Regional Kingdoms: Rajputs and Kashmir

Rajput kingdoms: Mewar and Marwar

After Timur’s raid (1398), the Delhi Sultanate shrank, and many regional states rose. When the centre is weak, local rulers stop sending tribute and act on their own, like states in a country whose capital has lost control. Start with the Rajputs of Rajasthan.

Mewar: the leading Rajput state

Mewar, with its capital at Chittor, was the strongest Rajput kingdom of the 15th century. Rana Kumbha fought the sultans of Malwa and Gujarat. To celebrate his win over the Malwa sultan, he built the Vijaya Stambha, a nine-storey tower covered with carvings of gods. He also built the mountain fort of Kumbhalgarh and wrote on music, including the Sangitaraja. Interestingly, the Malwa sultan also claimed victory in the same war and built his own tower at Mandu, so each side told the story its own way.

Rana Sanga later united many Rajput chiefs into an alliance (a group that agrees to fight together). He hoped to rule north India after the Lodis, but Babur’s guns and cavalry beat him at Khanwa in 1527.

Marwar

In Marwar, Rao Jodha of the Rathore clan founded Jodhpur in 1459 and built Mehrangarh fort on a rocky hill above the city.

UPSC link: six hill forts of Rajasthan, including Chittorgarh and Kumbhalgarh, are a UNESCO World Heritage Site (2013). The others are Ranthambore, Gagron, Amber and Jaisalmer.

Mewar kept resisting later too. Rana Pratap fought Akbar’s army, led by Man Singh, at Haldighati in 1576 and kept up the fight from the hills and forests of Mewar for the rest of his life. For a Mains answer on Rajput resistance, use this chain: Kumbha’s forts, Sanga’s alliance, and Pratap’s refusal to submit.

What UPSC asks

Prelims: Kumbha, Sanga, Jodha. Mains: Rajput resistance. Next likely: hill forts of Rajasthan (UNESCO).

Kashmir under the Shah Mir sultans

Shah Mir founded a Muslim dynasty in Kashmir in 1339. Its most famous ruler was Zain-ul-Abidin (1420– 70), whom Kashmiris called Budshah, ‘the great king’.

The two rulers in the table show opposite policies. Sikandar pressed non-Muslims hard, and many Brahmins fled the valley. Zain-ul-Abidin reversed this: he removed jizya (a tax on non-Muslims), invited the Brahmins back and let temples be repaired. He also built canals and the island of Zaina Lank in Wular lake, and invited craftsmen from Central Asia, which helped Kashmir’s shawl, carpet and papier-mâché work. Many of these crafts carry GI tags today.

Jonaraja continued Kalhana’s Rajatarangini in this period, and his pupil Srivara carried the story further. For Mains, Zain-ul-Abidin is a strong example of religious tolerance in medieval India.

What UPSC asks

Prelims: Zain-ul-Abidin. Mains: religious tolerance. Next likely: Kashmiri crafts (GI tags).