The Rajput Cavalry in Mughal Service

The recruitment of Rajput cavalry into the service of the Mughal emperors was developments in the history of the empire. The alliance between the Mughal Padshah and the Rajput chiefs, sealed by the marriage of Akbar to the princess of Amber in 1562, transformed the character of the dynasty and provided the Mughals with the substantial cavalry resources that they required to extend their authority into the deforested plains of central India and the difficult hill country of the Deccan. The Rajput contingents, treated below in terms of their recruitment, organisation, principal clans, famous commanders, and ultimate fate, were an integral component of the Mughal cavalry and of the broader Mughal military machine, and their history is inseparable from the larger history of the dynasty.

The Recruitment of the Rajputs

The recruitment of Rajput soldiers into Mughal service was a gradual process, beginning with the submission of individual Rajput chiefs in the early years of Akbar’s reign and culminating in the formal integration of the major Rajput kingdoms into the imperial mansabdari system. The first major submission was that of the Kachwaha raja of Amber, Bharmal, in 1562, and the marriage of Akbar to the Kachwaha princess Harkha Bai marked the formal beginning of the Rajput-Mughal alliance. The submission of the other major Rajput kingdoms followed over the next two decades, with the exception of Mewar under the ruling house of the Sesodias, which remained in arms against the Mughals until the reign of Jahangir.

The terms of the Rajput submission varied considerably from clan to clan. In the case of the Kachwahas of Amber, the rajas were granted the right to rule their ancestral territories as mansabdars of the empire, in return for the obligation to supply a fixed number of cavalry in time of war. The submission of the Rathores of Marwar and the Bundelas of Bundelkhand followed similar lines, and the rajas retained substantial internal autonomy in return for the obligation to provide military service. The Sesodias of Mewar, who resisted Mughal authority until 1615, were the principal exception, and their eventual submission to Jahangir was on terms of personal honour that preserved their right to rule their ancestral territories without formal subordination to the mansabdari system.

The Principal Rajput Clans

The Rajput clans that entered Mughal service in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were numerous, and they were drawn from the major Rajput kingdoms of Rajasthan and central India. The Kachwahas of Amber (later Jaipur) were the senior partner in the alliance, and they supplied several of the most important Rajput commanders of the empire, including Raja Man Singh and Raja Jai Singh. The Rathores of Marwar (later Jodhpur) were the second most important partner, and the famous Mehrangarh fort of Jodhpur, treated in more detail on the Mughal forts in Rajasthan page, remained a centre of Rathore power throughout the imperial period.

The Bundelas of Bundelkhand were the principal Rajput clan of central India, and they supplied substantial contingents to the Mughal armies of the seventeenth century. The Tomars of Gwalior and the Chauhans of Ajmer were also important, and smaller clans, including the Chandelas, the Parihars, and the Solankis, contributed contingents of varying size. The Sesodias of Mewar, who remained in arms against the Mughals until 1615, were the most prestigious of the Rajput clans, and their eventual submission was a major political event of Jahangir’s reign.

The Famous Rajput Commanders

The Rajput contingents in Mughal service produced several of the most famous commanders of the dynasty. The most celebrated was Raja Man Singh of Amber, who served as one of Akbar’s principal generals from the 1570s until his death in 1614. Man Singh commanded the Mughal forces at the Battle of Haldighati in 1576 against Rana Pratap of Mewar, he led the campaign in Bihar and Bengal in the 1590s, and he served as governor of several of the major provinces. His career exemplified the central position of the Rajput nobility in the imperial service.

Mirza Raja Jai Singh of Amber was another important Rajput commander of the early seventeenth century. He served with distinction in the Deccan campaigns of the reign of Shah Jahan, and he was one of the principal architects of the Mughal expansion into the southeastern provinces. The Rathore commanders, including Raja Sur Singh of Marwar and his successors, also served with distinction, and the Bundela chiefs, particularly Bir Singh Deo of Orchha, were important participants in the court politics of the early seventeenth century. The Rajput generals of the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, examined below, played an important role in the long struggle with the Marathas.

The Rajput Contingents in the Deccan

The Rajput contingents played a substantial role in the Mughal campaigns in the Deccan. The early conquests of the Deccan sultanates in the 1590s, and the long wars of Aurangzeb in the late seventeenth century, both required the deployment of substantial Rajput forces, and the principal Rajput clans, particularly the Rathores and the Kachwahas, contributed heavily to these campaigns. The Rajput cavalry, with its tradition of close combat and personal bravery, was well suited to the close-country fighting of the Deccan, and the Rajput contingents were a substantial component of the Mughal armies that eventually captured the Deccan sultanates of Bijapur and Golconda in 1686 and 1687.

The Rajput contingents in the Deccan suffered substantial losses in the long wars of Aurangzeb’s later years, and the financial demands of the Deccan campaigns contributed to a substantial deterioration in the relations between the Rajput chiefs and the central government. The Rathore rising of the early eighteenth century, examined in more detail on the Mughal decline page, was a direct consequence of the financial and military pressures of the Deccan campaigns, and the gradual withdrawal of the Rajput contingents from active service was one of the symptoms of the broader crisis of the empire.

The Rajputs in the Maratha Wars

The Maratha wars of the eighteenth century placed substantial demands on the Rajput contingents, and the Rajput chiefs, particularly the Rathores of Marwar and the Kachwahas of Jaipur, were among the principal opponents of Maratha expansion into Rajasthan. The Rajput-Mughal alliance of the seventeenth century had largely broken down by the eighteenth, and the Rajput chiefs were increasingly forced to conduct their own foreign policy in defence of their territories. The Rathore-Jaipur alliance against the Marathas in the 1740s was an important example of this independent Rajput policy, and the eventual submission of the Rajput chiefs to the Maratha power in the 1750s marked the effective end of the Rajput-Mughal military partnership.

Sources

• Satish Chandra, Medieval India (2004), pp. 222–24.