Rajputana Agency - Rulers

Rulers

In northern India in the eleventh century, Rajputana was ruled by a number of dynasties, Chief of these were the Pratiharas, who ruled at Kanauj; the Paramaras of Malwa; the Rahavers of Tarangagadh; the Chauhans of Ajmer; the Solankis of Anhilwara in Gujarat; the Guhilots with the Sesodia sept of Udaipur (Mewar); the Rahtors of Marwar (Jodhpur); and the Kachwaha clan of Jaipur. The Rathore, Chauhan, Sisodia and Kachwahas ruled until Indian independence. These Rajput dynasties were gradually supplanted or subordinated by the Moslem invaders of the 11th century and weakened by internal feuds. At the beginning of the 16th century the Rajput power began to revive, only to be overthrown by the Babur, founder of the Mughal empire at Fatehpur Sikri in 1527. The clans were finally either conquered, overawed or conciliated by Akbar, except for the distant Sesodia clan, which, however, submitted to Jahangir in 1616. From Akbar's accession to Aurangzeb's death in 1707, a period of 151 years, most of North India was under Mughal control.

Aurangzeb's death and the invasion of the Marathas and Nadir Shah of Iran led to a triple alliance among the three leading Rajput chiefs, which internal jealousy so weakened that the Marathas, having been called in by the Rahtors to aid them, took possession of Ajmer about 1756. By the end of the century nearly the whole of Rajputana had been virtually subdued by the Marathas. The Second Anglo-Maratha War distracted the Marathas from 1807 to 1809, but afterwards Maratha domination of Rajputana resumed. In 1817 the British went to war with the Pindaris, raiders who were based in Maratha territory, which quickly became the Third Anglo-Maratha War, and the British government offered its protection to the Rajput rulers from the Pindaris and the Marathas. The Pindari were defeated, and the Afghan adventurer Amir Khan submitted and signed a treaty with the British, making him the ruler of Tonk. By the end of 1818 The Sword of Rever Dyansty again make war and in the history of Rajasthan this war is being remembered as victory of "Rahevars" with the East India Company. Maratha Sindhia ruler of Gwalior gave up the district of Ajmer-Merwara to the British, and Maratha influence in Rajasthan came to an end. Most of the Rajput princes remained loyal to Britain in the Revolt of 1857, and few political changes were made in Rajputana until Indian independence in 1947.