What our textbooks don't tell us: Why the Rajputs failed miserably in battle for centuries

[Zhukov]

Yeah,we do havce a huge respect for the Mughal emperor Akbar whom we consider as the greatest ruler of Medieval India because of his secular nature and behavior towards his subjects but the same can't be said about Shah Jahan or Aurangzeb.It was Auranzeb who deliberately destroyed close to 200,000 temples all over India because of his religious bigotry.He relentlessly persecuted his Hindu subjects who were incidentally the majority of the population at that time and he was personally responsible for the downfall of the Mughal empire!!

O bhai their are good men and their are bad men. Tumharey hundey lords sab Duudh ke dhuley they kya?
Some Muslim rulers were good some were bad.
Why single out "We were persicuted under muslim rulers"
Hypocrytes

 

[Mike_Brando]

O bhai their are good men and their are bad men. Tumharey hundey lords sab Duudh ke dhuley they kya?
Some Muslim rulers were good some were bad.
Why single out "We were persicuted under muslim rulers"
Hypocrytes

Tell me one single Hindu ruler who destroyed a hundred mosques let alone thousands!I am telling you,you won't find anybody despite the fact that both Maratha and Vijaynagar empire had a significant muslim minority within their population.On the other hand this bigot Aurangzeb single handedly destroyed ore than 200,000 temples all around the country just for fun.Heck,you guys still bring on the topic of the Babri Masjid destruction every now and then even though it was nothing but an isignificant mosque which was abandoned by your community a couple of hundred years before,so imagine our anger considering the fact that our holiest temples like Somnath,Kashi Vishwanath and Lord Krishna temple in Vrindavan(Mathura) were destroyed and razed to the ground on multiple times during the course of history by different Islamic rulers.

 

[anonymus]

@anonymus your presence is needed here ,people are making so much wrong assumptions

Though I do not have time to write lengthy post, this tripe of loser Rajputs is a canrad (though noting better could be expected from Scroll.in).

It should be noted that Muslim Rule is Rajputana lasted for shortest time period ,20 years during reign of Allaudin Khilzi and nearly 100 years during Mughal reign, among any region of India, barring Tamil Nadu (48 Years) and Assam.It is much better than most armies fared against horse Archer Turkic cavalry.Whole demography of Anatolia was changed from Hellenic to Turkic by slaughter of Greeks by Turks.

Rajputs due to their cavalry based armies,a tradition which they inherited from their parent Gujara-Pratihara empire, were more succesful than infantry based armies of Central India (until they adopted gunnery and cavalry tactics).

They were also undisciplined as completely shown when they charged the afghan front line during the battle,except Ibrahim khan gardi 9000 men who were aligned on European line & kill the most number of abdali man than any other

The biggest reason of Maratha defeat was exhaustion and precarious supply situation. A hungry emaciated army could not be expected to exhibit high level of discipline.

Biggest blunder that Marathas made in Third battle of Panipat (apart from carrying large camp) was positioning themselves between Abdali's army in Delhi and Afghanistan. This would have worked had Nawab of Oudh had not switched sides as in that case Abdali's army would have got trapped between two hostile armies, but with Nawab switching camp, it was Maratha army which got trapped. This situation was exacerbated by the fact that area around Panipat was Muslim majority area in 1700's which mean that no local help in foraging.

A point that should be noted here is that Third Battle of Panipat did not have real losers or winners. Though Marathas lost nearly 100,000 ; their loss compared to loss of 40,000 of Afghans was much less severe. Marthas, due to higher population base of India, could afford to lose 100,000 in a single battle and revive in a couple of years; Afghans could not afford a loss of 40,000 which was a significant fraction of their military age population . This is the reason that Marathas reasserted themselves in North India just in a decade time period, but Abdali lost most of his Indian dominions.

10 years was all it took.

Remember that in those days, losing 100,000 men in the space of less than a week was a body blow few nations across the world could have recovered from across the span of a century.

Loss of 100,00 men in space of weeks was normal for China and India. There were many battles in China where China lost 500-800,000 men in day and raised a similar strength Army in a matter of a Year.

 

[wolfschanzze]

Utter nonsense!!
Rajputs were known for their bravery and courage through ages.
It is their sense of pride and love for the rule of the game which brought them a few losses.

They had this Samurai Sense of Honour.Why don't we equate them with that? Samurais and Rajputs.
They would ride into battle wearing Kesariya(Saffron) to hide their injuries and fight till death called SAKA ,while their women committed Sati and Jauhar(Jumping into a huge pyre to prefer death before dishonour!)
While their enemies practised "Live today and fight tomorrow".
They called it Veer Swarga (Valhalla) where you die in Battle and you go straight to Warriors Heaven.
It's still called Veera Swarga(Heaven of fighting Warriors) even now.The Norse have the same Mythology as we do,Odinism,Hellenism all say Valkyries comes down from heaven to honour and send the warriors slain in battle hnourably to their Veera Swarga/Valhalla what the Nordics/Vikings say.
Let me say i am not a Rajput in real life, but i love their attitude riding into battle to win or die.
I cannot understand where did this Honour thing came into Rajputs( of fighting till death),When Chanakya came into picture much before them.

Tell me one single Hindu ruler who destroyed a hundred mosques let alone thousands!I am telling you,you won't find anybody despite the fact that both Maratha and Vijaynagar empire had a significant muslim minority within their population.On the other hand this bigot Aurangzeb single handedly destroyed ore than 200,000 temples all around the country just for fun.Heck,you guys still bring on the topic of the Babri Masjid destruction every now and then even though it was nothing but an isignificant mosque which was abandoned by your community a couple of hundred years before,so imagine our anger considering the fact that our holiest temples like Somnath,Kashi Vishwanath and Lord Krishna temple in Vrindavan(Mathura) were destroyed and razed to the ground on multiple times during the course of history by different Islamic rulers.

You know what,we should absorb their ideas and start razing the Islamic structures.The world will outrage as usual though.What is the world doing when China does what it does against Muslims in Xinkiang Province? NOTHING!
What does the world do when ISIS kills Yezidis and others in IRAQ? NOTHING!
You have to understand the world will only take notice if they have a interest. Once we Modernized our Armed forces ,Then come CHINA,USA or Pakistan we will see all of them bite the dust.
This is the fear of Chinese,They cannot fathom the outcome of such war where a half of humanity 1.2 BILLION VS 1.3 Billion around 3 Billion go to war.They cannot fathom the consequences and their fears are very much real,don't let these 50 cents soldiers show you the picture that China will be always strong.That is Brainwashing by CCP and paid to post as such!
Not the reality their leaders understand.

Now coming to Muslims and Mosque demolitions!
LoL haven't you heard Mosques and DARGAHS are idolatry according to Salafi and Wahabism and hence ready to be destroyed or relocated.
If any Muslim objects, then he/she is a idolator and kufr/Haram in Islam.Mosque is not a religious place. PERIOD!

Nothing Shameful In Babri Demolition Swamy To Nnis, Latest News on Nothing Shameful In Babri Demolition Swamy To Nnis, Photo Gallery The Indian Express
.
Why should we be ashamed when their own religion says praying to Mosques is Idolatory!

 

[Mike_Brando]

They had this Samurai Sense of Honour.Why don't we equate them with that? Samurais and Rajputs.
They would ride into battle wearing Kesariya(Saffron) to hide their injuries and fight till death called SAKA ,while their women committed Sati and Jauhar(Jumping into a huge pyre to prefer death before dishonour!)
While their enemies practised "Live today and fight tomorrow".
They called it Veer Swarga (Valhalla) where you die in Battle and you go straight to Warriors Heaven.
It's still called Veera Swarga(Heaven of fighting Warriors) even now.The Norse have the same Mythology as we do,Odinism,Hellenism all say Valkyries comes down from heaven to honour and send the warriors slain in battle hnourably to their Veera Swarga/Valhalla what the Nordics/Vikings say.
Let me say i am not a Rajput in real life, but i love their attitude riding into battle to win or die.
I cannot understand where did this Honour thing came into Rajputs( of fighting till death),When Chanakya came into picture much before them.

The Rajputs were a class apart from those Central Asian barbarians.They had a code of honor which they followed till death.They used to take pride in their code of honor and would rather die than breaking them.They never hurt innocent people,they never killed children,elderly and never took the enemy's womenfolk as war trophies.They were practically the Knights of Dharmic India.What i particularly like about them is their concept of "Vijay or Veergati" while going to a war.Man they were the true gentlemen of their time.

 

[luoshan]

The Rajuts were neither faithful to their country nor to their religion. They were self serving tribe who had a very misplaced sense of honor, dignity and bravery. Once they established themselves in North-West areas of the subcontinent, they started quarreling amongst themselves.They were some of the first people from the subcontinent to convert to Islam after the Muslim invaders from central Asia came into the region around 11th Century. They allied themselves with whoever was the dominant force at the time, and often were just mercenaries for hire. They allied themselves with the Delhi Sultanates and Mughals and often fought against the Hindu powers. Their primary goal was preservation of their own power and influence and maintaining their own code of honor.

 

[Ummar AAli]

Who is rajpot actually can any tell me please

 

[Srinivas]

Rajputs who fought for the mother land and stood against the enemy deserve respect.

But Marathas are better than Rajputs when it comes to facing the enemy who believe in total war.

Marathas are unifying force but Rajputs are not, after the fall of Delhi Rajputs ambitions were also not upto the mark.

Marathas showed how to fight the enemy and unify.

Anyone from the society can learn fighting skills and become Maratha warrior.

Rajputs at that time failed to become a single unifying force. Add to that the feudal mentality.

This is the main difference.

@doppelganger

Marathas succeeded Also because of the TERRAIN ; ie mountainous terrain
ie in addition to other factors such as UNITY and giving top priority to survival
living to fight another day

The terrain allowed Guerrilla warfare

The PLAINS of Northern India did not allow such tactics

 

[SrNair]

Rajputs did some mistakes Important one was their civilized nature in battlefield against central asian barbarians.
Marathas used that barabariasm effectively unlike Rajputs.
Sword for a sword ,Eye for an eye.

 

[scionoftheindus]

The Rajuts were neither faithful to their country nor to their religion. They were self serving tribe who had a very misplaced sense of honor, dignity and bravery. Once they established themselves in North-West areas of the subcontinent, they started quarreling amongst themselves.They were some of the first people from the subcontinent to convert to Islam after the Muslim invaders from central Asia came into the region around 11th Century. They allied themselves with whoever was the dominant force at the time, and often were just mercenaries for hire. They allied themselves with the Delhi Sultanates and Mughals and often fought against the Hindu powers. Their primary goal was preservation of their own power and influence and maintaining their own code of honor.

I can't agree with you more...no other Kshatriya clan apart from rajputs converted to Islam....converting to Islam and eating beef is the most despicable thing to caste Hindus even today....imagine how abominable,how low it was to do that some 800 years ago itself...converting to a religion whose followers eat is beyond me.Rajputs were just some selfish scumbags.

 

[scionoftheindus]

Rajputs did some mistakes Important one was their civilized nature in battlefield against central asian barbarians.
Marathas used that barabariasm effectively unlike Rajputs.
Sword for a sword ,Eye for an eye.

Non sense..then why did they convert to Islam?even today you can find many Muslim rajputs in Pakistan.

 

[SrNair]

You know,the exact reason why we suffered losses and utter humiliation in the hands of the Central Asian barbarians was casteism in the Indian society and the lack of unity among the Dharmic rulers to a certain extent.Cateism was the primary cause which led to our downfall.It made the Khatriyas or Rajputs responsible for the defense of this country and prohibited other castes to pick up arms even during the time of foreign invasions.Rajputs were brave but they were always inferiors in numbers and hence lost most of the battles.Number was itself a huge factor in those days.If common people were allowed to join the armies during that period then the outcome would have been totally different.
The Marathas were successful only because they chose to ignore the rules laid by casteim and instead allowed everyone to join the army irrespective of their castes.Hence,despite having a small population at that period they were able to field large armies against the Islamic invaders.The only time when they suffered a major defeat it was luck that played a major role in favor of Ahmed Shah Abdali at the 3rd battle of Panipat,otherwise they would have definitely shown Mr.Abdali his real place in this world.
Marathas were the pioneers of guerilla warfare in India,they showed the rest of us that numbers didn't matter if we played by our strength and choose to engage our enemies on our terms

Absolutely right.
Even in here South India only Nairs and Kshatriyas were allowed to take sword against enemies.
Only exception was Pazhassi Raja who fought against Brits through guerilla warfare with the help of tribals .

If we had a unified structure without any casteism we would have been a formidable force against Enemies.

Non sense..then why did they convert to Islam?even today you can find many Muslim rajputs in Pakistan.

I was talking about Muslim barbarians came from CAR.Perhaps Rajputs might prefer death instead of conversion.

 

[doppelganger]

@anonymus thanks for that helpful post. Yes the nawab was a major factor, but I still feel where we lost was in our mobility. A maratha warrior does not need much to survive. He can and will forage from the land, and still be a potent fighting force. But when you add women, kids, old, feeble jatra to the mix, you get a fighting force that is fighting with one hand tied behind its back. The artillery too was a factor. But there was no way around that as the expeditionary armies moved with them in tow. Large distances.

Unlike the firangs, we do not know how to make a big thing about the great battles from our history. I live in a city which is surrounded by the battlefields of the three Anglo Maratha wars, and except for some old people and military historians, no one can point out the exact location where such momentous battles really took place. Leave alone commemorate and recreate them.

There are still old colonial bungalows here where old residents across generations swear they see the ghostly apparitions of wounded and tattered British and Maratha soldiers walking across the premises, on top of boundary walls, etc. on certain nights .....

 

[ghoul]

A couple of historical inaccuracies in this article:

1) This concerns largely Rajputs from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh regions of India, who were isolated from the Rajputs of Jammu, Kangra, Potohar/AJK rajputs. The isolation was great enough, that Rajput can't be considered a single ethnic group anymore.

2) Muhammad of Ghaur was no good military tactician. He was defeated and routed in battle of keydara by Bhimdev II of Gujrat, a Paramara rajput. In the first battle of Tarain, it was actually Ghauri who ran from the battlefield. During the first battle of Tarain, Ghauri was challenged to a duel by a Rajput called Govinda Raja and Ghauri complied. Ghauri was defeated in the duel and was about to get killed when his loyal Turkic slave rescued him on a horse, and impaled the Govinda Raja. After winning the second battle of Tarain, Ghauri was killed by a local hindu clan of the salt range(Potohar) known as Khokhars, but some historians think he was killed by the powerful Gakhars.

3) As for Rajasthani rajputs, they played the game of thrones with the Delhi sultanate. Their loss and gain of territory was rather frequent. At best, the sultanate could only extort tribute out of them and couldn't subdue them. The princely states and lordships that existed then still exist now.

4) Mughal period is a dark age of Rajasthan rajput history for they offered wives as tribute to the mughal harems.

5) Rajputs of Himachal remained undefeated till Ranjit Singh's annexation, but they couldn't be subdued. At one occasion, they skinned Sikh soldiers alive.

6) Hindu Dogra Rajputs of Jammu conquered Kashmir, Azad Kashmir(formerly called Chibbal), parts of Hazara and Gilgit Baltistan.

7) Muslim rajputs of Punjab and Potohar were the only foes who offered determined resistance to Sikh Khalsa in Punjab. Tiwanas, Jodhras, Janjuas, Rais of Raikot and Talwandi, Chibs of Bhimber all offered determined resistance. The famed Bhangi Missal of Sikhs, which defeated the powerful Gakhars of Potohar and captured Zamzama gun, was defeated by the muslim Chib rajputs of Khari Khariyali(Mangla, Mirpur).

8) Today, the maharajas of Rajputs in India drive rolce royce cars, own huge palaces and mansions, yet the lowly peasants talk only shit and are piss poor. There's a difference.

 

[luoshan]

I can't agree with you more...no other Kshatriya clan apart from rajputs converted to Islam....converting to Islam and eating beef is the most despicable thing to caste Hindus even today....imagine how abominable,how low it was to do that some 800 years ago itself...converting to a religion whose followers eat is beyond me.Rajputs were just some selfish scumbags.

The Rajputs were not very much invested in the Hindu/Bhramanical religion at the time of Islamic conquests. They were originally some tribes from the Hun race in the central Asian steppes. They were pushed out from there by other more fiercer and warrior tribes and came to India as refugees around 5th Century. Gupta empire at time was in a decline and there was no centralized power to challenge the newcomers. Being hunter-gatherers from the central Asia, these newcomers were more warlike than the settled people of the Indo-gangetic plains. When the locals, especially the upper castes saw that these new comers had come to stay but were not integrated into their social hierarchy, they co-opted them into their religion as Kshatriya caste and called them Rajputs. The Rajputs were comparatively new entrants to the subcontinents melting pot and arrived just a few centuries before the Muslim Arabs.