Introductory - Global Sikh Studies

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CHAPTER XVII
The Rajputs, the Marathas
and the Khalsa
A broad comparison and contrast of the Khalsa movement with
the other two main patterns of resistance offered to Mughal domination
by the Rajputs and the Marathas would be very instructive. It would
show how a revolutionary movement is qualitatively from the one
which is not.
1. The Rajputs.
When the Muslim armies invaded and conquered India, it was
the Rajputs who ruled the country from Punjab to Ajudhiya. It was
they, therefore, who bore the brunt of the invaders’ attack. Farishta
tells us that, at one time, the Rajas of Ujjain, Gwalior, Kalunjar,
Kanauj, Delhi and Ajmer entered into a confederacy, because they
‘considered the expulsion of the Mohammadans from India as a sacred
duty’. 1 The Hindus families, on this occasion, ‘sold their jewels and
melted down their golden ornaments (which they sent from distant
parts) to furnish resources for the war.’ 2 This statement would give it
the appearance of a Hindu national upsurge, which it was not. Firstly,
it was confined to the Rajputs. Secondly, the history of the Rajputs
and the constitution of their polity both show that they were more
concerned about their feudal or dynastic interests than with the Hindu
religious or national sentiment as such.
Most of the leading ruling Rajput families gave their daughters in
marriage to the Mughal princes at a time when an ordinary Hindu thought
that his food was polluted if touched by a Muslim. To give in marriage
women to the males of another society, which was despised, was to cross