Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v1.c20.s6.t1.9

v1.c20.s6.t1.9

The policy introduced by their founder, from which Akbar, Jahangir, and Shah Jahan had reaped so many benefits, was unwisely abandoned by the latter, who of all had the most powerful reasons for maintaining those ties which connected the Rajput princes with his house. Historians have neglected to notice the great moral strength derived from this unity of the indigenous races with their conquerors; for during no similar period was the empire so secure, nor the Hindu race so cherished, as during the reigns of Jahangir and Shah Jahan: the former born from a Rajput princess of Amber, and the latter from the house of Marwar. Aurangzeb’s unmixed Tatar blood brought no Rajput sympathies to his aid; on the contrary, every noble family shed their best blood in withstanding his accession, and in the defence of Shah Jahan’s rights, while there was a hope of success. The politic Aurangzeb was not blind to this defect, and he tried to remedy it in his successor; for both his declared heir, Shah Alam, and Azam, as well as his favourite grandson,¹ were the offspring of Rajputnis; but, uninfluenced himself by such predilections, his bigotry outweighed his policy, and he visited the Rajputs with an unrelenting and unwise persecution [375].