New History of the Marathas v2.c24.91

v2.c24.91

At any rate Shahu and Jaya Sinh freely exchanged views on this policy of the Mughals and later each tried in his own way to bring about a kind of compromise, that is, non-interference or toleration as inculcated and practised by the great Akbar. When Bahadur Shah started his religious war against the Sikhs, the above mentioned prominent Rajput princes held a prolonged conference on the border of the Pushkar lake and after full deliberation proclaimed a solemn concerted policy,—that they would not thenceforth give their daughters in marriage to Muslims and that if any prince acted contrary to this resolution, the others should join and put down the deserter by force if necessary. The declaration went further. The Ranas of Udaipur were acknowledged to be of purer blood, having all along refused to give their daughters in marriage to Muslims ; so the Pushkar conference laid down that if any Rajput prince had an issue from a daughter of the Udaipur family, that issue should be given preference over those born from other wives in choosing a successor to the vacant throne. This stipulation made the remedy worse than the disease, as, in the long run, it led to a crop of wars of succession throughout Rajputana. The famous story of Krishna Kumari is an illustration of such results. But in our present discussion of Maratha activities, it is enough to note how the religious element prevailed over politics.