Rima Hooja’s ‘The Emperor’s General’: Paradox of being a Rajput in Mughal world

Man Singh Kachhwaha (1550-1614) lived many lives in a single lifetime. Rima Hooja’s comprehensive biography of Man Singh, ‘The Emperor’s General’, enlivens all of them. A contemporary of Emperor Akbar, Man Singh represents the ideal Rajput mansabdar, who loyally served the empire, while also remaining true to his own place in the Rajput world. Hooja’s book highlights the paradox of being a Rajput in the Mughal world.

The Kachhwahas were the first important clan of Rajputana to form not just a military alliance with the conquering Mughals, but also to seal it with marriage. The result of these marriages was two-fold. On the one hand, the two subsequent emperors, Jahangir and Shahjahan, were born of Rajput mothers. On the other hand, Rajputs became the sword arm of the Mughal empire, even being called to lead forces against rebel princes. They were the only chieftains to be awarded their home territories as watan jagirs and were allowed to recruit troops from their own clans.

Of the various Rajput clans and chiefs that held important positions in the Mughal empire, the Kachhwahas, and in particular Man Singh, occupied the foremost position. For this, they were castigated by many a historian, including the acerbic lashing that James Tod, the colonial annalist of Rajputana, reserved for Bhagwant Das, Man Singh’s father. The Kachhwahas are usually placed in opposition to the Sisodiyas of Mewar, who under Rana Sanga and Rana Pratap afforded a stiff opposition to the Mughals. Hooja argues that the reality was complex and multilayered, as both the Kachhwahas and Sisodiyas, tied by multiple marital relationships, attempted to make sense of each other’s location.

One such vivid moment of encounter was the Battle of Haldighati where the Sisodiya chief, Rana Pratap, faced the Kachhwaha chief, Raja Man Singh. Basing her arguments on a wide array of sources, Hooja examines many narratives that describe the events that preceded and followed the much-remembered event. The battle now is as much folklore as it is history.

Hooja examines Rana Pratap’s oft-cited refusal to dine with Man Singh in the light of historical evidence and contemporary Rajput conventions, and discounts the possibility of such a refusal. She then goes on to provide a detailed description of preparations on both ends and the outcome that was less than satisfactory for both sides. Hooja believes that Man Singh, who led the Mughal side (and not Akbar, as is usually believed), fought bravely and loyally and yet chose to not humiliate Rana Pratap beyond the defeat, owing to the interclan relationships between the Kachhwahas and the Sisodiyas. For this, Man Singh could never rid himself of doubts over his loyalty, even though he secured the Mughal rule in large parts of Mewar.

The book follows Man Singh’s life as he gradually emerged from the shadows of his ancestors to establish a personal bond with Akbar. Chapter 3, ‘A Rajput Farzand at the Mughal Court’, traces the making of Man Singh as a Rajput mansabdar, steeped deeply in Mughal courtly culture. This did not, however, distance Man Singh from the Rajput culture, as he is depicted in the two Mancharits (biographical accounts of Man Singh) by Amrit Rai and Narottam Kavi. Here, Man Singh is described through the idioms popular in the Rajput world, of warriorhood, kinship and clan loyalties.

Hooja follows the intertwined military lives of Man Singh and Akbar, as the latter moved across the subcontinent, bringing Rajputana, Gujarat, Punjab, Bengal and Kashmir into the Mughal fold. Man Singh (and other Rajput chiefs) acted to expand the boundaries of the Mughal empire. They were also assigned administrative duties far from their own fiefs where they became the representatives of the empire. Man Singh served as governor for the provinces of Punjab, Bengal and Deccan (where he died at his post). At his death, he held a mansab (rank) that placed him equivalent to Mughal princes. As governor of Bengal, he became responsible for expanding and governing Mughal territories in Bihar, Bengal, Orissa and Assam, settling many towns in unchartered regions.

Like other Rajput mansabdars, he spent a very small part of his adult life in his own land of Dhundhar (Amber and later, Jaipur). But his influence remains visible in the shaping of the fort in Amber, as well as through the patronage that he extended to regional cultural practices. The sites of his patronage included the old Galtaji shrine near Amber and the temple of the clan deity Shila Devi, both very popular in the region to this day. He became a great devotee of Vaishnavism, and the patron of the Govinda Deva temple in Vrindavan, a notable example of hybridisation of Rajput and Mughal architecture.

Man Singh’s entanglement with Mughal politics followed him to the end of his career, as he strove to put his nephew, Khusrau (Jahangir’s son), on the throne ahead of Salim, estranged from Akbar, his father. Despite clear evidence of partisanship, the favour that Man Singh continued to receive in Jahangir’s court is evidence of his importance in the Mughal world.

Rima Hooja brings Man Singh alive with erudition, based on a wide archive. She makes the life and the world of this 16th century Mughal farzand accessible for the common reader. More importantly, reading the book, we become aware of how closely entangled the Mughal and Rajput worlds were.

— The reviewer is a professor of history at Dr BR Ambedkar University, Delhi