medieval period

Hemu was a Hindu Emperor of Northern India

Maharana Pratap, a Rajput ruler was a great warrior of his time. Mughal emperor Akbar sent many missions against him. However he survived and ultimately gained control of all areas of Mewar excluding fort of Chittor.

Prithviraj Chauhan defeated the invading Muhammad Ghori in the First Battle of Tarain in 1191 and in fifteen further battles before himself being defeated when he was betrayed by one of his own. This betrayal became a trend in the decades to come.

After the defeat of Chauhan around 1200, a part of Rajasthan came under Muslim rulers. 

That betrayal set into motion a beginning of an end.

The principal centers of their powers were Nagaur and Ajmer. Ranthambhor was also under them . At the beginning of the 13th century, the most prominent and powerful state of Rajasthan was Mewar. The Rajputs resisted the Muslim incursions into India, although a number of Rajput kingdoms eventually became subservient to the Delhi Sultanate. 

Mewar led others in resistance to Muslim rule: Rana Sanga fought the Battle of Khanua against Babur, the founder of the Mughal Empire.