Why Mughal princesses did not marry Rajput Kings? - Page 3

Originally posted by: sashashyam

My dear Donjas and Prem,

First of all, this is a fascinating bit of information, Donjas. Thank you so much for bringing it to our notice. I think you should PM at least a few of our friends in this forum about this post of yours.

They would surely be very much interested. After all, it explodes the canard that the Mughal emperors wanted this to a one way affair and a way of asserting their suzerainty over the Rajputs! I shall try and get hold of this book.

I had no idea about it at all. It is amazing how one does not know about even such major elements in the social life of the 16th century and the relations between two different races in Hindustan, at least in the north. The South was insulated from all this, more or less, with the Deccan sultanates as a barrier.

Now, as for the reasons for such Rajput standoffishness vis a vis Mughal princesses, I feel the two sets of reasons Prem has offered - the first operating on the Rajputs and the second on the Mughals - seem to me likely to be the correct ones.

As for the first one, more than the difference of religions - they could have made a Mughal princess adopt Rajput religious customs - , the idea of the purity of blood is likely to have been the dominant issue. All blood is basically the same - A, B, O, AB, Rh+ve or Rh-ve - but then still some people talk of the blood of one or the other race - Nazi generals captured by the Russian army in World War II would refuse to have blood transfusions from Jewish donors as it would somehow "pollute" their Aryan blood! And the Russian Army generals indulged them and accommodated them!

All the more reason for 16th century Rajputs to cling to their notion that the blood of the Rajput nasl should not be diluted thru a Mughal daughter in law. As Prem has explained, this issue does not arise with a daughter, who is anyway seen as paraya dhan to be given away (to the greatest benefit of her maternal family, in these cases!)

The second one is also very plausible. The very notion of sati must have terrified any potential candidates for marriage to the Rajputs, even if the boy's side agreed. On their side, the Rajput royalty might have been worried that the Mughal daughters in law might demand more freedom and disrupt the households of their in-laws.

So it must have been a double, mutually reinforcing set of objections that ruled the very idea out fairly soon. Fascinating!

Shyamala

Originally posted by: Bindu_nhbr

From the views/information shared by Donjas,Prem and Shyamal aunty,I feel its difficult to state who opposed whose proposals.

If Mughals didn't want their daughters to face problems with an entirely different culture and traditions(including Sati),that's absolutely fine.In fact it shows they valued their daughters freedom and individuality more than political benefits.

As far as Rajputs' funda regarding not marrying Mughals is considered,given the orthodox values followed in that era,their fear of deviation from the religious beliefs and customs is justified to an extent.

They were okay in giving their daughters bcoz Mughals were relatively liberal in these issues and the most important thing was the political benefits.

Like Shyamala aunty said,both the parties had some reservations which ruled out the idea of Rajput kings marrying Mughal princesses.

I didn't get why Akbar decided to leave Aram unmarried!!If not to the Rajputs,she could have been married to Mughals right?

Thanks to all the three of you😃

Originally posted by: Bindu_nhbr

From the views/information shared by Donjas,Prem and Shyamal aunty,I feel its difficult to state who opposed whose proposals.

If Mughals didn't want their daughters to face problems with an entirely different culture and traditions(including Sati),that's absolutely fine.In fact it shows they valued their daughters freedom and individuality more than political benefits.

As far as Rajputs' funda regarding not marrying Mughals is considered,given the orthodox values followed in that era,their fear of deviation from the religious beliefs and customs is justified to an extent.

They were okay in giving their daughters bcoz Mughals were relatively liberal in these issues and the most important thing was the political benefits.

Like Shyamala aunty said,both the parties had some reservations which ruled out the idea of Rajput kings marrying Mughal princesses.

I didn't get why Akbar decided to leave Aram unmarried!!If not to the Rajputs,she could have been married to Mughals right?

Thanks to all the three of you😃

Originally posted by: Bindu_nhbr

TFS Donjas 😊
This is really interesting piece of information.
Akbar's broad mindedness is clearly seen here.
Those Rajput kings who didn't accept Mughal princesses might not have given their sisters and daughters too.
But if the Rajput clan felt marrying Mughal princess is unacceptable and the other way round is fine..their thought process is not agreeable.
After all blood has no religion.