Editing Rajput (section)

=== Mughal period ===
Rajputs played an important role in the [[Mughals|Mughal]] history.  From Akbar's rule, Rajput leaders were integrated into the Mughal ruling elite through court appointments and matrimonial alliances.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EsMVDAAAQBAJ&dq=Mughal+Rajput+marriage+became+common&pg=PA475 |title=The Oxford Handbook of Global Religions |page=475 |publisher=OUP |year=2006 |editor=Mark Juergensmeyer|quote=From the time of Akbar, local Rajput Hindu rulers were absorbed into the Mughal ruling class through court promotion and marriage.}}</ref> Mughal emperors like [[Jahangir]] and [[Shah Jahan]] were born from Rajput mothers. Due to the presence of princes born to Rajput mothers in the Mughal harem as well as Rajput officers serving in the Mughal army, the Rajput values got diffused into the Mughal imperial system.<ref>{{cite book|title=India in the Persianate Age 1000- 1765 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aIF6DwAAQBAJ&dq=akbar+born+in+rajput&pg=PP179 |page=257 |author=Richard M. Eaton |publisher=University of California Press |year=2019 |isbn=978-0520325128 |quote=The diffusion of Rajput institutions in Mughal culture is partly explained by the incorporation of Rajput women in the Mughal harem and Rajput youths in Mughal households, which had begun in the early decades of Akbar’s reign. Children born of Rajput women in the imperial harem were treated as full members of the Mughal dynasty and eligible for inheriting the throne. This meant that, although Jahangir’s paternal grandfather was Humayun, his maternal grandfather was Raja Bharmal, leader of the Kachwaha Rajput lineage... Jahangir himself, then, was biologically half Rajput... His son Khurram, the future Shah Jahan, was born of one of these Rajputs – Jagat Gosain Begum, the daughter of Udai Singh of Jodhpur. Shah Jahan was therefore three-quarters Rajput by blood. Since Rajput mothers imparted their inherited culture to their offspring, the Mughal harem became a site for the diffusion of Rajput values at the heart of the imperial system. The Mughal connection with Rajputs, then, was more than political. It was biological and cultural, as Rajput institutions, introduced at the upper end of the Mughal order, percolated downwards, gradually diffusing among the officer corps. In addition, many officers and troopers in Mughal service were themselves Rajputs, which also served to lend a Rajput ethos to imperial armies.}}</ref> 

====Babur's period====
The defeat of a Rajput coalition by [[Babur]] in the [[Battle of Khanwa]] is considered a turning point in the history of North India.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Andre |last=Wink|author-link=Andre Wink|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zhu9DwAAQBAJ|title=Akbar|date=2012|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-1-78074-209-0|page=27|quote="The victory of Mughals at khanua can be seen as a landmark event in Mughal conquest of North India as the battle turned out to be more historic and eventful than one fought near Panipat. It made Babur undisputed master of North India while smashing Rajput powers. After the victory at khanua, the centre of Mughal power became Agra instead of Kabul and continue to remain till downfall of the Empire after Aalamgir's death.|language=en}}</ref>

====Humayun's period====
Rajput ruler Rana Prasad of [[Amarkot]] gave refuge to Humayun and his pregnant wife when they were fleeing from India, and, it was in his fortress that young [[Akbar]] was born.<ref>{{cite journal|quote=While fleeing from Hindustan, Humayun and his wife Hamida Begum, who was pregnant at the time, were given refuge by the Hindu ruler, Rana Prasad in Amarkot, Rajputana (present day Umarkot, Sindh province, Pakistan). Akbar was born inside the Amarkot fort on 15 October, 1542. |year=2022 |publisher=Amsterdam University Press |url=https://www.aup-online.com/content/papers/10.5117/9789048557820/ICAS.2022.015 |title=Birth Images of Ghazan and Timur: Vessels of Memory for the Mughals |author=Dipanwita Donde |journal=The Twelfth International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS 12) |page=135|doi=10.5117/9789048557820/ICAS.2022.015 |isbn=978-90-485-5782-0 |doi-access=free }}</ref> After returning to India, Humayun tried to make good relations with zamindars, both Hindu as well as Muslim. His attempts to foster positive connections with the Rajputs are viewed as a strategy aimed at engaging the local ruling classes of the country.<ref>{{cite book|quote=After returning to India, Humayun embarked upon a policy of conciliating and winning over the zamindars — a term used in official documents to include the autonomous rajas, both Hindu and Muslim...The attempt to establish special relations with the Rajputs was, thus, part of a broader policy towards the zamindars or the indigenous ruling sections in the country. |author=Satish Chandra |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0Rm9MC4DDrcC&dq=Satish+chandra+special+relations+with+rajputs+humayun&pg=PA111 |page=111 |year=2005 |title=Medieval India: From Sultanat to the Mughals Part - II |publisher=Har-Anand Publications}}</ref>

==== Akbar's period ====
{{See also|Political marriages in India}}
[[File:Maharana Pratap cropped.jpg|thumb|[[Rana Pratap]], the Rana of [[Kingdom of Mewar|Mewar]], was popularly known for his role in battles against the Mughal Empire ]]
[[File:Raja Man Singh the Great , Of Amer.jpg|thumb|[[Man Singh I]], an important Rajput official of [[Akbar]]. ]]
After the mid-16th century, many Rajput rulers formed close relationships with the [[Mughal Empire|Mughal emperors]] and served them in different capacities.<ref>{{cite book |last=Richards |first=John F.|author-link=John F. Richards|title=The Mughal Empire |date=1995 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-25119-8 |pages=22–24}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Bhadani |first=B. L. |title=The Profile of Akbar in Contemporary Literature |journal=Social Scientist |date=1992 |volume=20 |issue=9/10 |pages=48–53 |doi=10.2307/3517716 |jstor=3517716| issn = 0970-0293 }}</ref> It was due to the support of the Rajputs that Akbar was able to lay the foundations of the Mughal empire in India.<ref name="Chaurasia" /> Some Rajput nobles gave away their daughters in marriage to Mughal emperors and princes for political motives.{{sfn|Dirk H. A. Kolff|2002|p=132}}<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EFI7tr9XK6EC&pg=PA656 |title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History |publisher=Oxford University Press |first=Bonnie G. |last=Smith |year=2008 |page=656 |isbn=978-0-19-514890-9}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HHyVh29gy4QC&pg=PA23 |title=The Mughal Empire |publisher=Cambridge University Press |first=John F. |last=Richards |year=1995 |page=23 |isbn=978-0-521-56603-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B8NJ41GiXvsC&pg=PA174 |title=Domesticity and Power in the Early Mughal World |publisher=Cambridge University Press |first=Ruby |last=Lal |year=2005 |page=174 |isbn=978-0-521-85022-3}}</ref> For example, [[Akbar]] accomplished 40 marriages for himself, his sons and grandsons, out of which 17 were Rajput-Mughal alliances.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I5upAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT176 |title=Interrogating International Relations: India's Strategic Practice and the Return of History War and International Politics in South Asia |publisher=Routledge |first=Jayashree |last=Vivekanandan |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-136-70385-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor-first1=Anthony |editor-last1=Reid |editor-first2=David O. |editor-last2=Morgan |year=2010 |title=The New Cambridge History of Islam: Volume 3, The Eastern Islamic World, Eleventh to Eighteenth Centuries |page=213 |publisher=Taylor and Francis |isbn=9781316184363 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ANiaBAAAQBAJ&dq=rajput+cambridge&pg=PT437}}</ref> Akbar's successors as Mughal emperors, his son [[Jahangir]] and grandson [[Shah Jahan]] had Rajput mothers.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hansen |first1=Waldemar |title=The peacock throne : the drama of Mogul India |date=1972 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |location=Delhi |isbn=978-81-208-0225-4 |pages=12, 34 |edition=1. Indian ed., repr.}}</ref> Although Rajput rulers provided the brides to the Mughals, neither Akbar nor his successors provided brides to the Rajput rulers. For example, Akbar got this sisters and daughters married to [[Timurid Empire|Timurids]] and prominent Muslims from central and west Asia. Historian [[Michael H. Fisher|Michael Fisher]] states that the bards and poets patronized by the Rajput rulers who served Akbar raised Akbar to a "semi-divine" status and gives an example of Akbar being projected as a "divine master" in the "Hindu cosmic order". The writer also finds correlation between the increasing numbers of Hindu Rajput wives in Akbar's household and Hindu Rajputs as well as non-Rajput Hindus in his administration to the religious and political policy followed by him towards non-Muslims which included ending the prohibition on the construction of new temples of non -Muslim faiths like Hindu, Jain etc. In 1564 AD, Akbar had also stopped collection of ''[[jaziya]]'' from non-Muslims, a tax considered as discriminatory by several non-Muslims which also consisted of his Hindu Rajput officials.<ref name="Fisher2015">{{cite book | author = Michael Fisher | date = 1 October 2015 | title = A Short History of the Mughal Empire | publisher = Bloomsbury Publishing | pages = 88–90 | isbn = 978-0-85772-976-7 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ldOLDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA88}}</ref>
The ruling [[Sisodia Dynasty|Sisodia]] Rajput family of [[Mewar]] made it a point of honour not to engage in matrimonial relationships with Mughals and thus claimed to stand apart from those Rajput clans who did so.{{sfn|Barbara N. Ramusack|2004|pp=18–19}} [[Rana Pratap]] is renowned as a "Rajput icon" for firmly fighting with Akbar's forces for the cause of Mewar's freedom.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vfn1DwAAQBAJ&dq=Rajput+icon+pratap&pg=PT138|title=Caste, State and Society: Degrees of Democracy in North India|author=Jagmal Singh|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=2020|isbn=9781000196061}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Goddesses' Henchmen- Gender in Indian Hero Worship|publisher=Oxford University Press|author=Lindsey Harlan|year=2003|isbn=9780195348347|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EmbRCwAAQBAJ&dq=rana+pratap+rajput+hero&pg=PA46|page=46}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0bQwEAAAQBAJ&dq=rana+pratap+rajput+hero&pg=PA337|page=337|title=The Temple Road Towards a Great India|author=Marta Kudelska, Dorota Kamińska-Jones, Agnieszka Sylwia Staszczyk, Agata Świerzowska|isbn=9788323399865|publisher=Jagiellonian University Press|year=2019}}</ref> Once Mewar had submitted and alliance of Rajputs reached a measure of stability, matrimonial between leading Rajput states and Mughals became rare.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Chandra |first1=Satish|author-link=Satish Chandra (historian)|title=Medieval India: From Sultanat to the Mughals Part-II |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0Rm9MC4DDrcC&q=satish+chandra+rajput+mughal+marriage&pg=PA124 |date=2007 |publisher=Har Anand Publications |page=124|isbn=9788124110669}}</ref>

==== Shah Jahan's period ====

Under Shah Jahan, the Bundela Rajputs were embroiled in internal strife and imperial intervention. [[Jhujhar Singh]], son of the Bundela leader [[Vir Singh Deo]], rebelled in 1627-28 and again in 1635. Shah Jahan skilfully exploited the divisions within the Bundela clan by deploying loyal Bundela chiefs such as Bhagwan Das, Bharat Shah, and Pahar Singh to suppress the rebellion. Although the first uprising concluded with a pardon, the second prompted a response led by Aurangzeb with support from Bundela nobles like Debi Singh, who was rewarded with the title of Raja of Orchha. However, Champat Rai Bundela, a staunch supporter of Jhujhar Singh’s surviving son, Prithviraj, opposed Debi Singh's appointment. The resulting unrest undermined Debi Singh’s authority, leading to his removal in 1637. Shah Jahan then placed Orchha under direct Mughal administration before appointing Pahar Singh, descendant of Vir Singh Deo, as ruler in 1642, a move which helped diminish Champat Rai’s local support. Throughout Shah Jahan’s reign, the Mughal court repeatedly capitalised on Bundela feuds to assert control over Bundelkhand, the Bundela Rajputs' ancestral land.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ahmad |first=Amir |title=The Bundela Revolts During the Mughal Period: A Dynastic Affair |date=2005 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44145860 |journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress |volume=66 |pages=438–445 |jstor=44145860 |issn=2249-1937}}</ref>

==== Aurangzeb's period ====
{{See also|Rajput War (1679–1707)}}
Aurangzeb had banned all Hindus from carrying weapons and riding horses but exempted the Rajputs.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Aurangzeb and The Decline of the Mughals|author=Sayan Lodh |journal=AltraLANG Journal|year=2019|url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=Aurangzeb+and+The+Decline+of+the+Mughals+Sayan+lodh&btnG=#d=gs_qabs&t=1723713142121&u=%23p%3DHCScHg5r2qwJ|publisher=Presidency University, Kolkata|pages=134|quote=In 1679, Aurangzeb revived the jizya or poll tax on non-Muslims. He also dismissed many non- Muslim clerks. All Hindus except the Rajput, were forbidden to carry weapons.}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=A Note on Conception of Aurangzeb Alamgir Religious Policy|author=Aqib Yousuf Rather |journal=Journal of Psychology and Political Science |year=2022|url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=A+Note+on+Conception+of+Aurangzeb+Alamgir++Religious+Policy&btnG=#d=gs_qabs&t=1723713611986&u=%23p%3Dg5td9ORhlMoJ|publisher=JIPIRS|pages=34|quote=Aurangzeb issued orders barring all Hindus, with the exception of Rajputs, from riding elephants, horses, or palanquins.}}</ref>
Akbar's diplomatic policy regarding the Rajputs was later damaged by the intolerant rules introduced by his great-grandson [[Aurangzeb]]. A prominent example of these rules included the re-imposition of [[Jaziya]], which had been abolished by Akbar.<ref name="Chaurasia" /> However, despite imposition of Jaziya Aurangzeb's army had a high proportion of Rajput officers in the upper ranks of the imperial army and they were all exempted from paying Jaziya.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bayly |first1=Susan |title=Caste, society and politics in India from the eighteenth century to the modern age |date=2000 |publisher=Cambridge Univ. Press |location=Cambridge [u.a.] |isbn=9780521798426 |page=35 |edition=1. Indian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HbAjKR_iHogC&q=rajput+caste&pg=PR6}}</ref>  The Rajputs then revolted against the Mughal empire. Aurangzeb's conflicts with them, which commenced in the early 1680s, henceforth became a contributing factor towards the downfall of the Mughal empire.<ref name=EB>{{cite web |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/490157/Rajput |title=Rajput |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=27 November 2010}}</ref><ref name="Chaurasia">{{cite book |last=Chaurasia |first=Radhey Shyam |title=History of Medieval India: From 1000 A.D. to 1707 A.D |date=2002 |publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Dist |isbn=978-81-269-0123-4 |pages=272–273}}</ref>

====Under Maratha influence====
Historian Lynn Zastoupil states that the Mughal Emperors had manipulated the appointment of the successor of the Rajput rulers earlier. However, in the early 18th century, when the Mughal power declined, Rajput states enjoyed a brief period of independence. But soon the [[Maratha empire]] started collecting tribute from and harassing some Rajput states.<ref>{{cite book | date = July 1994 | title = John Stuart Mill and India | author =Lynn Zastoupil|publisher = Stanford University Press | pages = 120–121 | isbn = 978-0-8047-6617-3 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=42f1jD7L_wcC&pg=PA121|quote=Maratha incursions into Rajasthan grew steadily in the second half of the century, however, and soon the Rajput states were subject to the tribute, and sometimes plunder, of competing Maratha polities.}}</ref> The internal governance and political structures of the various Rajput kingdoms were weakened as a result of Maratha interference in dynastic succession disputes.<ref>{{harvnb|Rima Hooja|2006|p=658}} "Maratha interference in dynastic succession disputes would lead to the weakening of the internal governance and political structures of the several affected kingdoms..."</ref> Some Rajput states, in 1800s, appealed to the British [[East India Company]] for assistance against the Marathas but their requests for assistance were denied at the time.<ref name="Zastoupil1994">{{cite book | date = July 1994 | title = John Stuart Mill and India | author =Lynn Zastoupil|publisher = Stanford University Press | pages = 120–121 | isbn = 978-0-8047-6617-3 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=42f1jD7L_wcC&pg=PA121}}</ref><ref name="Sreenivasan2017">{{cite book | author = Ramya Sreenivasan | date = 1 May 2017 | title = The Many Lives of a Rajput Queen: Heroic Pasts in India, c. 1500-1900 | publisher = University of Washington Press | pages = 126– | isbn = 978-0-295-99785-8 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=QXQkDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA126}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Chaurasia |first1=R.S. |title=History of the Marathas. |date=2004 |publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Dist. |location=New Delhi, India |isbn=81-269-0394-5 |pages=23,178,185 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D_v3Y7hns8QC&q=+rajput+tribute&pg=PR3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=[[Jadunath Sarkar]]| year=1994|title= A History of Jaipur 1503–1938|chapter=The British alliance|pages=315–330|publisher=Orient Longman|isbn=81-250-0333-9}}</ref>