Delhi, Amber and Man Singh: A Mythicized Relationship
This article is a part of a series on often overlooked facets of mediaeval Rajput history. Here we brush off the dust from the contribution of Raja Man Singh those of Jaipur Rajputs towards Hinduism.
"The land with blood was like a tumultuous sea ;
In it the horsemen were boats, the slain like anchors fixed :
Death, roaring around, rushed in directions;
The men swam about, as it were all in the blood:"
On the morning of 18th June 1576, three hours after the sunrise, the armies of the Kingdom of Mewar and the Mughal Empire met each other in the village of Khamnaur, at the mouth of Haldighati. The Mewari army was led by none other than the legendary Maharana Pratap, the scion of the glorious Sisodia-Guhilot dynasty, while the other side was led by a young Kachhwaha prince Kuar Man singh of the Kingdom of Amber. At stake was the Maharana's life and Mewar's freedom and sovereignty which the dynasty had so dutifully defended for centuries.
The battle ended in a stalemate after hours of fighting when despite early gains by Mewar, the Mughal forces managed to bring back the morale of fleeing soldiers(and the soldiers themselves) by spreading the rumour that Akbar had arrived with more soldiers, exhausted Mewari soldiers started running away. Maharana Pratap was forced to move back to the shelter of the hills. In spite of this, in the previous article of this series, we have seen how this was not a defeat for Pratap. Through this battle, Maharana Pratap has rightfully became immortalised in history for standing up to the Mughals at a time when almost all of his neighbours and allies had already given up and Mewar had lost a substantial amount of it's territory(he managed to get a large part of it back). He is the very symbol of native resistance against the imperialist Turks. Man Singh, on the other hand, was not so lucky.
In the popular imagination, Man Singh was a traitor who shook hands with the Mughals, fought on their side and sold his religion, sovereignty and even women away just because he was greedy for power, position and money. He's considered a coward who did not even bother to put up a fight like Maharana Pratap before cozying up to the Mughals, someone who betrayed Pratap by choosing to fight on the side of Akbar, someone with whom Pratap refused to dine with because he considered him an outcaste, someone whom the Mughals trusted to do their bidding. Distinctions have been made and named after Maharana Pratap and Man singh, drawing a comparison in the process. Those who are patriotic and brave are put in the former category, those who betray are put in the latter. In the understanding of the masses today, if Maharana Pratap is the symbol of resistance, resilience, sacrifice, valor, pride and determination then Man Singh is the symbol of submission, weakness, lust for power, cowardice, shame and pusillanimity. The same allegations have been extended to other Rajputs, especially those belonging to Amer(later Jaipur). Nothing could be further from truth.
Man singh was born in 1550 to Bhagwant Das of the Kachhwaha clan which claims descent from the Kush, the son of Lord Ram. The Kachhwahas had been ruling parts of north-eastern and central Rajasthan since the early twelfth century. They had produced great kings like Sodh dev and Dulha rai. But around the time of the birth of Man singh, Amer was in trouble because of both internal and external factors.
After the death of king Prithviraj singh, Amer was swept into a period of political instability. Prithviraj singh's son, Puranmal became the next ruler but could only rule for seven years. During this time, the Afghan Sher Shah Suri invaded Rajputana and captured parts of Mewar and Marwar. The then ruler of Amer, Ratan Singh had to accept Suri suzerainty. Ratan singh's uncle Sanga managed to capture some of his territory and named it Sanganer, where he was succeeded by his brother Bharmal. Ratan singh was poisoned by his half-brother Askaran whom the nobles were quick to depose. Bharmal was made the king. Bharmal had to deal with first the Suris and then the Mughal governor of Mewat, Mirza Muhammad Sharif-ud-din Hussain. In 1562, Mirza invaded Amer with a large army but Bharmal was not in a position to resist. He had to take shelter in the hilly forests. He had to promise a fixed tribute and give his son and nephews as hostages. Mirza planned to invade Amer again, but Bharmal reached out to Akbar's courtier Chagtai Khan who pleaded on Bharmal's behalf. Bharmal's brother Rupsi Bairagi and son Jaimal appeared in Akbar front of Akbar. Later on, Bharmal himself came to meet Akbar. It was in these circumstances that Bharmal's daughter was married to Akbar. This was the beginning of the Mughal-Rajput marital relations. This was neither the first matrimonial alliance nor the last. In fact, the alliance was not even one-sided, Man singh marrying the niece of Akbar is one example. History is full of examples of such matrimonial alliances across the world but it's this marriage that has been the subject of much ridicule and contempt by people including Hindus, not realising that it was not a choice but a compromise by Bharmal to save Amer.
While judging the relations between Amer and the Mughals and for a proper understanding of the conditions under which this happened we must also look at some other facts-
1) Probably the most important factor at play was geography. Amer was much more closer to Delhi than Mewar was and unlike Mewar, Amer was mostly made up of flat plains and did not have much hills. Mewar was surrounded by the Aravalis and the rulers took shelter in the hills whenever invaders forced them to move out and continued their resistance from there.
2) There was no confederation of Rajput states or a leader of the stature of Rana Sanga like there had been during the time of the Battle of Khanwa in 1527. The Sisodias of Mewar, who had earlier led the Rajput confederation for a long time were themselves in a state of turmoil. All kingdoms were on their own and Amer was incapable of fighting a militarily strong Mughal empire under Akbar. Things could have gone in a different direction if Hemu(also known as Hemachandra Vikramaditya), the last Hindu ruler of Delhi had won the second battle of Panipat in 1556.
3) Amer was subservient to Mewar for a long time and although there's no recorded evidence of the Mewaris ever disrespecting the Ameris, it's possible that the Ameris had hard feelings because of occasional skirmishes.
4) Another reason is financial. Amer would not have been able to afford a war with the Mughals like Mewar. Mewar had to resort to looting Mughal trade caravans for wealth because they were following the scorched earth policy, and even though after Pratap his son Maharana Amar singh continued his policy of looting these caravans, Mewar was broken financially. They could no longer afford to fight against the Mughals. There was a fear that the nobles might revolt because of the non-payment of salaries and they were forced to make peace with Jahangir. Amer's geographical proximity to Delhi made it impossible for them to even think of doing what Mewar did.
5) Amer had been a trusted ally of Mewar for a long time. Man singh's ancestor Prithviraj Singh had fought on the side of Maharana Sanga(Pratap's grandfather) in the battle of Khanwa in 1527. It is to be noted that the Amer is considered more of a junior ally of Mewar than an actually subservient fiefdom.
6) We see that there was no slaughter, forced conversion and enslavement of Hindus and destruction of Hindu temples in the latter half of Akbar's rule(with the exception of Chittor) and during the reigns of Jahangir and Shah Jahan. The reason is that due to the alliance, a huge number of soldiers in the Mughal army were now Hindus, particularly Ameri Rajputs. It was also due to the efforts of the Ameris in the years following the formation of the alliance that Jizya and pilgrimage tax were removed. It was only during Aurangzeb's rule that destruction of Hindu temples started again but this among other factors, led to the Rajput rebellion which broke the Mughal-Rajput alliance after around 150 years.
7) Numerous temples have been built by the Kachhwahas across India and studies of the Vedas were patronised.
8) Kachhwahas helped fellow Hindu kings time to time. While Maharana Pratap was moving back into the hills of Gogunda after the battle of Haldighati, Abul Fazl asked Man singh to pursue and capture him but Man singh did not do so. It was Asaf Khan that chased Pratap. Was it possible for the injured and exhausted Maharana Pratap to escape? Most likely no, it wasn't.
Man singh was just a few kilometres away ad didn't help the Mughal forces when they were attacked by Pratap in Mohi. He also kept postponing the attack on Amar Singh later on.
His descendant, Mirza Jai Singh I helped Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj escape Aurangzeb's house arrest in Agra with the help of his son Ram Singh.
9) The Kachhwahas were the vanquishers of the Afghans in India. They used the Mughal war machinery to destroy other, more fanatic Islamic invaders, the Afghans. A Mughal-Afghan was sure to Islamise India completely.
10) No important Kachhwaha converted to Islam in spite of them living in the company of the Turks and having the incentive to do so.
Considering all this, it seems unjust to call the Kachhwahas traitors or sellouts. Calling them the victims of fate would be more accurate.
But what about Man Singh? Does this absolve him of his 'crimes' and 'treachery'? Why did Akbar choose him and not someone else to lead his army? And why did he agree to it? How come the Turks place their faith in him? And what about his father Bhagwant Das? He was present in Chittor when the third Saka-Jauhar of Chittor happened and when the people of citizens were being massacred and the temples of Chittor were being destroyed but chose to do nothing about it. Can he be forgiven for this?
It was only in the battle of Haldighati that Man Singh was entrusted with the sole command of the imperial Mughal army for the first time. He had only played minor roles till now. So what changed? Why was he suddenly given such an important task?
1) The popular story of Maharana Pratap humiliating Man Singh has been discarded as a myth by many prominent historians but Man singh's biographer RN Prasad thinks there's some truth to the story. He further proposes that Akbar might have chosen Man Singh as his general against Pratap because he would have considered his noble's insult as his own.
2) Abul Fazl has written that Kuar Man Singh was known for his wisdom, loyalty and bravery.
3) The Iqbalnamah-i-Jahangiri says, “The ancestors of Man Singh had been the liegemen of the Ranas of Mewar and by sending the Kuar Akbar assured himself that the Rana would give battle rather than evade the imperial troops.” Akbar must have been sure of his victory in case Pratap decides to fight and thus chose Man Singh knowing Pratap would choose to fight since honour was involved.
4) Maharana Pratap was an enemy who was different from any other enemy that the Mughal armies had faced till now. He was the most respected ruler of Rajputana and in a way the Doyen of the Rajputs. According to RN Prasad,"Akbar rightly thought that if a Muslim was put in charge of the invading army the Rajput soldiers might shirk or evade the responsibility of defeating the Rana of Mewar and, therefore, the Kuar was appointed to 'wield the sword of Islam'."
5) It was also a way for Albar to show that he put his trust in the Kachhwaha Rajputs.
6) Von Noer considers it a ploy by Akbar to create a permanent rift among the Rajputs. He says, “Akbar showed a clearer apprehension of the situation by the sound use he made of the means at his command employing Rajput against Rajput in the field as in the Council Chamber. Guided by his intimate knowledge of the very essence of the Hindu genius so cognate with his own, he knew that as diplomatic relations develop sooner and more readily between men of the same race and faith, so also brother is most bitter against brother on the field of battle. For these reasons, on return from the first Gujarat campaigns he had sent Man Singh, the heir of Amber into Mewar’s Rana’s territory.”
However, the Turks, and even Akbar himself did not trust Man Singh completely. They were aware that the Rajputs have affection in their hearts for the Doyen of their community and therefore he was accompanied by several Mughal commanders like Asaf Khan, Ghazi Khan Badakshi, Sayyid Ahmad Khan, Mujahid Khan, Shah Ghazi Khan Tabrazi and Muzahid Khan etc. among others.
In fact, Ameris were disliked by the Turks as evident from the fact that when during the course of the battle the Badayuni could not distinguish between the Mewari and Ameri soldiers, he asked Asaf Khan,"How are we in these circumstances to distinguish between friendly and hostile Rajputs?" and Asaf Khan replied: “They will experience the whiz of the arrows, be what may, on whichever side they may be killed, it will be a gain to Islam." This reply was both interesting and startling. Even Man Singh himself was disliked by the Turks for being a Hindu. The Mughal noble, Naqib Khan, upon being asked to help Badayuni to help him secure the permission to join the imperial army led by Man singh: "If a Hindu had not been the leader of this army, I should myself have been the first to have asked permission to join it." Shahbaz Khan, another Mughal noble who was ordered by Akbar to capture the Maharana, also had no trust in Bhagwant Das and Man Singh and sent them back fearing that their "feelings as land holders there might be delay in inflicting retribution on that 'vain disturber’ (Rana Pratap).”
Not only this, but in spite of Prasad's objections, various historians have concluded that the claims of Maharana Pratap disrespecting Man Singh are false. This wasn't mentioned in any of the contemporary sources. Amarkavya Vanshavali was not even written till 1665, while Raj Prashasti is dated to around mid 1670s,a full century after the battle of Haldighati. Another source Rawal Ranaji ri Vat is dated to the 1690s and Raj Ratnakar is dated to 1670. Nainsi ri Khyat is dated to the 1700s. Sawai Jai Singh Charita by Kavi Atmaram is also not a contemporary source. Whereas Jagannath Rai Prashasti, dated to the early 1650s, does not mention this incident. Jadunath Sarkar, commenting upon this, says,"Now, Man Singh paid this visit to the Maharana in June, 1573, and if he had been insulted by his host in the manner alleged by Tod's bardic gossip, would Bhagwant Das have courted a similar rebuff by visiting the Maharana only four months later, before the insult was atoned for? We must not forget that the greatest humiliation that can be offered to a Hindu family is for its caste-brethren to refuse to dine with it, and Man Singh was Bhagwant Das's son and heir." Dr. Gopinath Sharma says,"There is no tinge of truth to this story." JM Shelat calls it a fabrication by later writers. Thus it is safe to say that this story is most likely fake and cannot be proven. This seems to have been popularised by bards trying to heroise Pratap and has become a part of folklore.
As for Man Singh, he had to fight the battle for the same reasons as mentioned above. Amer was bound by a marital alliance and Man Singh was accompanied by many other Mughal commanders. He still delayed the battle by halting at Mandalgarh for two months. Maharana Pratap got the time to arrange forces for the battle during this time and had sufficient forces by April of 1576. Although Man Singh can be accused of fighting the battle dutifully for the Mughal Empire but this doesn't falsify the fact that when the injured Maharana Pratap was moving back into the hills, Man Singh didn't pursue him even a little nor that after the battle, when Man singh's forces despite having ran out of supplies were not allowed to plunder Mewar. Mughals soldiers had to survive by eating the meat of their own horses and hundreds of them perished. Akbar was so angry at Man singh that he was suspended from the Court for months. Not just this, the evening before the battle of Haldighati, Man Singh had strayed too close to where Maharana Pratap was. Pratap's Bhil spies informed him that Man singh accompanied by only around a 1000 soldiers was in the forests of Lohsing. All nobles of Pratap were in favour of using the opportunity and finishing Man singh in the night's darkness, except an elderly noble Jhala Bida. Good sense prevailed over Maharana Pratap and permanent enmity between Mewar and Amer was dodged. Another important detail was pointed out by historian Sri Ram Sharma in the following words: "Maharaja Man Singhji was instrumental in leading Nawab Mirza Abdur Rahim Khan-i- Khanan, the son of the famous Bairam Khan the tutor of Akbar, to the side of the Maharana and, when Shahabaz Khan was sent by the Emperor to destroy the Maharana calling Maharaja Man Singhji back, a Kachwaha assaulted and killed Shahbaz Khan at Sherpura on June 16th, 1580A.D." It's also a fact that when Maharana Pratap was fighting the do-or-die battle of Mohi in September 1577 with the help of Bhati Rajputs, Man Singh was just 10 miles away. Mujahid Beg, the Mughal commander at Mohi asked for Man singh's help but he refused to even meet the messenger.
Can Man singh still be called a traitor after all this? If so, then even Maharana Pratap himself can be called one for similar reasons. The son of Pratap's brother Sagar converted to Islam and the daughter of his brother Shakti Singh married a Kachhwaha and gave birth to Mirza Jai Singh I? Do we hate Pratap and call him a traitor? Then why should such unjust treatment be dished out to Man Singh?
It's also important to look at Man singh's career beyond Haldighati to understand him and his side of the story properly. Man singh was a brilliant military general. It was the Mughal army led by Man singh that vanquished the Afghans, from Kabul in the west to Bihar, Bengal and Orissa in the east. In 1580, Man singh was sent to the North-West for taming the Afghans. Akbar's courtiers had started conspiring against him for not being fundamentalist enough, which was thanks to reasons like the Ameris and other Indian states allying with him. They sent letters to Akbar's half-brother and ruler of Kabul, Mirza Hakim, asking him to invade India and assuring him of help. It was due to Man singh's capabilities as a general and him sending Hakim's farmans that prevented this from happening in the early 1580s. Hakim was soundly defeated but forgiven by Akbar. Man singh was made the guardian of the Indus region and the charge of the administration of Punjab was given to Man singh, Bhagwant Das and Said Khan. After the death of Mirza Hakim in 1585, Kabul was again aflamed. Over time, Man singh was able to defeat the five rogue tribes of Afghanistan and secure the passes leading to India. The five-coloured flag of Amer marks this victory over the five rogue Afghan tribes, taking a colour each from their flags. Man singh turned the tide of invasion by crossing not just the Indus river but also the Khyber pass and gaining a military victory there. Thus, the Afghans of the North-West were suppressed and Man singh secured India from being invaded from there.
On the other side of the Empire, Bihar and Bengal were still being terrorised by the Afghans. In 1587, Man singh was sent as the governor of Bihar. It was during this time that his father died in late 1589 and the Kuar was crowned as the king of Amer in 1590. Back in the east, Afghans were still a major problem, both for the empire and the natives, particularly for the Hindus. Man singh managed to solve the problem of these troublesome Afghans through war. Tens of thousands of Afghans were killed in the battles that were fought in the east. Apart from vanquishing the Afghans, Man singh also constructed numerous temples across the region. He also freed the Jagannath temple from the terror of the Afghans, not once but twice and washed his blood-stained sword in the sea at Puri. There he constructed a temple for the main deity and made the local king, the Raja of Khurda(later the Raja of Puri) the custodian of the temple. Other important temples built by him include the Bindu Madhav temple in Varanasi, Baikatdham temple in Patna, a Shiv temple in Manpur(Gaya), repaired the Baidyanath Dham temple, Govinda dev temple in Mathura etc. He also constructed and repaired ghats. A temple that deserves special mention is the Kashi Vishwanath temple. It too was reconstructed by Raja Man singh along with Raja Todarmal after it was left in a dilapidated state by the Sharqis of Jaunpur. He also built an astronomical observatory in Varanasi. It was also none other than Raja Man singh who patronised Goswami Tulasidas who wrote the Ramcharitmaanas or the Tulasi Ramayan. He thus fulfilled his role as a Kshatriya.
Man singh's descendant's continued his practices in the interests of the Hindu religion. For example, it was Jai singh II who bought land in Ayodhya from the Nawab of Awadh, convened a meeting that led to the formation of the Nirmohi Akhada, patronised learned Pandits, built a Yajnashala and revived the tradition of Yajnas by organising many of them. To summarise, Raja Man singh and Amer/Amber(and later Jaipur) made unparalleled contribution to the survival of Hindus and Hinduism in those dark days by:
1) Solidifying a place for Hindus in the Mughal court, thus ensuring that Hindus have a voice there, a say in the affairs of the court.
2) Stopping the persecution and conversion of Hindus, razing down of Hindu temples and removal of Jizya and pilgrimage tax in captured territories.
3) Building and repairing temples, patronising Hinduism, studies of Hindu scriptures, art, culture and architecture.
4) Protecting Hindus from the even more religiously fanatic Afghan marauders by using the Mughal military complex. Afghan rule in eastern India is among the darkest periods of Indian history.
It's clear that Raj Man Singh despite serving the Mughals was a staunch Hindu and safeguarded Hindu interests. This side of the story gets lost in the brouhaha over Man singh fighting the battle of Haldighati from the Mughal side. He did not have the option of resisting the Mughals militarily but still remained a Hindu, even when he had the incentive to convert out. Could there have been a greater disaster for Hindus than Amer choosing to convert to Islam? The conversion of Amer would have meant the conversion of the entire subcontinent to Islam. Hindus would have met a similar fate if the Afghans and the Mughals had striked an alliance. It is only thanks to Raja Man Singh and the devotion towards Hinduism in his heart that such a day did not befell. It must also be noted that after the death of Farrukhhsiyar, the Rathore king of Marwar, Ajit Singh Rathore, himself took his widowed daughter back with him and the three most important kingdoms in Rajputana signed an agreement amongst themselves that they will never give their daughters to the Mughals in future, one of these war Jaipur. This vilification and slandering of Man singh and Amer is a classic example of the historical myopia and intellectual poverty that the Hindu society suffers from today. Reducing the scope of the analysis of Man singh's character to his actions in Haldighati is a major intellectual blunder by our side. In the process of heroisation of Maharana Pratap, we have nonchalantly ignored Man singh. Our judgement should not be in black and white but in shades of grey. We make gods out of enemies and enemies out of friends today. Man singh's name today ranks second in the list of the supposed betrayers of the Hindudom, topped only by Jaichandra or Jaichand, another misrepresented and wrongly judged Rajput. Such steps that further deepen the divisions between different Hindu communities can only be called shooting oneself in the foot.
One final objection remains, but not on Man singh himself but his father Bhagwant Das. Bhagwant Das assisted Akbar in his conquest which led to the third Saka-Jauhar of Chittor. He was present in Chittor along with Akbar when upon Akbar's orders thirty thousand residents, probably all Hindus, were being massacred and Hindu temples inside the Chittor fort were being destroyed but still chose to do nothing out of fear. This cannot be defended in any way and Bhagwant Das has rightly been forgotten by even the Rajputs themselves when on the other hand his son is their hero. History will always question his inaction on that horrific day. All that can be said is that he managed to save the same from happening to his kingdom, Amer and did not let the same happen again to Hindus in the territories conquered under him like Kashmir and Ghazni etc. Also, both Bhagwant Das and Man singh were offered to convert to Din-i-ilahi.
Coming back to the comparison between Maharana Pratap and Raja Man singh, no Man singh would never be Maharana Pratap. Both were put in and tried through different tests and conditions by destiny, and both navigated through them in different ways. But neither should be judged by keeping the other in mind as the standard for judgment for they both had unparalleled contribution towards saving Hinduism in their own ways. That's why Man singh among other things like being a staunch Hindu and a military genius was misunderstood and maligned. No, Man singh will never be Maharana Pratap, for he is and will always be Raja Man Singh.