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HBSE Class 8 History Chapter 5 Regional Resistance to Mughals in Seventeenth Century notes for Haryana Board of Our Bharat III Book Solution.
Regional Resistance to Mughals in Seventeenth Century Class 8 History Chapter 5 Notes
Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodhi in 1526 AD in the Battle of Panipat and established the Mughal Empire in India. He had to fight with heroic Rajputs like Rana Sangram Singh and Medinirao to establish his empire. After Babur, his son Humayun had to fight for his whole life. Akbar gained power from Hemchandra (Hemu) Vikramaditya by fighting a battle in the field of Panipat. Seeing the valour, loyalty and courage of the Rajput rulers, Akbar established a friendly relationship with them. Although he too had to struggle for a lifetime against Rana Udai Singh and Maharana Pratap, the knights of Mewar, but other Rajput rulers accepted the friendship of the Mughals. Jahangir and Shah Jahan almost maintained their ancestral policy of friendship towards the Rajputs, but his son Aurangzeb, who was a staunch Sunni Muslim, imprisoned Shah Jahan. He had hatred towards Hindus, but he feared the valour and courage of the Rajputs, due to which he did not show his policy of religious fanaticism as long as Raja Jai Singh of Amer and Raja Jaswant Singh of Jodhpur lived.
As a result of his policy of religious fanaticism, not only the Rajputs but also the physically strong Jats, an agricultural community, stood against him in the battle field. Not only this, the Sadhus and Saints, who were chanting the name of Ram, Satnamis and Bairagis also fought firecely against the Mughal Empire, one of the vast empires of the world at that time, which weakened this empire and later it collapsed. The valour and valiant struggle of these castes can be described as follows:
Rajput
When the Arabic and Turk invaders began to attack, the Kshatriyas in the north and west opposed them strongly. Today the term Rajput (Rajputra) is used for some of these Kshatriyas. Historians are of the opinion that when the number of Kshatriyas started coming down due to this fierce struggle with foreign invaders, the youth of different castes together dedicated themselves to the Kshatriya tradition. This group made up of different castes came to be called Rajputs. They are also known as Agnikul or Agnivansh. We have already read about Rana Sanga and Maharana Pratap. Another such warrior is ‘Durgadas Rahore’.
When Jaswant Singh died, both his wives were pregnant and both gave birth to one boy each. One child died shortly after. As a result, the only surviving child Ajit Singh became the heir of the state. Emperor Aurangzeb of Delhi took this child hostage along with the queens to seize power and declared his chosen man Indra Singh as the ruler of Marwar. When the enraged Rajputs requested Aurangzeb to accept Ajit Singh as successor, Aurangzeb refused. He wanted Ajit Singh and both queens to live in his harem and Ajit Singh to convert to Islam. These conditions were not acceptable to the Rajputs.
Among these Rajputs, Durgadas Rathore was one such warrior, who was the son of Jaswant Singh’s minister. He decided to save the queens and the child and bring them from Delhi, even at the cost of his life. The Rajputs freed two queens and the future king from the Mughals. The Mughals continued chasing them but Durgadas and his companions escaped. Aurangzeb sent his army to Marwar (Jodhpur) to destroy and ransack the temples. Aurangzeb imposed jaziya tax on the whole region.
Durgadas and his companions continued to fight against the Mughals adopting the guerrilla-war policy. Aurangzeb had appointed his son Akbar to capture Marwar and Mewar, but the Mughal army had to withdraw from Mewar when Akbar tried to over- throw his father. The Rajputs were relieved as Akbar met them. Durgadas Rathore supported Akbar in this rebellion. Akbar’s rebellion was unsuccessful, and he went to the south with Durgadas Rathore. His children were under the patronage of Durgadas, whom Aurangzeb wanted to adopt. Due to this compulsion, he compro- mised with Durgadas. When he discovered that Durgadas had allowed the children to receive education in the Islamic system, he was greatly influenced by Durgadas and honoured him. Till now, Ajit Singh had grown up and was able to rule the state. The Mughal empire had become vulnerable with the death of Aurangzeb in 1707 AD. Durgadas took advantage of this uncertainty and chased the Mughal army out of Jodhpur state and declared Ajit Singh the ruler of the state. Then Durgadas rebuilt the temples that were destroyed and desecrated by the Mughals. After that, he went to Ujjain to have darshan of Mahakal, where he died. Durgadas was such a patriot who fulfilled his selfless duty to the country.
Specific Vocabulary
Jaziya: Jaziya is a type of religious tax. It is collected from the non-Muslim people living in the Muslim state. Only Muslims were allowed to live in Islamic states, and if a non-Muslim wanted to live in that state, he had to pay Jaziya.
It is not that Rajputs have shown their skills only on the battlefield. When the opportunity arose, they also tried to save and spread Vedic culture and knowledge of science. We find Sawai Jai Singh an example of this, who was the Kachhwaha ruler of Jaipur. It was he who built the city of Jaipur. This city was designed by a Bengali scholar, Vidyadhar Bhattacharya, according to the rules of Vastu Shastra and archeology. Before Jaipur, Amber was the capital of the Kachhwaha rulers. Jaipur was built and declared as the new capital.
Sawai Jai Singh believed that the people of India should also have knowledge of astronomy, so he built five astronomical observatories based on Indian scriptures. These are known as Jantar-Mantar but its real name was Yantra-Mantra. “Yantra” means scientific instrument, and “mantra” means calculation or consultation. These amazing instruments were built in Jaipur, Delhi, Kashi, Mathura, and Ujjain. Among these, the instruments of Jaipur, Mathura, and Kashi are still in use. You will be surprised to know that even today, these instruments tell the exact time and can be used to predict lunar eclipses or solar eclipses. Not only that, but other planets in our solar system can also be studied with their assistance.
Rajput Women
How was the character of Rajput women? To understand this, we give an example of an incident in the life of King Jaswant Singh of Rajasthan. King Jaswant Singh was fighting a battle against Aurangzeb. His partner Qasim Khan betrayed him and started fighting on behalf of Aurangzeb. Many Rajputs died in this war, and Jaswant Singh survived with great diffi- culty. According to the French historian Bernier, when the wife of King Jaswant Singh got the news in the palace that he was returning with five hun- dred soldiers, who had survived battle out of eight thousand brave Rajputs. When the queen received this information, instead of welcoming the brave warrior and comforting him on his unfortunate defeat, she ordered the palace gates to be closed for him. She said that if he did not win the battle, he should sacrifice his life. After that she was angry and said, “Prepare my funeral pyre. I will take agni-samadhi. I am betrayed. My husband has died. Nothing more can happen”. She was in deep mourning for 8-9 days and refused to meet her husband. Meanwhile, the queen’s mother came there and pacified her daughter’s anger by saying that as soon as the king overcomes his war fatigue, he would raise a new army. He will get his respect by attacking Aurangzeb. From this incident you can understand how strong the character and tenacity of Rajput women was?
British historian Colonel Todd writes about Rajput women: “Rajput women have great character; they are devoted and affectionate to the family, they run the family, participate in wars and sports with their husbands, hate cowards, and they play an influential role in social and domestic work”.
The rules of war of the Turks and the Mughals were contrary to the rules of the Rajputs. The Rajputs believed that there should be no atrocities on the unarmed, ordinary citizens, old people and women. On the contrary, Arab Turks and Mughals used to capture women and treat them very badly. Whenever the Rajput fort was surrounded and there was no hope of survival, all the men set out for the final battle and the women who were left behind would collectively do ‘Jauhar’ to save their honour. This type of war was called Saka. It meant victory or death.
Specific terminology
Jauhar: Jauhar was a practice prevalent among the Rajputs, in which, Rajput women immolated themselves in a huge pyre in order to avoid humiliation on the defeat of their kingdom or stronghold and the victory of the enemy.
Jats
The Jats lived in the vicinity of Delhi, Mathura, Agra, western Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Punjab during the medieval period. They mainly practised agriculture and were stoutly built and brave people. They fought with Mahmud Ghaznavi and his successors. The Jats were freedom loving people by nature. Their villages functioned like independent republics. The rulers of the Sultanate and most of the Mughal rulers were also aware of their freedom-loving and justice-loving nature. So they did not interfere in the Jat villages. They maintained their independence. The Mughal emperor Akbar, by issuing two orders, gave recognition to the Jat Panchayats (Khaps) and complete freedom to the Jats to carry out their religious customs according to their ancient beliefs. This instilled confidence in the government among the Jats. This policy of peace and harmony of Akbar was continued by Jahangir and Shah Jahan, but Aurangzeb’s policy of religious fanaticism, dictatorial rule, and exploitative policies created restlessness and discontent among the Jat farmers. Soon they began to unite under the leadership of a Jat landlord named Gokul. The Jats of Mathura and Agra led a fierce rebellion in 1669 AD against the atrocities of Aurangzeb under the leadership of Gokul. The rebellion was suppressed and Gokul was martyred, but this rebellion and the atrocities of the Mughals inspired the Jats to continue struggle. After Gokul, this struggle continued under the leadership of Brijraj, Raja Ram, Chudaman, Badan Singh and Surajmal. This struggle gave rise to other conflicts and played a major role in the downfall of the Mughals. The struggle of the Jats can be described as follows:
Gokul : Gokul is considered the main political leader of the Jats. He was the son of landowner Rodian Singh of Sinsini village and his real name was Ola. In some other sources, his name is also found in Kanhaddev. He was a brave man. He had the unique qualities of indomitable courage, valour and organisational ability. That is why he organised the ordinary agricultural peasants as soldiers and made them stand against the huge and powerful Mughal empire. Gokul turned the resentment prevailing among the farmers of Mathura and Agra into rebellion.
For the religious, social, political, and economic reasons mentioned above, in 1669 AD, a revolt erupted under the able leadership of Gokul. Although this revolt was led mostly by Jats under the leadership of Gokui, it also included other peasant castes, such as Meo, Meena, Ahir, Gurjar, Naruka, Panwar, and others. All the rebels gathered in the village of Sahora, six kilometres from Mathura, under the leadership of Gokul in 1669 AD, and they refused to pay taxes to the Mughals. Abdul Nabi, the Faujdar of Mathura, attacked the rebels with a troop. In this battle, the rebels conquered Abdul Nabi’s troops, and encouraged by the victory, Gokul captured the Pargana of Sadabad. The rebellion soon spread to Agra. Aurangzeb appointed Saif Shikan Khan as the new Faujdar of Mathura, but the rebellion spread. The Mughal emperor sent a proposal of amnesty to Gokul, resorting to diplomacy, which Gokul rejected. Seeing the expansion of the rebellion, Aurangzeb himself departed with the imperial army. The Mughal emperor sent Hassan Ali Khan to Revara, Chandrakha, and Sarkhud to suppress the uprising. The rebels faced arrows and guns. Three hundred rebels were killed, two hundred and fifty female and male rebels were taken captive, and Hassan Ali Khan reached Aurangzeb. Aurangzeb was pleased and appointed Hassan Ali Khan as the Faujdar of Mathura, instead of Saif Shikan Khan. Hasan Ali Khan went on to deal with the rebels with an army of five thousand special soldiers and twenty-five cannons. On the other hand, two thousand farmers (Jats and others) gathered under the leadership of Gokul. On one hand, there was an army of disciplined soldiers, trained and equipped with weapons and arms, while on the other hand, there was an untrained army of peasants. The Jats fought valiantly under the leadership of Gokul, but after three days, the Mughals succeeded with the support of artillery. Four thousand soldiers of the Mughal army died, and five thousand rebels were martyred. Seven thousand were arrested. Gokul was arrested along with his uncle, Uday Singh Sindhi.
The Causes of the rebellion of farmers : Farmers were discontent over the religious fanaticism and administrative policies of Aurangzeb. Farmers rebelled against Aurangzeb due to the following actions, policies, and orders:
- By various orders, the restoration of old temples and construction of new temples were banned. Many temples were destroyed.
- In 1665 AD, Prohibition on celebrating Diwali and Holi in public.
- In 1668 AD, Hindu fairs and festivals were banned.
- The Pilgrimage tax was reinstated.
- Exploitation of farmers.
- In 1665 AD, a five percent tax was imposed on Hindu merchants and a 2.5 percent tax on Muslim merchants. In 1667 AD. he removed taxes from Muslim traders.
- Re-imposition of jaziya tax on Hindus.
Martyrdom of Gokul : The Jats showed their valour and bravery in the struggle with the Mughals, but the simple farmers were helpless in front of the mighty Mughal army. Gokul was taken captive and brought to Agra. Aurangzeb himself reached Agra and asked Gokul to accept Islam and apologize, but on Gokul’s refusal, he ordered his body to be dismembered. Gokul accepted martyrdom rather than apostasy. After the death of Gokul, the women of his family were divided among the Mughal officials. Although the revolt by Gokul was unsuccessful and was suppressed, the revolt had a profound impact. The peasant castes started opposing the Mughals and the Satnami rebellion also got inspiration from this. The Jat and other peasant castes were reorganised and they learned that victory could not be achieved in a one-on-one battle with the Mughals, so they started taking military training by building a stronghold in the dense forests and again faced the Mughals. The Sikhs of Punjab were also inspired by this rebellion.
Brijraj’s Rebellion: The Jats got badly hurt due to Gokul’s painful death at the hands of Aurangzeb. They started destroying all the army and military posts around Agra- Mathura. They began to reorganise under the leadership of Brijraj, his brother Bhajja Singh and Bhajja Singh’s son Rajaram of Sinsini village. Jat rebels were led by Brijraj between 1680- 1682 AD. After refusing to give land revenue, Aurangzeb sent a military officer from Agra, Mulatt, to suppress the Jats, but he had to face defeat in front of the Jats. In 1682 AD, Brijraj was besieged. Brijraj was martyred, and the leadership of the Jats came into the hands of Rajaram.
Rajaram’s Rebellion: After Brijraj’s death, the Jats were led by Rajaram, who was the son of Bhajja Singh, the brother of Brijraj. He was a brave warrior. He had learned from history and decided to fight a guerrilla war against the Mughals instead of a direct fight. Aurangzeb was in the south at that time and Mughal officials were weak. Hence, Rajaram took advantage of the opportunity. Rajaram first united the Jats of all regions. After that, with the aim of getting their troops trained, they built strongholds in dense forests. The Jats, under the leadership of Rajaram started looting government goods in the region of Agra-Mathura. The Subedar of Agra got scared and shut himself in the fort. In 1657 AD, Aurangzeb sent his grandson Bedarbakht to suppress the Jats. In 1688 AD, Rajaram attacked the tomb of Akbar in Sikandra, breaking the main gate and excavated the remains of Akbar and burnt his bones. He removed the precious metals on the roof. Thus, Rajaram avenged the death of Gokul. He looted the areas of Khurja and Palwal. After Bedarbakht proved ineffective, Aurangzeb sent Bisan Singh of Amer. A battle was fought between them, but Rajaram was killed. However, the Jats continued to oppose the Mughals.
The fort of Lohgarh, built by Maharaja Surajmal, is an invincible fort. It is also known as Ajaygarh. Due to the rampart being constructed of earthen material, it is also called the “mud fort”. The door of its northern gate is made of Ashtadhatu (combination of eight metals), which Jawahar Singh brought from the Red Fort during the conquest of Delhi.
Establishment of the Jat Kingdom
After the death of Rajaram, the Jats gathered under the leadership of Chudaman. When the Mughals became weak after Aurangzeb’s death in 1707 AD, Chudaman increased his power and established the Jat kingdom of Bharatpur. After Chudaman, Badan Singh expanded the Jat kingdom of Bharatpur with his ability and talent and made it powerful. After Badan Singh, Suraj Mal Jat became the ruler. He is called ‘Plato of Jats’. The Jats rose against the religious atrocities of the Mughals and they did not accept the Mughals’ interference in their traditional customs and independent villages. After occupying the whole Brij region, Surajmal captured Agra on June 12, 1761 AD, the second capital of the Mughals.
Satnami
Satnamis were a product of the Bhakti movement of the medieval era. Satnami sect was founded in 1543 AD by a devotee, Birbhan of Biser village of Narnaul region as ‘Sadh’. It was a branch of the Raidasi sect, which was one of the main disciples of the Vaishnav saint Ramanand, and started after the famous devout saint named Raidas. It is said that Birbhan was influenced by a disciple of Raidas named Uddhav Das. The Sadhs were monotheists. They believed in the true name of God, i.e., Satnam. Therefore, they were called Satnami. They lived the life of a “partial ascetic”. They included the people of petty occupations around Narnaul such as Ahirs, Sunars, Khatis, Dalits, etc., and agricultural castes. They used to get their faces shaved, including their heads and eyebrows. Hence, they were also called Mundia Sadhu. A contemporary historian named Khafi Khan wrote about them in his book Muntkhwab-ul-Lubab, “Though these people live like fakirs, most of them either do farming or small business. According to the principles of their sect, they want to live with their true name and do not earn money by resorting to unfair means. They do not tolerate wrong done to them either. Most of them keep their weapons with them”. The Satnamis inhabited the Mewat and Narnaul regions. At that time, their total number was around four thousand to five thousand. The Satnamis had lived in their villages peacefully in the reigns of Akbar and Jahangir.
The Satnamis in the villages of the Narnaul region revolted in 1672 AD against the injustice of their revenue officials during the time of religious fanaticism of Aurangzeb. One day, there was a quarrel between a government official and a Satnami farmer. The official hit the peasant’s head with a stick. Other Satnamis gathered after hearing the noise, and everyone beat the official badly. When Narnaul’s Shikdar came to know about this incident, he sent troops to punish the Satnamis, but a large number of Satnamis gathered and defeated the soldiers and took away their weapons. The rebellion erupted due to punitive action by the army.
The Satnamis had rebelled against Aurangzeb and they plunged into the battle with a shroud on their heads. They defeated Faujdar Tahir Khan and his army badly. Narnaul city was ruled by the Satnamis. The royal offices and royal treasury were looted and the mosques demolished by the Satnamis. The Satnamis formed their own government and took over the administrative system of the Narnaul region in their hands. They collected land revenue from the farmers by making posts at places and all the emblems of the Mughal government were destroyed.
Aurangzeb’s fear and march of a large army: When the news of Satnamis’ success reached Aurangzeb, the Mughal emperor began to worry. Fear and anxiety began to increase in the Mughal court. Many Muslim and Rajput generals refused to fight the Satnamis. Rumors began to heat up the market that Mughal weaponry had no impact on the Satnamis. On March 15, 1672 AD, Aurangzeb sent a large Mughal army with Mughal Prince Mohammad Akbar and the most worthy army heroes to Narnaul, but the royal army’s hands and feet were numbed to hear the stories of mantras and bravery of the Satnamis. Aurangzeb himself wrote verses by his hand and stitched them into the royal flags so that the self-confidence of the royal army could be restored and the battle could be won.
Martyrdom of Satnamis: When the royal army reached Narnaul, Satnamis broke on them like a hungry lion. On the one hand, the Mughal army equipped with attained weapons and arms, on the other hand, the Satnamis were armed with batons and they were five thousand in number with shaved heads. A terrible war ensued between them. Seeing the bravery, valour and battle skills of the Satnamis, the great Mughal soldiers were terrified. It was as if Satnamis had come with a vow not to return back. Hundreds of Satnamis were slayed but the Mughal army could not move forward. Finally, due to greater numbers, and superior weapons and a disciplined way of fighting, the Mughal army won. About five thousand Satnamis were martyred. The royal army also suffered a lot but Aurangzeb was very happy with the victory. He gave titles and other prizes to the warlords. The Satnami rebellion was suppressed by Aurangzeb and after that he tried to vent his anger out by demolishing religious places in the region of Haryana. Nevertheless, this rebel- lion shook the hinges of the Mughal empire. After the Satnamis, the Rajputs, Jats, Bundelas and Sikhs also revolted one after the other, weakening the Mughal Empire and ensuring its downfall.