Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c47.s4.21

v4.c47.s4.21

The moral decay of Rajput society completed the ruin of their country. We cannot shut our eyes to the fact that the custom of domestic concubinage, though very ancient in its origin, now produced only the most degrading effect upon the Rajput character. These warriors had no superiority to the pampered princes and grandees of the Mughal Court in their relations with women. In the unhappy kingdom of Jodhpur, the administration was entirely dominated by a royal mistress of the Oswāl caste, while the king lived as a non entity. In Jaipur, Jagat Singh who reigned from 1803 to 1818, had "the disgraceful distinction of being the most dissolute prince of his race or of his age" (Tod. ii. Amber, ch. III). Their legitimate queens, though daughters of kings, were daily insulted by the domination of women of infamous character, and felt themselves powerless to relieve the misery of their subjects. We have now come far away from the age in which Rajput queens had fought on horseback to repel foreign invaders.*