एक दुखी परिवार –  42

Jahangir and Rajputs, fall of the last bastion, Mewar.

Instead of moving ahead, let me turn around.

Before proceeding to the Moughal reign under Aurangzeb, it is worth stating that all these decades that rolled into almost a century, Rajputana stood identified by the Moughals as the most potent Hindu bastion that required to be addressed by hook or by crook.

It was Akbar who greatly succeeded in the 'hook or crook' technique that was tirelessly applied in the matter.

Akbar followed by his successor Jahangir fairly succeeded by bringing most of the Rajputana into its direct , indirect or alliance controls but Maharana Pratap's Mewar, notwithstanding the capture of Chittaur by Akbar, continued to stay out as an irritant for the Moughal emperor(s).

In the above backdrop, fall of the last bastion, Mewar, may be relevant to recall.

 Mewar had not given up, nor did the moughals.  The protracted encounters were just a luxary for the Moughal's might, whereas it was a state of extreme persecution for the unrelenting descendants of Maharana Pratap, the Great. More so, because large parts of Rajputana and all its clans had already been 'Moughalised', whom the Moughals had very strategically pitted against the said unrelenting clan which had made itself an outcaste, by its conduct, pooh-poohing the Moughalised, forming a majority now, as despised outcastes who had already served their women in silver platter for the luxary and enjoyment of the Moughals, whether in marital alliances or in  concubinary denigration of making their women permanent fixtures in the Moughal harems.
Jahangir had sent an army under his son Parvez to attack Mewar in 1605. A indecisive battle was fought at Debari.
The Mughal emperor sent Mahabat Khan in 1608. He was recalled in 1609, and Abdulla Khan was sent.
Then Raja Basu was sent, and Mirza Ajij Koka was sent.
Yet, no conclusive victory could be achieved.
Ultimately Jahangir himself arrived at Ajmer in 1613, and appointed Shazada Khurram to fight against Mewar.
Khurram devastated the areas of Mewar and cut the supplies to the Rana.
At this stage, as advised by his nobles and the crown prince, Karna, the Rana sent a peace delegation to Prince Khurram, Jahangir's son.
A treaty was mooted, as both side's patience had flagged.
Khurram sought approval of the treaty from his father at Ajmer.
Jahangir issued an order authorising Khurram to agree to the treaty.
The treaty was agreed between Rana Amar Singh and prince Khurram in 1615.

The treaty.
The Rana of Mewar accepted Mughal sovereignty.
Mewar and the fort of Chittorgarh was returned to Rana.
The fort of Chittorgarh was placed under an injunction, in that restraint was imposed  on the Rana, against its repair or renovation .
The Rana of Mewar was given this bit of honour and liberty that he would not attend the Mughal court personally. The crown prince of Mewar would attend the court and submit  himself and his army to the Mughals.
It was not mandatory for the Rana to establish a marriage alliance with the Mughals. This was a mandatory imposition on other Rajputana kingdoms which had already become allies.
This treaty was considered respectable for both parties, which ended the 88-year-long hostility between Mewar and the Mughals.

Aurangzeb and Rajput rebellion  
The Mughal emperor Aurangzeb (1618–1707), who was far less tolerant of Hinduism than his predecessors, placed a Muslim on the throne of Marwar when the childless Maharaja Jaswant Singh died.
This enraged the Rathores, and when Ajit Singh, Jaswant Singh's son, was born after his death, the Marwar nobles asked Aurangzeb to place Ajit on the throne. Aurangzeb refused, and tried to have Ajit assassinated.
Durgadas Rathore and the dhaa maa (wet nurse) of Ajit, Goora Dhaa (the Sainik Kshatriya Gehlot Rajputs of Mandore), and others smuggled Ajit out of Delhi to Jaipur, thus starting the thirty-year Rajput rebellion against Aurangzeb.
This rebellion united the Rajput clans, and a triple-pronged alliance was formed by the states of Marwar, Mewar, and Jaipur.
One of the conditions of this alliance was that the rulers of Jodhpur and Jaipur should regain the privilege of marriage with the ruling Sesodia dynasty of Mewar, on the understanding that the offspring of Sisodia princesses should succeed to the throne over any other offspring.
This stipulation would lend itself to many future conflicts.
Bundelas of Bundelkhand also waged rebellion against the Mughals.
But these were 'rebellions'. The term 'rebellion', pre-supposes a sovereign status of the entity rebelled against.
It is manifest, therefore, that the so called Hindu bastions constituted by the fragmented Rajputana territories that boasted of its respective pristine glory, had since given way to the strategic assaults that the Moughals systematically meted out since the very inception of the Moughal empire, using marrital alliances coupled with its harems and the clergy as an effective conduit.
(Cont.  .)