Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c11.3

v1.c11.3

With the death of Rāj Singh of Mewār (1680), the last hero of the Sisodia clan passed away. The Mahārānā, who had ever since the coming of the Mughals filled the highest place in the public eye among the Hindu chiefs of India, now fell back into complete isolation and obscurity. His unrivalled social status and the mythical glamour of his blood still remained; but in the political field, from the beginning of the 18th century onwards, the primacy among the Rājputs was contested between the Kachhwāh and the Rāthor. The once third-rate and obscure house of Amber had risen in the course of a century and a half to the front rank by the most brilliant and valued service to the empire in far apart fields, thanks to the signal capacity for war and diplomacy displayed by four generations of its chieftains,—Bhagwān Dās and Mān Singh under Akbar, Mirzā Rājah Jai Singh under Shāh Jahān and Aurangzib, and Sawāi Jai Singh under the later Mughals.