History of Bharmal and Akbar Relations is very interesting. their relations continued to theier ancestors also.
In 16 century A.D., Raja Bharmal of Amber was contemporary of Mughal emperor Akbar. Bharmal is known as Biharimal also. He was gifted with the qualities of realism and remarkable foresight. He was able to see as early as June or July 1556, what no other ruler could at that time, territory to rule over, was likely to grow to the stature of a powerful that young Akbar, then a boy of less than fifteen with practically no ruler, and was, therefore, likely to be a useful prospective Ally.
At the time when Akbar’s position was extremely precarious, when the Mughal dominion consisted of a small part of the Panjab, when Delhi and Agra were about to fall into the hands of Hemu and when the Mughal governors were fleeing from their respective provinces, Bharmal felt intuitively that Akbar, unlike his vacillating father Humayun, was youth of resolution and that the almost defenct Mughal empire would have a new lease of life.
Bharmal decided to court the friendship of the young Mughal ruler, who had for all intents and purposes not yet given any proof of ability or statesmanship. So the far-sighted Raja Bharmal decided to young do some substantial service to the Mughal cause in order to catch Akbar’s attention.
As early as July-August, 1556, that is, within six months of Akbar’s accession on an improvised brick-throne at Kalanaur he went to the assistance of the Mughal Commandant Majnun Khan Qaqshal, who was besieged in the fort of Narnaul in the modern Mahendra Garh District of east Punjab by Haji Khan, a slave and adherent of the Sur dynasty. The Raja Bharmal’s intervention was responsible for Majnun Khan’s relief and safe retreat to Delih.
This incident took place while Akbar was encamped in the Panjab after his coronation and when every part of the Mughal territory except Gurdaspur district and the country upto Jalandar were over-run and occupied by the Afghans. Dr. P. Saran seems to confuse the sequence of events and make Majnun Khan’s relief follow Akbar’s victory over Hemu, which took place on the 5th of He has consequently failed to appreciate Bharmal’s November, 1956. Ability for divining correctly the future of the course of events that were shaping themselves in the country during that fateful epoch.
The grateful Mughal Commandant Majnun Khan brought the Raja’s generous act to the notice of Akbar, who invited Bharmal to attend the imperial celebrations of Hemu’s victory at Delhi at the end of the first week of November, 1556.
It may be noted that Bhamal was perhaps the only Rajput chief from Rajasthan to have been invited to be present at the celebrations, and he produced a very good impression on Akbar and his courtiers “On one day when the robes of honour had been presented to the Raja Bharmal and to his sons and other relatives,” writes Abul Fazl,” and they had been brought to the court to receive their conge, his majesty was mounted on a ferocious (must) elephant which in its intoxication was rushing to every direction. People were all going to one side. Once it ran towards the Rajputs, but as they held fast to their loyalty they remained standing.
This steadiness pleased the lofty glance of the emperor, and he made enquires about the Raja and said with his mystery interpreting tongue- We will make you happy.”
It seems that there was not much contact between Raja Bharmal and Akbar after the celebration of the imperial victory over Hemu, and we hear nothing about the Raja’s visit to Delhi or Agra before January, 1562. But he did cultivate friendship with some of the Mughal nobles, notably Chaghtai Khan and remained in touch with the court. During the intervening period some important incidents took place which obliged Bharmal to establish closer contacts with the Mughal Court. Detachments of Mughal troops captured Ajmer and Jaitaran in December. 1557.
Early in January, 1561 Mirza Sharfuddin Hasan was married to Akbar’s half-sister Bakhshi Banu Begum and he was sent to Mew at and Nagaur asgovernor. Ajmer was soon added to his charge. Sharfuddin proved to be a strong governor who tried to conquer the territories adjacent to his jurisdiction, the government of Nagaur and Ajmer.
It will thus be clear that what P. Saran (who again confuses sequence of events) describes as “the inevitable tide of Mughal expansion,” which according to the learned author of ‘The Provincial Government of the Mughals; compelled Bharmal to win the Mughal favour by securing Majnun Khan’s from Narnaul, took place one year and a half later, and the aggressive activities of the Mughal governor Sharfuddin occurred more than four years after the Majnun Khan episode. The presumption, therefore, is that Bharmal after his introduction to Akbar in November 1556 did not receive substantial attention and support from the Mughal court.
During 1561 Amber was threatened not on account of the Mughal aggression, but principally because of the internecine family fered which invited the interference, Bharmal was not the eldest son of his father and his elder brother Pooranmal’s son named Suja claimed the throne of Amber as his birth-right. So he sought the assistance of Sharfuddin the Mughal governor of Mewat, Nagaur and Ajmer.
Sharfuddin invaded Amber, compelled Bharmal to pay a large contribution and took Bharmal’s son Jagannath and his nephews named, Raj Singh and Khangar as hostages. Bharmal faced extinction. He fled and took shelter in the hills. In this helpless condition he sought the intervention of, and an alliance with, Akbar.
Akbar was at that time on his first pilgrimage to Khwaja Muin-ud-din Chishti’s mausoleum at Ajmer for which he had started from Agra on the 14th of January, 1562, and was at this time at Kalawali between Toda Bhim and Kharandi, when Bharmal sent a message through a Mughal noble Chaghtai Khan, expressing his desire to wait on the emperor. Akbar accorded the necessary permission.
The first Kachhawaha notables to callon Akbar at Deosa were Rupsi, Bharmal’s brother and the former’s son Jaimal, and the Raja himself came the next day and was received by the young emperor at Sanganer, Seven miles south-west of the modern city of Jaipur. The Raja proposed his eldest daughter’s marriage with Akbar to which the latter agreed and sent Bharmal back to Amber to make preparation for the wedding.
The marriage was solmeanised at Sambhar early in the second week of February 1562, after Akbar had returned from his pilgrimage to Ajmer. The Raja gave a rich dowry. AfterA few days’ stay Akbar left Sambhar on the 10th of February and reached Agra on Friday, the 13th, covering more than 150 miles’ journey in less than three days. Near Ranthambhore Bharmal’s sons, grandsons and other relatives were introduced to Akbar. Bhagwant Das and Man Singh, who were taken in the imperial service, accompanied the emperor to Agra.
It is worthy of note that the proposal of the marriage had amanated from Bharmal himself who, after the Hindu fashion offered his daughter’s hand (Kanyadan) to Akbar. The Amber princess was not compelled to become a Muslim and remained Hindu all her life.
The marriage, there fore, was a significant event in medieval Indian history. The princess became the mother of the future Jahangir, Akbar’s heir and successor, and the alliance secured solid and loyal Rajput support to the Mughal throne and became an important cause of the empire’s expansion and stability. It produced a profound effect on Akbar’s public policy as well as personal life.
According to Dr. P. Saran, there was nothing novel or original about this marriage, as such marriages had taken place in the past. Moreover, writes Dr. Saran, “the policy of a non-communal or national kingship as opposed to the sectarian sovereignty of the Sultans of Delhi, had been initiated already by Humayun, but he did not live to give effect to it, It was he who commenced the practice of entering into matrimonial alliances with the Hindu Chiefs, (Vide M. U. Vol. I. 693 and Vol. II. 619) with the ostensible object of creating confidence in and conciliating the martial races of India” There is no evidence to show that before February, 1562 there had been a single matrimonial alliance between a Mughal ruler and a Rajput princess of Rajasthan or of any other part of India.
There were just a few marriages between Muslim sultans and Hindu women, but these were forced alliances and in every case the lady concerned was first converted to Islam before her marriage with a Muslim.
At any rate no Rajput ruler before Bharmal had willingly given his daughter to a Musalman. As regards Dr. Saran’s categorical assertion that Humayun had commenced the practice of entering into matrimonial alliances with the Hindu Chiefs, it may be said that the Masir-ul-Umra on which the learned author has relied does not write anything of the kind. The expression zamindars of India is used by Masir-ul-Umra for Muslim zamindars and not for Hindu zamindars.
Dr. Saran has obviously misread the relevant expression in that work. It is an undoubted fact that there was no Hindu lady in the harem of Humayun or of his father Babur. Another misunderstanding about this marriage has been created by Dr. Saran’s observation that it was an unusual act of kindness on the part of Akbar to have agreed to the alliance. Dr. Saran writes that the offer was, of course, graciously accepted, in consideration where of Bihari Mal (Bharmal) received exceptionally liberal conditions of vassalage, which originated from a far-sighted statesmanship and not because the status or importance of the Raja deserved such a recognition.”
This is uncritically accepting the court historian Abul Fazl’s partisan view that it was Akbar’s kindness that made the marriage possible. Saran Admits that Akbar’s possessions at this time were small and his position was far from being firm and, therefore, he seized the opportunity and agreed to the marriage. It may, therefore, be safely asserted that although the initiative was taken by Bharmal, it was the self-interest of both the parties that made this historic marriage possible.
A pertinent question is whether Bharmal did not compromise his honour as Hindu and a Rajput of high social status in offering his daughter’s h and to a Mughal who was Muslim Albeit a prince and ruler with high pretentions to the sovereignty of Northern India. The Raja must have been conscious of the odium, for his son Bhagwant Das made a persistent and greatly successful attempt all his life to prevail upon other Rajput rulers to enter into similar matrimonial relations with Akbar and his sons in order to make them fall in line with the Amber ruling house. The prejudice has not died out even today.
Now days some people think that the Amber princess was not born of Bharmal’s Rajput queen and that she was maid-servant’s daughter. It is also said that not only this princess but other ‘so-called Rajput princesses’ who were given in marriage to Mughal princes or rulers were born of concubines.
This theory is without foundation. The Mughal rulers were not simpletons to be deceived so easily and we have evidence to show that the Rajput princesses married to Akbar and his descendants were not born of concubines. Dr. Dashratha Sharma published A Sanskrit inscription from the Bhuteshwer temple of Jaisalmer recording that the temple was erected by Parvati, A maid servant of Princess Nathi Bai, daughter of Hari Raj, ruler of Jaisalmer.
The princess who was married to Akbar had gone to Jaisalmer to see her ailing father Harl Raj and it was then that her maid-servant had built the above temple. This proves not only that the Hindu ladies in Akbar’s harem were free to follow their ancestral religion but also that they were genuine Rajput princesses.
Another question which is even more relevant is whether Bharmal rendered a service to his State and saved the Amber kingdom from destruction by entering into the above alliance. On a critical appraisal of the facts it is clear that at the time of alliance, Amber kingdom was not in the danger of extinction. It was not Akbar’s policy to conquer and annex hereditary Rajput States to the Mnghal empire. He annexed the Muslim kingdoms in India, which had formed part of Sultanate of Delhi, but not any important ancient Hindu State whatever.
If Bharmal had not taken this step, the Amber kingdom would have passed to his elder brother’s son, Suja. The service that Bharmal rendered was, therefore not to the State of Amber as such but to his branch of the family. It is only incidentally that the service to himself and his family also meant service to his kingdom. It can, however, be said in fairness to Bharmal that he laid the foundation of the greatness and glory of Amber by his alliance with Akbar.
Bharmal displayed stead-fast loyalty and devotion to the Mughal cause and won Akbar’s confidence, appreciation and regard. As early as February-March 1562. That is within a month or two of of his alliance. He assisted the Mughal troops in the siege and capture of Merta, although this meant fighiting against his own kith and kin.
His son Bhagwant Singh participated whole-heartedly in the siege of Chittor against Rana Udai Singh in 1567-68, and also in that of Ranthambhor in March 1569. Bhagwant Das played a notable role in bringing over many a rajput ruler to Akbar’s friendship and alliance, particularly Bikaner and Jaisalmer. It was he who persuaded the rulers of these States to enter into matrimonial alliances with Akbar.
Akbar looked upon Bharmal and his kins-men ashis relatives, and reposed implicit trust in them. When the emperor was proceeding on an expedition to Gujarat, he sent his infant son Daniyal, who was born of a Muslim lady during his journey to Ahmedabad, to be taken care of by Bharmal’s queen at Amber.
During the first expedition to Gujar Bharmal was placed in charge of the capital Agra, and the Raja sent a detachment of his troops under his nephew Khangar for the defence of Delhi which was threatened by the rebel Ibrahim Hasain Mirza. He was again placed in charge of the capital during Akbar’s second expedition to Gujarat. It will be recalled that Raja’s grandson Mansingh and latter’s father Bhagwant Das were sent one ufter another on a delicate mission to persuade Rana Pratap to accept Akbar’s over-lordship.
Bhagwant Das and his brother Bhupat fought valiantly during the second expedition and risked their lives. Bhupat was actually slain in the battle. It is a measure of Akbar’s regard for the Kachchwaha ruling house that he allowed his Rajput Queen, the mother of Salim, to pay a visit of condolence to Amber on the death of her brother Bhupat and to participate in the mourning. There can be no better proof of the implicit confidence reposed by Akbar in the ruling house of Amber than the fact he appointed Man Singh asthe Chief Commander of the army that was sent to fight Rana Pratap in 1576.
Long before his death Bharmal was ennobled with the very high rank as a mansabdar of 5,000. His son Bhagwant Das too was raised to the rank of 5,000 and the post of governor of Lahore.
It is a measure of Akbar’s habitual regard for the Kachchwaha royal family that on Bhagwant Das death in November 1589 he sent his Crown Prince, Salim on a visit of condolence to the deceased’s house Mansingh his grandson, received the highest rank viz., that of 7,000, open to one who belong to the Mughal imperial family. This rank was not held by any other noble except Akbar’s favourite foster brother Mirza Aziz Koka.
The State of Amber thus became one of the most important Hindu States not only in Rajasthan but in the whole of Northern India. Amber retained this status throughout the Mughal period, and it does so even now.
Thus we see that Raja Bharmal and Akbar Relations were a mile stone of India’s history and its impacts on Rajput polity was long lasting.
