Latest / Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History / Aurangzeb's Rajput Wars: The Rathore Rebellion of Marwar
Transcript
- Lucas: Last time we talked about the Maratha war that drained the Mughal treasury. But there's another conflict that's often overlooked—the Rathore rebellion in Marwar, which started in 1678 and dragged on for decades. It was a war against a former ally, and it broke something fundamental in the empire. Luna: Wait, when you say former ally — you mean the Rajputs? Lucas: Exactly. The Rathore Rajputs of Marwar, centered on Jodhpur, had been loyal Mughal vassals since Akbar's time. Maharaja Jaswant Singh fought for Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb in the Deccan and Afghanistan. But when he died in 1678 without a male heir, Aurangzeb saw an opportunity to tighten control. Lucas: According to the maasir i alamgiri, Aurangzeb immediately annexed Marwar, imposed heavy taxes, and ordered the conversion of Hindu temples to mosques. He also brought in his own governor and tried to extinguish the Rathore line. That was a massive miscalculation. Luna: But didn't Jaswant Singh have a son born after his death? Lucas: Yes — and that's the hinge of the whole story. While Jaswant Singh's body was still being carried back from the Deccan, his two pregnant wives were in Lahore. One gave birth to a son, Ajit Singh, but the infant's survival was in doubt. Aurangzeb ordered the women brought to Delhi, ostensibly for protection, but actually to control the succession. Lucas: The Rathore nobles, led by the legendary Durgadas Rathore, realized what was happening. They staged a daring rescue. Niccolao Manucci, the Venetian traveler, describes how Durgadas smuggled the queens and the baby out of Delhi in the dead of night, disguised as servants. They fled across the desert to Marwar. Luna: That sounds like something out of a movie. Lucas: It is. And from that moment, Marwar became a war zone. Aurangzeb sent a massive army under his son, Prince Akbar, and other generals. They besieged Jodhpur, sacked the city, and desecrated the temples. But the Rajputs didn't fight a pitched battle — they melted into the Thar Desert, raiding supply lines, ambushing patrols. Lucas: The Mughals had heavy cavalry and artillery, but in the sand and rocks of Rajasthan, the Rathore horsemen had the advantage. They knew every water hole, every pass. Durgadas became a folk hero, a symbol of resistance. Luna: So this was guerrilla warfare, similar to what the Marathas were doing? Lucas: Very similar. And it gets even more tangled. In 1681, Prince Akbar actually rebelled against his father, declared himself emperor, and allied with the Rathores and the Marathas. It was the closest Aurangzeb ever came to losing the throne. But Aurangzeb, using diplomacy and deceit, managed to split the alliance. Akbar fled to Safavid Persia. Lucas: Still, the rebellion in Marwar never fully ended. Durgadas fought on for nearly thirty years. The Mughals could never pacify the region. And this conflict had two huge consequences: first, it tied down tens of thousands of Mughal troops that could have been used in the Deccan. Second, it permanently alienated the Rajputs. Luna: Alienated them how? I thought many Rajputs still served in the Mughal army. Lucas: They did, but the personal loyalty was gone. After Jaswant Singh's death, other Rajput clans, like the Kachhwahas of Amber, saw how Aurangzeb treated a loyal vassal. Trust evaporated. And when the Mughal empire began to crumble in the 18th century, the Rajputs were among the first to break away. Lucas: There's also a dark footnote. The maasir i alamgiri records that Aurangzeb ordered the execution of many captured Rathore nobles. He also imposed jizya on the Rajputs, which was deeply insulting to a community that had fought and died for the empire. It was a policy of humiliation, not just conquest. Luna: So this war was as much about ideology as politics? Lucas: Absolutely. Aurangzeb's religious orthodoxy clashed with the pragmatic alliance system that Akbar had built. He saw the Rajputs as infidels who needed to be brought to heel, not allies. That shift in worldview cost him the loyalty of the second most important military constituency in the empire. Lucas: By the time Aurangzeb died in 1707, Marwar was still in rebellion. Durgadas Rathore outlived him and eventually secured the recognition of Ajit Singh as maharaja. But the damage was done. The Mughal-Rajput partnership, which had been the bedrock of the empire, was shattered. Luna: It's almost a mirror of what happened with the Marathas — fighting a long war that you can't win. Lucas: Exactly. And both wars fed each other. The Rajputs and Marathas, who had often been enemies, began to cooperate against the Mughals. Durgadas actually fought alongside Sambhaji's Marathas at times. That alliance of former enemies was a sign of how much Aurangzeb's policies had reshaped the political landscape. Luna: I've never heard of Durgadas Rathore before. He sounds like a remarkable figure. Lucas: He is, and he's surprisingly little-known outside Rajasthan. The Rathores still celebrate him as a hero. There's a famous ballad that says, 'Durgadas did what the sun could not — he made the Mughal emperor taste defeat.' It's hyperbole, but it captures the spirit. Lucas: Next time you look at the grand forts of Jodhpur or the barren landscape of Marwar, think of that long shadow. The Rajput desert was a place where even the mightiest empire could bleed out, one skirmish at a time.