History of Jaisalmer
"The Golden City" lies in the heart of the Thar Desert, standing on a ridge of yellow sandstone and crowned by a mighty fort. Located 575 kilometres (357 mi) West from the current state capital, Jaipur, it harbours a population of about 78 000 inhabitants. The city is famous for its finely sculptured architecture, palaces and ornate Jain temples.
History The majority of the inhabitants of Jaisalmer are BhatiRajputs. This area was part of Gurjar - Pratihara empire, and until the 11th century was ruled by the powerful Bargujar King. Deoraj, a famous prince of the Bhati family, is esteemed the real founder of the Jaisalmer dynasty, and with him the title of rawal commenced.
In 1156, Rawal Jaisal, the sixth in succession from Deoraj, built the fort and city of Jaisalmer, and made it his capital. In 1293, the Bhatis so enraged the emperor Ala-ud-din Khilji that his army captured and sacked the fort and city of Jaisalmer. Some Bhati's migrated to Talwandi (Punjab) and others settled in Larkana (Pakistan) under the name of Bhutto.
The major opponents of the Bhati Rajputs were the powerful Rathor clans of Jodhpur and Bikaner, fighting for the possession of forts, waterholes or cattle. Jaisalmer was positioned strategically along a traditional trade route traversed by the camel caravans of Indian and Asian merchants, linking India to Central Asia, Egypt, Arabia, Persia, Africa and the Occident, making it a crucial asset for its ruler.
Medieval period
During the Islamic invasion of India, Jaisalmer escaped direct Muslim conquest due to its geographical situation in the desert region. The first siege of Jaisalmer occurred during the reign of Alauddin Khilji. It was provoked by Bhatis' raid on a caravan filled with treasures. According to local ballads, the Bhatis defended the fort for seven years until the enemy army force breached the ramparts. The Bhatis, facing certain defeat, proclaimed the rite of Jauhar. Later, Sultan Ferozshah also sieged Jaisalmer after the rulers of Jaisalmer raided his camp at Anasagar lake, near Ajmer. The siege led to another Jauhar. The relations with the Mughals were not always as tense, and alliances were formed. For example, the illustrious Akbar himself was married to a Jaisalmer princess.
Princely Jaisalmer
Jaisalmer was one of the last states to sign a treaty with the British. During the British Raj, Jaisalmer was the seat of a princely state of the same name, ruled by the Bhati clan of Rajputs. Traditionally, the main source of income was the levies on the caravans.
Modern Jaisalmer
However, the glory of Jaisalmer faded when Bombay emerged as a port and the sea trade replaced the traditional land routes. The partition of India in 1947 lead to closing of all the trade routes on the Indo-Pakistan border and rendered Jaisalmer a drought-prone desert backwater on the international border. Ironically, skirmishes between India and Pakistan gave Jaisalmer a strategic importance and made it serviceable as an army supply depot. Later, the Rajasthan Canal served to revive the surrounding desert areas. Roads and railroads were then built, knitting the hitherto remote town with the rest of Rajasthan. Lately, the Government of Rajasthan decided to promote Jaisalmer as a tourist destination.
History The majority of the inhabitants of Jaisalmer are BhatiRajputs. This area was part of Gurjar - Pratihara empire, and until the 11th century was ruled by the powerful Bargujar King. Deoraj, a famous prince of the Bhati family, is esteemed the real founder of the Jaisalmer dynasty, and with him the title of rawal commenced.
In 1156, Rawal Jaisal, the sixth in succession from Deoraj, built the fort and city of Jaisalmer, and made it his capital. In 1293, the Bhatis so enraged the emperor Ala-ud-din Khilji that his army captured and sacked the fort and city of Jaisalmer. Some Bhati's migrated to Talwandi (Punjab) and others settled in Larkana (Pakistan) under the name of Bhutto.
The major opponents of the Bhati Rajputs were the powerful Rathor clans of Jodhpur and Bikaner, fighting for the possession of forts, waterholes or cattle. Jaisalmer was positioned strategically along a traditional trade route traversed by the camel caravans of Indian and Asian merchants, linking India to Central Asia, Egypt, Arabia, Persia, Africa and the Occident, making it a crucial asset for its ruler.
Medieval period
During the Islamic invasion of India, Jaisalmer escaped direct Muslim conquest due to its geographical situation in the desert region. The first siege of Jaisalmer occurred during the reign of Alauddin Khilji. It was provoked by Bhatis' raid on a caravan filled with treasures. According to local ballads, the Bhatis defended the fort for seven years until the enemy army force breached the ramparts. The Bhatis, facing certain defeat, proclaimed the rite of Jauhar. Later, Sultan Ferozshah also sieged Jaisalmer after the rulers of Jaisalmer raided his camp at Anasagar lake, near Ajmer. The siege led to another Jauhar. The relations with the Mughals were not always as tense, and alliances were formed. For example, the illustrious Akbar himself was married to a Jaisalmer princess.
Princely Jaisalmer
Jaisalmer was one of the last states to sign a treaty with the British. During the British Raj, Jaisalmer was the seat of a princely state of the same name, ruled by the Bhati clan of Rajputs. Traditionally, the main source of income was the levies on the caravans.
Modern Jaisalmer
However, the glory of Jaisalmer faded when Bombay emerged as a port and the sea trade replaced the traditional land routes. The partition of India in 1947 lead to closing of all the trade routes on the Indo-Pakistan border and rendered Jaisalmer a drought-prone desert backwater on the international border. Ironically, skirmishes between India and Pakistan gave Jaisalmer a strategic importance and made it serviceable as an army supply depot. Later, the Rajasthan Canal served to revive the surrounding desert areas. Roads and railroads were then built, knitting the hitherto remote town with the rest of Rajasthan. Lately, the Government of Rajasthan decided to promote Jaisalmer as a tourist destination.
Rajput Kingdoms
A Rajput (Hindi: राजपूत) is a member of one of the patrilineal clans of western, central, northern India and in some parts of Pakistan. The word "Rajput" is a contracted form of raja, or "monarch," and putra, meaning "son." According to legend, only the first son of a king could inherit the kingdom, so the later sons became military leaders. From these younger sons was born the Rajput warrior caste.
Rajputs are descendants of one of the major ruling warrior classes in the Indian subcontinent, particularly North India (mainly Gujarat, Saurashtra and Rajasthan), from the Mahabharata and Vedic period, until succeeding invasions and dominance of Mughals.
Rajputs rose to prominence during the 6th to 12th centuries, and until the 20th century Rajputs ruled in the "overwhelming majority" of the princely states of Punjab, Kashmir, Rajasthan and Saurashtra.
Rajput kingdoms (8th to 11th centuries)
The first Rajput kingdoms date back to the 7th century, but it was during the 9th to 11th centuries that the Rajputs rose to prominence. Bappa Rawal of the Gahlot dynasty established his rule in 734 CE at Chittor. The Kachwahas dynasty were originally from Bihar, and founded Gwalior and Narwar in the 8th century. One of their descendants, Dulah Rai established his rule in Dhundhar (Amber) in the 11th century.
In 1156 Rawal Jaisal Bhati, the sixth in succession from Deoraj, founded the fort and city of Jaisalmer, and made it his capital as he moved from his former capital at Lodhruva (which is situated about 15 km to the north-west of Jaisalmer).
The imperial Pratiharas established their rule over Malwa and ruled from the cities of Bhinmal and Ujjain in the 8th and 9th centuries. One branch of the clan established a state in Mandore in the Merwar region in 6th and 7th centuries where they held sway until they were supplanted by the Rathores in the 14th century.
The Chandela clan ruled Bundelkhand after the 10th century, occupying Kalinjar Fort; they later built the temples at Khajuraho Group of Monuments.
The organization of Rajput clans crystallized in this period. Intermarriage among the Rajput clans interlinked the various regions of India and Pakistan, facilitating the flow of trade and scholarship. Archaeological evidence and contemporary texts suggest that Indian society achieved significant prosperity during this era. The literature composed in this period, both in Sanskrit and in the Apabhraṃśas, constitutes a substantial segment of classical Indian literature. Many major monuments of northern and central India, including those at Khajuraho, also date from this period.
Islamic invasions (11th to 12th centuries)
The fertile and prosperous plains of northern India had always been a destination of choice for streams of invaders coming from the northwest. The last of these waves of invasions were of tribes who had previously converted to Islam. For geographic reasons, Rajput-ruled states suffered the brunt of aggression from various Mongol–Turkic–Afghan warlords who repeatedly invaded the subcontinent. Eventually, rampant internal conflicts among Rajput kingdoms facilitated the victory of the invaders
Medieval Rajput states (12th to 16th centuries)
Conflict with the Sultanate
The Delhi Sultanate was founded by Muhammad Qutb ud din Aybak, in the early 13th century. Sultan Ala ud din Khilji conquered Gujarat (1297), Malwa (1305), Ranthambore (1301), Chittorgarh (1303), Jalore, and Bhinmal (1311), after long sieges and fierce resistance from their Rajput defenders.
The "First Jauhar" occurred during the siege of Chittor (1303). Jauhar is the mass self-immolation of the female population to avoid capture in time of war. Concurrently, the male population would perform Saka: a fight to the death against impossible odds. The defence of Chittor by the Guhilas, the sagas of Rani Padmini, and the memory of the Jauhar have had a defining impact upon the Rajput character.
Mughal era (16th–18th century)
The Delhi sultanate was extinguished when Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodi at the First Battle of Panipat in 1526. Rana Sanga, ruler of Mewar, rallied an army to challenge Babur. Rana Sanga used traditional war tactics and weapons and Babur used modern tactics and cannons, the first example of their use in northern India. Overmatched, Sanga was defeated by Babur at the Battle of Khanua on March 16, 1527. However, it was not until the reign of Akbar fifteen years later that the structure of relations between the Mughal imperium and the Rajput states began to take definitive shape.
Pratap Singh of Mewar, was a 16th century Rajput ruler and great warrior. The Mughal emperor Akbar sent many missions against him. He survived to ultimately gain control of all of Mewar, excluding Chittorgarh Fort. Udaipur remained the capital of Mewar after the fall of Chittor at the hands of Akbar in 1568. When the fall of the citadel became imminent, the ladies of the fort committed collective self-immolation, and the men sallied out of the fort to meet the invading Muslim army in a fight to the death, in the third (and last) Jauhar of Chittor.
Mewar's ruler, Rana Udai Singh II, had retired to the nearby hills where he founded the new town of Udaipur. He was succeeded while in exile by his son Pratap Singh of Mewar as head of the Sisodia clan. Pratap Singh, a present-day Rajput icon, rebuffed overtures of friendship from Akbar and rallied an army to meet the Mughal forces, carrying out a relentless guerilla from his hideout in the hills. By the time of his death, he had reconquered nearly all of his kingdom from the Mughals except for the fortress of Chittor and Mandal Garh. He died in 1597 CE. His son Rana Amar Singh continued the struggle for 18 years. Finally, he entered into a peace treaty with the Mughals in 1615 at Gogunda. Singh thus regained control of his state as a vassal of the Mughals. The Sisodias, rulers of Mewar, were the last Rajput dynasty to enter into an alliance with the Mughals.
Maratha empire
As the central authority of the Mughal empire disintegrated following the death of Aurangzeb, the power of the Marathas was being consolidated under the leadership of Shivaji Bhonsle (his grandfather, Maloji Bhonsle, claimed descent from the Sisodia clan of Rajputs). By 1760, with defeat of the Nizam of Hyderabad in the Deccan, Maratha power had reached its zenith with a territory of over 250 million acres (1 million km²) or one-third of the Indian sub-continent. For the Rajput states of the North Indian subcontinent it was a period of constantly shifting alliances and military conflicts, with various forces competing for power.
The Maratha's constant attempt to extract tribute and conduct raids greatly antagonised the people of the Rajput states and Jat community and was one of the reasons for the emergence of military alliances between the Rajput states and the East India Company by the early 19th century.
The British Raj
The English East India Company established control in 1757 after the Battle of Plassey, where they defeated the Nawab of Bengal. After a period of chaos and unrest culminating in the Indian Rebellion of 1857, Queen Victoria was declared Empress of India on 1 May 1876, officially supplanting the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah II and the rule of the East India Company.
The Maratha Confederacy began its conflict with the British Raj in 1772. After the Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817–1818), all the states in the Rajputana region entered into a subsidiary alliance with the East India Company and became princely states under the British Raj. The British took direct control of Ajmer, which became the province of Ajmer-Merwara A large number of other Rajput states in central and western India made a similar transition. Most of them were placed under the authority of the Central India Agency and the various states' agencies of Kathiawar.
Some British colonial officials were impressed by the military qualities of the Rajputs, after their participation in various campaigns against the French, the Marathas, the Nawabs and in the Gurkha War (1814 to 1816), the Anglo-Afghan Wars, and in the Anglo-Sikh wars in Punjab. Rajput troopers also served in the Egyptian campaign of 1882 as well as in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of 1885.
When India gained its independence in 1947, the Rajput states became a part of the Dominions of India and Pakistan.
Identity and major clans
The Suryavanshi, which means Sun Dynasty, claim descent from Surya, the solar deity. The Chandravanshi, which means Moon Dynasty, claim descent from Chandra, the lunar deity. The Bhati of Jaisalmer are Chandravanshi. The Agnivanshi lineage claims descent from Agni, the Vedic God of Fire. They were the earliest lineage to rise to political prominence.
Consciousness of clan and lineage
The aforementioned three patrilineages (vanshas) sub-divide into 36 main clans (kulas), which in turn divide into numerous branches (shakhas), to create the intricate clan system of the Rajputs. The principle of patrilineage is staunchly adhered to in determining one's place in the system and a strong consciousness of clan and lineage is an essential part of the Rajput character. Authoritative listings of the 36 Rajput clans are to be found in the Kumārpāla Charita of Jayasimha and the epic poem Prithvirāj Rāso of Chandbardai.
Languages
Rajputs typically speak whatever languages are spoken by the general population of the areas in which they live. Hindi and Rajasthani are the primary languages, as most are situated in Hindi-speaking states, but Gujarati is also spoken among Rajputs residing in Gujarat.
Culture and ethos
The Rajputs were described by British historians as a "Martial Race." They were thought to be naturally warlike and aggressive in battle and to possess qualities like courage, loyalty, self-sufficiency, physical strength, resilience, orderliness, a hard working nature, a fighting tenacity, and military strategy. The British recruited heavily from these "martial races" for service in the colonial army.
Rajput lifestyle
The double-edged scimitar known as the khanda was a popular weapon among the Rajputs of that era. On special occasions, a primary chief would break up a meeting of his vassal chiefs with khanda nariyal, the distribution of daggers and coconuts. Another affirmation of the Rajput's reverence for his sword was the Karga Shapna ("adoration of the sword") ritual, performed during the annual Navaratri festival.
Rajputs are descendants of one of the major ruling warrior classes in the Indian subcontinent, particularly North India (mainly Gujarat, Saurashtra and Rajasthan), from the Mahabharata and Vedic period, until succeeding invasions and dominance of Mughals.
Rajputs rose to prominence during the 6th to 12th centuries, and until the 20th century Rajputs ruled in the "overwhelming majority" of the princely states of Punjab, Kashmir, Rajasthan and Saurashtra.
Rajput kingdoms (8th to 11th centuries)
The first Rajput kingdoms date back to the 7th century, but it was during the 9th to 11th centuries that the Rajputs rose to prominence. Bappa Rawal of the Gahlot dynasty established his rule in 734 CE at Chittor. The Kachwahas dynasty were originally from Bihar, and founded Gwalior and Narwar in the 8th century. One of their descendants, Dulah Rai established his rule in Dhundhar (Amber) in the 11th century.
In 1156 Rawal Jaisal Bhati, the sixth in succession from Deoraj, founded the fort and city of Jaisalmer, and made it his capital as he moved from his former capital at Lodhruva (which is situated about 15 km to the north-west of Jaisalmer).
The imperial Pratiharas established their rule over Malwa and ruled from the cities of Bhinmal and Ujjain in the 8th and 9th centuries. One branch of the clan established a state in Mandore in the Merwar region in 6th and 7th centuries where they held sway until they were supplanted by the Rathores in the 14th century.
The Chandela clan ruled Bundelkhand after the 10th century, occupying Kalinjar Fort; they later built the temples at Khajuraho Group of Monuments.
The organization of Rajput clans crystallized in this period. Intermarriage among the Rajput clans interlinked the various regions of India and Pakistan, facilitating the flow of trade and scholarship. Archaeological evidence and contemporary texts suggest that Indian society achieved significant prosperity during this era. The literature composed in this period, both in Sanskrit and in the Apabhraṃśas, constitutes a substantial segment of classical Indian literature. Many major monuments of northern and central India, including those at Khajuraho, also date from this period.
Islamic invasions (11th to 12th centuries)
The fertile and prosperous plains of northern India had always been a destination of choice for streams of invaders coming from the northwest. The last of these waves of invasions were of tribes who had previously converted to Islam. For geographic reasons, Rajput-ruled states suffered the brunt of aggression from various Mongol–Turkic–Afghan warlords who repeatedly invaded the subcontinent. Eventually, rampant internal conflicts among Rajput kingdoms facilitated the victory of the invaders
Medieval Rajput states (12th to 16th centuries)
Conflict with the Sultanate
The Delhi Sultanate was founded by Muhammad Qutb ud din Aybak, in the early 13th century. Sultan Ala ud din Khilji conquered Gujarat (1297), Malwa (1305), Ranthambore (1301), Chittorgarh (1303), Jalore, and Bhinmal (1311), after long sieges and fierce resistance from their Rajput defenders.
The "First Jauhar" occurred during the siege of Chittor (1303). Jauhar is the mass self-immolation of the female population to avoid capture in time of war. Concurrently, the male population would perform Saka: a fight to the death against impossible odds. The defence of Chittor by the Guhilas, the sagas of Rani Padmini, and the memory of the Jauhar have had a defining impact upon the Rajput character.
Mughal era (16th–18th century)
The Delhi sultanate was extinguished when Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodi at the First Battle of Panipat in 1526. Rana Sanga, ruler of Mewar, rallied an army to challenge Babur. Rana Sanga used traditional war tactics and weapons and Babur used modern tactics and cannons, the first example of their use in northern India. Overmatched, Sanga was defeated by Babur at the Battle of Khanua on March 16, 1527. However, it was not until the reign of Akbar fifteen years later that the structure of relations between the Mughal imperium and the Rajput states began to take definitive shape.
Pratap Singh of Mewar, was a 16th century Rajput ruler and great warrior. The Mughal emperor Akbar sent many missions against him. He survived to ultimately gain control of all of Mewar, excluding Chittorgarh Fort. Udaipur remained the capital of Mewar after the fall of Chittor at the hands of Akbar in 1568. When the fall of the citadel became imminent, the ladies of the fort committed collective self-immolation, and the men sallied out of the fort to meet the invading Muslim army in a fight to the death, in the third (and last) Jauhar of Chittor.
Mewar's ruler, Rana Udai Singh II, had retired to the nearby hills where he founded the new town of Udaipur. He was succeeded while in exile by his son Pratap Singh of Mewar as head of the Sisodia clan. Pratap Singh, a present-day Rajput icon, rebuffed overtures of friendship from Akbar and rallied an army to meet the Mughal forces, carrying out a relentless guerilla from his hideout in the hills. By the time of his death, he had reconquered nearly all of his kingdom from the Mughals except for the fortress of Chittor and Mandal Garh. He died in 1597 CE. His son Rana Amar Singh continued the struggle for 18 years. Finally, he entered into a peace treaty with the Mughals in 1615 at Gogunda. Singh thus regained control of his state as a vassal of the Mughals. The Sisodias, rulers of Mewar, were the last Rajput dynasty to enter into an alliance with the Mughals.
Maratha empire
As the central authority of the Mughal empire disintegrated following the death of Aurangzeb, the power of the Marathas was being consolidated under the leadership of Shivaji Bhonsle (his grandfather, Maloji Bhonsle, claimed descent from the Sisodia clan of Rajputs). By 1760, with defeat of the Nizam of Hyderabad in the Deccan, Maratha power had reached its zenith with a territory of over 250 million acres (1 million km²) or one-third of the Indian sub-continent. For the Rajput states of the North Indian subcontinent it was a period of constantly shifting alliances and military conflicts, with various forces competing for power.
The Maratha's constant attempt to extract tribute and conduct raids greatly antagonised the people of the Rajput states and Jat community and was one of the reasons for the emergence of military alliances between the Rajput states and the East India Company by the early 19th century.
The British Raj
The English East India Company established control in 1757 after the Battle of Plassey, where they defeated the Nawab of Bengal. After a period of chaos and unrest culminating in the Indian Rebellion of 1857, Queen Victoria was declared Empress of India on 1 May 1876, officially supplanting the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah II and the rule of the East India Company.
The Maratha Confederacy began its conflict with the British Raj in 1772. After the Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817–1818), all the states in the Rajputana region entered into a subsidiary alliance with the East India Company and became princely states under the British Raj. The British took direct control of Ajmer, which became the province of Ajmer-Merwara A large number of other Rajput states in central and western India made a similar transition. Most of them were placed under the authority of the Central India Agency and the various states' agencies of Kathiawar.
Some British colonial officials were impressed by the military qualities of the Rajputs, after their participation in various campaigns against the French, the Marathas, the Nawabs and in the Gurkha War (1814 to 1816), the Anglo-Afghan Wars, and in the Anglo-Sikh wars in Punjab. Rajput troopers also served in the Egyptian campaign of 1882 as well as in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of 1885.
When India gained its independence in 1947, the Rajput states became a part of the Dominions of India and Pakistan.
Identity and major clans
The Suryavanshi, which means Sun Dynasty, claim descent from Surya, the solar deity. The Chandravanshi, which means Moon Dynasty, claim descent from Chandra, the lunar deity. The Bhati of Jaisalmer are Chandravanshi. The Agnivanshi lineage claims descent from Agni, the Vedic God of Fire. They were the earliest lineage to rise to political prominence.
Consciousness of clan and lineage
The aforementioned three patrilineages (vanshas) sub-divide into 36 main clans (kulas), which in turn divide into numerous branches (shakhas), to create the intricate clan system of the Rajputs. The principle of patrilineage is staunchly adhered to in determining one's place in the system and a strong consciousness of clan and lineage is an essential part of the Rajput character. Authoritative listings of the 36 Rajput clans are to be found in the Kumārpāla Charita of Jayasimha and the epic poem Prithvirāj Rāso of Chandbardai.
Languages
Rajputs typically speak whatever languages are spoken by the general population of the areas in which they live. Hindi and Rajasthani are the primary languages, as most are situated in Hindi-speaking states, but Gujarati is also spoken among Rajputs residing in Gujarat.
Culture and ethos
The Rajputs were described by British historians as a "Martial Race." They were thought to be naturally warlike and aggressive in battle and to possess qualities like courage, loyalty, self-sufficiency, physical strength, resilience, orderliness, a hard working nature, a fighting tenacity, and military strategy. The British recruited heavily from these "martial races" for service in the colonial army.
Rajput lifestyle
The double-edged scimitar known as the khanda was a popular weapon among the Rajputs of that era. On special occasions, a primary chief would break up a meeting of his vassal chiefs with khanda nariyal, the distribution of daggers and coconuts. Another affirmation of the Rajput's reverence for his sword was the Karga Shapna ("adoration of the sword") ritual, performed during the annual Navaratri festival.