Latest / Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History / Aurangzeb's Hindu Generals: The Rajputs Who Served the Mughal Emperor
Transcript
- Lucas: So far in this series, we've talked a lot about Aurangzeb's conflicts — with the Marathas, the Satnamis, the Jats, the Afghan tribes. But one relationship that gets less attention is his bond with the Rajputs — specifically the generals who led his armies. Luna: Didn't Aurangzeb have a reputation for being anti-Hindu? Lucas: He does, and there's plenty of evidence for that — the jizya, the temple demolitions. But look at his military command, and you find Rajput generals in the highest ranks. Men like Mirza Raja Jai Singh of Amber — he was one of Aurangzeb's most trusted commanders, a Hindu who led Mughal armies against the Marathas. Luna: Jai Singh. That's the same family as the famous Jai Singh II who built the observatories, right? Lucas: Exactly. His grandson. Mirza Raja Jai Singh I served under Shah Jahan first, then Aurangzeb. He was a brilliant military strategist and diplomat. In 1665, he was the man Aurangzeb sent to deal with Shivaji — who was then just a rising Maratha power in the Deccan. Lucas: Jai Singh besieged Shivaji's fort at Purandar, and after a tough campaign, he negotiated the Treaty of Purandar. Shivaji agreed to become a Mughal vassal, gave up 23 forts, and even went to Agra to meet Aurangzeb in person. Luna: But that didn't end well for Shivaji, did it? He escaped. Lucas: He did — and it destroyed Jai Singh's reputation. Aurangzeb suspected Jai Singh of being too lenient, maybe even complicit. Jai Singh died in disgrace in 1667, some say of a broken heart. The emperor had trusted him completely, but one failure erased it all. Luna: So even a loyal Hindu general couldn't survive Aurangzeb's suspicion. Lucas: That's a pattern we see again and again. Take Raja Jaswant Singh of Marwar — another Rajput who served Aurangzeb faithfully for decades. He fought in the Deccan, in Afghanistan, and even helped put down a rebellion by Aurangzeb's own son, Prince Akbar. Lucas: But Jaswant Singh was a Rathore, and the Rathores had a long history of tension with the Mughals. After Jaswant Singh died in 1678 without a male heir, Aurangzeb tried to annex Marwar — which sparked the Rathore rebellion under Durgadas Rathore. Luna: So the emperor's relationship with the Rajputs was always transactional — loyalty for land and titles, but the moment that balance tipped, it turned into war. Lucas: Exactly. And yet, despite all that, Rajputs continued to serve in the Mughal army right up to the empire's end. The Mansabdari system — which ranked every officer, Hindu or Muslim — gave them status and income. For many Rajputs, loyalty to the emperor was a matter of honor, even when the emperor was Aurangzeb. Luna: If you've been stepping into history with us episode by episode, you might have noticed that these conversations take a lot of reading and research. We don't run ads, so it's really listener support that keeps this going. A couple of dollars a month on buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo makes a real difference. Lucas: Yeah, it genuinely helps cover the time we spend on sources like the maasir i alamgiri and Manucci's travelogues. And it means we keep doing this without any sponsors or interruptions. Lucas: So, back to those Rajput generals. There's another figure who's even more complicated — Champat Rai, a Bundela Rajput from what is now Madhya Pradesh. He started as a Mughal officer, but later revolted. Luna: The Bundelas — weren't they the ones who built the Orchha temples? Lucas: Right. They were a proud clan. Champat Rai had served Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb in the Deccan, but in the 1660s, he turned against the empire. The maasir i alamgiri records that he was captured and executed in 1669 — but his son, Maharaja Chhatrasal, became a legendary figure who fought the Mughals for decades. Lucas: So here's the paradox: Aurangzeb relied on Hindu generals to expand his empire, but his policies — the jizya, the temple tax, the destruction of certain temples — pushed many of those same families into rebellion. Luna: Was it a deliberate policy? Or just the result of his personal piety? Lucas: Historians debate that. Some, like Jadunath Sarkar, argue he was a bigot who deliberately alienated Hindus. Others, like Satish Chandra, point out that he appointed more Hindu mansabdars than Akbar did in the early years. The numbers are tricky because the Mansabdari ranks changed. Lucas: But one thing is clear: Aurangzeb's Deccan wars required immense resources, and he couldn't afford to alienate the Rajputs completely. So he gave them high ranks, married into their families — he himself married a Rathore princess, though she wasn't his chief wife — and sent them to fight his battles. Luna: So he was pragmatic when he needed to be. Lucas: Very. But pragmatism has limits. When Jaswant Singh died heirless, Aurangzeb saw an opportunity to annex Marwar and convert its Hindu population. He installed a Muslim governor and ordered the destruction of Hindu temples in the region. That triggered the Rathore rebellion, which lasted decades. Luna: And that rebellion probably weakened the empire just as the Marathas were rising. Lucas: Exactly. Durgadas Rathore, who led the rebellion, allied with Shivaji's son Sambhaji and even with Aurangzeb's own rebellious son, Prince Akbar. For a few years, the Mughals faced a coalition of Rajputs, Marathas, and a Mughal prince. Lucas: Aurangzeb eventually crushed the rebellion, but it cost him dearly. And the memory of that betrayal soured relations between the Mughals and the Rathores for generations. By the early 1700s, many Rajput states were effectively independent, even if they still paid lip service to the emperor. Luna: So the very generals who helped Aurangzeb build his empire ended up being part of its undoing. Lucas: That's the tragedy. Men like Jai Singh gave everything to the empire, but the empire's own contradictions — between piety and pragmatism, between centralization and the autonomy of local lords — tore it apart. And the Rajputs were at the heart of that contradiction. Lucas: One last detail: when Aurangzeb died in 1707, the Rajput states were among the first to break away. Marwar, Amber, and Bundelkhand all asserted independence within a decade. The empire that Jai Singh and Jaswant Singh had helped build was already crumbling. Luna: It makes you wonder — if Aurangzeb had trusted his Hindu generals more, could he have held the empire together? Lucas: That's the question that keeps historians arguing. But the evidence we have — from the maasir i alamgiri and from Manucci's accounts — suggests that Aurangzeb's mistrust was as much a weapon as his sword. And in the end, it cut both ways.