History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v3.c50: Appendix VII. The Parentage of Ajit Singh
History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v3.c50
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Appendix VII. The Parentage of Ajit Singh
v3.c50.2
The official history (M.A. 178) asserts that the Rathor escort of Jaswant's family in Delhi, on being hard pressed by the imperial troops and losing many of their number, slew the two widows of Jaswant "who had been brought into the field in male attire," concealed his sole surviving son in the house of a milk-vendor, and then fled. "The kotwal Fulad Khan, learning of it, brought the infant to the Court, and he was identified as the late Rajah's son by some of his servant-girls who had been made prisoner.
v3.c50.3
The boy was brought up in the harem, by Zeb-un-nisa, and named Muhammadi Raj." All other authorities hold that the true son of Jaswant escaped to Marwar and lived to ascend the throne as Ajit Singh. Khafi Khan (ii. 259-260) writes what was most probably the truth, "The Rajputs secured two boys of the same age as the Maharajah's sons and kept them in the tents with every care along with two servant-girls dressed like the Ranis. Then they dressed the true Ranis in male attire and sent them home by forced marches at night,......while a strong body of life-sacrificing soldiers was stationed round the tents of the false princes to offer resistance to the Mughals ...Then the Emperor ordered the whole family to be conveyed to the fort. The Rajputs, together with the servant-girls (who, as is the wont of their race, could fight like men) sacrificed themselves......Some designing officers, in order to gain credit for superior activity and alertness, got up evidence and persisted so much in asserting the capture of the boys that the nobles and ministers [of the Court] came to believe that the Rajah's sons had really been captured...So long as the Rana of Chitor did not form a marriage connection with Ajit Singh, the suspicion of his being a counterfeit did not leave the mind of Aurangzib." Dilkasha, 164, says the same thing. In the numerous letters of Aurangzib, the heir of Marwar is always mentioned as Ajit-i-jali, 'the bogus Ajit.'
v3.c50.4
But Ajit's mother could not have been killed at Delhi, as she afterwards went to Mewar and appealed to the Maharana to befriend her orphan son. As she was an Udaipur princess, no false personation with regard to her could have escaped detection at the Udaipur Court. The Maharana must have satisfied himself with regard to the genuineness of her son Ajit, before he consented to marry him to his own niece. (Tod, ii. ch. 8, i. ch. 13.)