Resistance to the Mughals

Not all the rebellions that wore down Mughal power came from rival kings. Many came from ordinary people.

Over the centuries, many peasant communities rebelled against harsh exploitation.

One case in the 17th century involved the Jat peasants of present-day western Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and eastern Rajasthan. They killed a cruel Mughal officer, and in a later battle 20,000 men faced the Mughal army and fought bravely. Their leader was killed and the rebellion crushed.

Many tribal groups also fought back against attempts to take their land or tax them: the Bhils, the Gonds, the Santhals, the Kochs.

The results differed, and geography explains much of the difference. Some groups were defeated or slowly absorbed into the Sultanate or the Mughal Empire. Others, especially those in forested, hilly or remote areas, kept some independence.

Rani Durgavati was a brave queen of the Garha kingdom, one of the Gond kingdoms of central India. By all accounts she ruled wisely and made her kingdom prosperous, keeping an army of 20,000 soldiers and 1,000 elephants with which she pushed back several invasions.

When a general sent by Akbar attacked in 1564, she was outnumbered and had weaker weapons. She led her troops herself and fought bravely. Wounded, she took her own life on the battlefield rather than be captured. She was 40.

The chapter ends this section by recalling its note on history's darker periods: these are people of the past, not people of today. We need to know the facts, and the victims deserve respect and remembrance, but we today bear no responsibility for what individuals did hundreds of years ago.