Jauhar and Saka were originally the voluntary deaths of the royal Rajput men and women in order to avoid capture and dishonour at the hands of enemies. This was done sometimes by Hindu and Sikh women, in Mughal times, as they preferred death to being taken by Muslim men, considered genetically weaker in intelligence, or by lower caste people.
Jauhar (sometimes spelt jowhar) was originally the voluntary death on a funeral pyre of the queens and royal womenfolk of defeated Rajput castes. The term is extended to describe the occasional practice of mass suicide carried out in medieval times by Rajput women and men. Mass self-immolation by women was called Jauhar, and riding out and fighting to the death by men was called saka.
Practice
Jauhar is often described in terms of the women and children alone, but should correctly be understood as including the death of the men on the battlefield. Jauhar and saka involved:
- A defending Rajput army being besieged inside a fortification by an invading enemy army.
- The realization by the defenders that defeat was both imminent and inescapable.
- The realization by the defenders that the enemy army would capture and dishonour women.
- The immolation, en masse, of women and young children to avoid their molestation by the invading army;
- The men of the beseiged army riding out to a certain death on the battlefield.
It was considered proper for the men to fight to the last breath when defeat became certain in a war but Jauhar was committed to avoid capture and dishonour of royal women. When defeat at the hands of a more powerful enemy was imminent, the women, dressed in wedding finery, immolated themselves, then the men, bearing a Kesariya Bana (saffron coloured dress), attacked the enemy. It was more honourable for Rajput men to fight and die on the battlefield. Jauhar and Saka were always performed together.
Despite occasional confusion, this practice is not related with "Sati". While both practices have been most common historically in the territory of modern Rajasthan, Sati was a custom performed by widowed women only, while Jauhar and Saka were committed while both the partners were living and only at a time of war.
Occurrence
Jauhar and Saka were limited to the Hindu Kshatriya caste Rajputs, who formed the nobility and ruling classes and castes of Rajasthan and northern India.
There is extensive glorification of the practice in the local ballads and folk-histories of Rajasthan; however, the accuracy of these accounts has probably degraded due to over-romanticization. Accounts of the invaders finding a deserted city with no living residents are not historically accurate; Brahmins, Charans, servants and slaves and other groups also lived with Rajputs, and they would not have participated. Rajputs fleeing the battlefield at the time of "Saka" have not been established. Rajputs considered it disgraceful to run from battlefield.
There are many instances of Jauhar (and saka), but these are not properly recorded. King Vijaipal's wife may have committed Jauhar at the fort of Bayana, but this is based on ambiguous information from "Timan Garh". It is now in the Karauli district of Rajasthan. The women-folk of the family of Silhadi the military power-broker may have committed Jauhar.
There are a number of other instances of jauhar, especially in the Khilji and Tughlaq times. Jauhar was committed during the Tughlaq campaign against the state of Kampili in the Raichur Doab and the siege of Annegondi - later to be famous as Vijayanagar. Searching for other instances of Jauhar will indicate whether Jauhar was a Rajput prerogative or was practiced by other military peoples as well. The Jauhar at Annegondi may have been committed only by a Rajput contingent in the fort, as after the battle, the besiegers took many prisoners from amongst the Rajput ruling and fighting classes and sent them to Delhi.
The best known cases of Jauhar are the three occurrences at the fort of Chittaur (Chittaurgarh, Chittorgarh), in Rajasthan, in 1303, in 1535, and 1568. Jaisalmer has witnessed two occurrences of Jauhar. Another occurrence was in Chanderi.
First Jauhar
In 1303 AD, Ala-ud-din Khilji, the Sultan of Delhi besieged Chittor fort, which was under the control of Rana Rawal Ratan Singh. The Rana was allowed one final glimpse of his wife, Rani Padmini in a mirror, before he was at the gates and held hostage for Padmini. Padmini sent misleading information that she would join Ala-ud-din, but she was to come with 700 women as befitted her status. The Rajputs were thus able to infiltrate about 2000 men into Ala-ud-din's camp. Each Palaqi Palanquin) contained two Rajput soldiers and four men to lift it. Gora and Badal were leading this team. Ala-ud-din allowed Padmini one final meeting with her husband, which allowed the Rajputs to whisk Ratan Singh out from under the Khilji king's nose. Beaten, Ala-ud-din returned to Delhi to come back better equipped early the next year. The Rajput defense failed as a result of this second attack and, to a man, perished on the battlefield while their womenfolk, led by Maharani Padmini, performed Jauhar. Tthe siege of Chittor, its brave defence by the Guhilas, the saga of Rani Padmini and the Jauhar she led are legendary. This incident has had a defining impact upon the Rajput character and is detailed in a succeeding section.
Second Jauhar
Rana Sanga died in 1528 AD after the Battle of Khanua. Shortly afterwards, Mewar and Chittor came under the regency of his widow, Rani Karmavati. The kingdom was menaced by Bahadur Shah of Gujarat, who besieged Chittorgarh. Without relief from other forces and facing defeat, the Rani committed Jauhar with other women on March 8, 1535 AD, while the Rajput army sallied out to meet the besieging Muslim army and committed saka.
According to one romantic legend of dubious veracity, Karmavati importuned the assistance of Humayun the son of Babur, her late husband's foe, by sending him a Rakhi and a request for his help as a brother. The help arrived too late. This is the occasion for the second of the three Jauhars performed at Chittor.
Third Jauhar
Emperor Akbar besieged the fort of Chittor in September 1567 AD. Changing the strategy, Rana Udai Singh II, his sons and royal women fled soon after the siege began by secret routes. The fort was left under Jaimal Rathore and Patta Sisodiya's command. One morning Akbar found Jaimal inspecting repairs to the fort which had been damaged by explosives, and shot him. The bullet hit Jaimal in the leg and wounded him seriously. The same day Rajputs found defeat was certain, their women committed Jauhar in the night of February 22, 1568 AD, and the next morning, the Rajput men committed saka. (Abul Faz'l has given a true account of the event as seen by Akbar in his biography in 1568 AD.)
See also
External links
- persian.packhum.org - The Akbarnama, part II, chapter 65, H.M.'s Siege of the Fortress of Citũr
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