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The north-western region of India,
which incorporates Rajasthan, remained in early
history for the most part independent from the great
empires consolidating their hold onthe subcontinent.
Buddhism failed to make substantial inroads here;
the Mauryan Empire (321-184 BC), whose most renowned emperor
Ashoka converted to Buddhism in262 BC, had minimal
impact in Rajasthan. However, there are Buddhist
caves and stupas (Buddhist shrines) at Jhalawar,
in southern Rajasthan. Ancient Hindu scriptural epics
make reference to sites in present day Rajasthan.
The holy pilgrimage site of Pushkar is mentioned in
both the Mahabharata and Ramayma.
The fall of the Gupta Empire, which
held dominance in northern India for nearly 300
years, until the early 5th century, was followed
by a period of instability as various local chieftains
sought to gain supremacy. Various powers rose
and fell in northern India. Stability was only
restored with the emergence of the Gurjara Pratihar
as, the earliest of the Rajput (from 'Rajputra',
or Sons of Princes) dynasties which were later
to hold the balance of power throughout Rajasthan.
The emergence of the Rajput warrior clans in the
6th and 7th centuries played the greatest role
in the subsequent history of Rajasthan. From these
clans emerged the name Rajputana, by which the
collection of princely states came to be known
during the Muslim invasion of India. The Sisodias
of the Suryavansa Race, originally from Gujarat,
migrated to Rajas-than in the mid-7th century
and reigned over Mewar, which encompassed Udaipur
and Chittorgarh.The Kachhwa has, originally from
Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh, travelled west in the12th
century. They built the massive fortress at Amber,
the capital later being shifted to Jaipur. Like
the Sisodias, they belonged to the Suryavansa Race. Also
belonging to the Suryavansa Race, the Rathores
(earlier known as Rastrakutas) travelled from Kanauj,
in Uttar Pradesh. Initially they settled in Pali,
south of present-day Jodhpur, but later moved
to Mandore in1381 and ruled over Marwar (Jodhpur). Later
they commenced construction on the stunning
Meherangarh
Fort at Jodhpur. The Bhattis, who belong to the
Induvansa Race, driven from their homeland in the Punjab
by the Turks, installed themselves at Jaisalmer
in 1156. They remained more or less entrenched
in their desert kingdom until they were integrated
into the state of Rajasthan following Independence.
The first external threat to the
dominance of the Rajputs was that posed by the
Arabs who took over Sind in 713. The Gurjara Pratiharas'
response to the Arab threat was largely defensive.
The Arabs were repulsed by the Gurjara Pratiharas
led by their king, Nagabhata I, founder of the
Pratihara Empire. The Arabs also tested their
strength against the Rastrakut as. Unfortunately,
when not pitting their wits against the Arabs,
the Pratiharas and Rastrakut as were busy fighting
each other. By the third decade of the 8th century,
anew threat was emerging in the form of the Turks,
who had occupied Ghazni in Afghanistan. Around
1001 AD, Mahmud of Ghazni's army descended upon
India, destroying infidel temples and carrying
off everything of value that could be moved. The
Rajputs were not immune from these incursions; a
confederation of Rajput rulers assembled a vast
army and marched northwards to meet the advancing
Turks. Unfortunately, how-ever, it was a case
of too little, too late, and they were decisively
and crushingly vanquished. The Pratiharas, then
centred at Kanauj, fled the city before the Turks arrived,
and in their absence the temples of Kanauj, as
with so many others in northern India, were sacked
and desecrated, Towards the end of the 12th century, Mohammed
of Ghori invaded India to take up where Mahmud
of Ghazni had left off. Hemet with a collection
of princely states which failed to mount a united
front. Although initially repulsed, Ghori later
triumphed, and Delhi and Ajmer were lost to the
Muslims. Ajmer remained a Muslim stronghold over the
centuries, apart from a brief period when it was
retaken by the Rathores. Today it is an important
Muslim place of pilgrimage.
Mohammed of Ghori was killed in
1206, and his successor, Qutb-ud-din, became the
first of the Sultans of Delhi. Within 20 years,
the Muslims had brought the whole of the Ganges
basin under their control. In 1297, Ala-ud-din
Khilji pushed the Muslim borders south into Gujarat.
Ala-ud-din mounted a protracted siege of the massive
fort at Ranthambhore, which was at the time ruled
by the Rajput chief Hammir Deva. Hammir was reported
as dead (although it's unknown if he did actually
die in the siege) and upon hearing of their chief's demise,
the womenfolk of the fortress collectively threw
themselves on a pyre, thus performing the first
instance of jauhar, or collective sacrifice, in
the history of the Rajputs. Alu-ud-din later went
on to sack the fortress at Chittorgarh in 1303,
held by the Sisodia clan. According to tradition,
Alu-ud-din had heard repute of the great beauty
of Padmini, the consort of the Sisodian chief, and
resolved to carry her off with him. Like Ranthambhore
before it, Chittorgarh also fell to the Muslim
leader.
The Delhi sultanate weakened at
the beginning of the 16th century, and the Rajputs
took advantage of this to restore and expand their territories.
At this time the kingdom of Mewar, ruled by the
Sisodias under the leadership of Rana Sangram
Singh, gained preeminence among the Rajput states. Under
this leader, Mewar pushed its boundaries far
beyond its original territory, posing a formidable
threat to the new Mughal Empire which was
emerging under the leadership of Babur (reigned 1527-30). Babur,
a descendent of both Timur and Genghis Khan, marched
into Punjab from his capital at Kabul in Afghanistan
in 1525and defeated the Sultan of Delhi at Panipat. He
then focused his attention on the Rajput princely
states, many of whom, anticipating his designs,
had banded together to form a united front under
Rana Sangram Singh. Unfortunately, when the
inevitable confrontation took place, the Rajputs were defeated
by Babur. They sustained great losses, with many
Rajput chiefs falling in the fray, including Rana
Sangram Singh himself, who reputedly had no less
than 80 wound son his body suffered during both
this and previous campaigns. The defeat shook the
very foundations of the princely states. Mewar's
confidence was shattered by the death of its illustrious
leader, and its territories contracted following
sub-sequent attacks by the Sultan of Gujarat, At
this time Marwar, under its ruler Maldeo, emerged
as the strongest of the Rajput states, and it recorded
a victory against the claimant to the Mughal throne, Sher
Shah. However, none of the Rajputs was able to
withstand the formidable threat posed by the most
renowned of the Mughal emperors, Akbar (reigned
1556-1605).Recognising that the Rajputs could
not be conquered by mere force alone, Akbar contracted
a marriage alliance with a princess of the important
Kachhwaha clan who held Amber (and later founded
Jaipur). The Kachhwahas, unlike their other Rajputbrethren
at the time, aligned themselves with the powerful
Mughals, and even sent troops to aid them in times
of battle. Akbar also used more conventional methods
to assert, his dominance over the Rajputs, wresting
Ajmer from the Rathores of Marwar which had been
briefly restored to the Rajputs under Maldeo. All
the import-ant Rajput states eventually acknowledged Mughal
sovereignty and became vassal states of the
Mughal Empire, except Mewar, which fiercely clung
to its independence, refusing to pay homage to the
infidels. An uneasy truce was thus maintained
between the Rajputs and the Mughal emperors, until the reign of Aurangzeb,
the last great Mughal emperor, when relations were
characterized
by mutual hostility. Aurangzeb devoted his resources
to extending the empire's boundaries. The punitive
taxes which he levied on his subjects to pay
for his military exploits and his religious zealotry
eventually secured his downfall. The Rajputs were
united in their opposition to Aurangzeb, and
the Rathores and Sisodias raised arms against him.
It didn't take long for revolts by the enemies
of Aurangzeb to break out on all sides and, with his
death in 1707, the Mughal Empire's for-tunes rapidly
declined.
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