Introductory - Global Sikh Studies

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or violate the strongest hurdle of social exclusiveness not only in the
caste society but in class societies as well. The Rajputs became the
pillars of the Mughal administration and military establishment. They
were constantly employed in reducing into submission the enemies of
the Mughal empire. Of the 416 Munsubdars, or military commanders
of Akbar’s empire, 47 were Rajputs. The aggregate of their quotas
amounted to 53,000 horses, exactly one-tenth of the empire’s total
strength. 3 The Rajput rulers of Marwar, Ambar, Bikaner and Bundi
sided with Akbar against Rana Pratap. 4 It was Man Singh who led the
Mughal army against him in the crucial battle of Haldighat. Of the
approximate ten thousand Mughal forces under Man Singh, some four
thousands were his own clansmen and one thousands other Hindu
auxiliaries. 5 Again, it was Raja Jai Singh who was in charge of
Aurangzeb’s campaign against Shivaji.
The constitution of Rajputs polity also points in the same
direction. It was a peculiar military-cum-partiarchal system which in
its operation ‘embraced every object of society.’ 6 ‘The greater portion
of the vassal chiefs, from the highest of the sixteen peers to the holders
of a Chursa of land, claim affinity in blood to the sovereign. 7 From
the chief who headed five hundred of his own vassals to the single
horseman, all were supported by lands held by grants.’ 8 An important
condition of the tenure was that ‘at home and abroad, service shall be
performed when demanded.’ 9 It was an exclusively Rajput system based
on the domination and exploitation of non-Rajputs. ‘Titles are granted,
and even chiefs of office, to ministers and civil servants not Rajputs;
they are, however, but official, and civil servants not Rajputs; they
are, however, but official, and never confer hereditary right.’ 10
Althought jit (jat) are included in the original 36 royal races of
Rajasthan, none of them are bhumias, or occupy land free from revenue
in Ajmer and Marwar. 11 A Rajput ‘scorns to hold the plough’, 12 and he
who did was denegrated in the Rajput aggrandizement was curtailed
and some of them were forced to work with their own hands, they
lived, one and all, on the exploitation of the non-Rajputs. Here is,
perhaps, a rare caste where the economic interests of almost each
* Chursa, a hide of land, sufficient to furnish an equipped cavalier