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Rajashtan is home to the Rajputs, a group of warrior clans who have controlled this part of India for thousands of years according to a code of chivalry and honour akin to that of the medieval European knights. While temporary alliances and marriages of convenience were the order of the day, pride and independence were always paramount. The Rajputs were therefore never able to present a united front against a common aggressor. Indeed, much of their energy was spent squabbling among themselves and the resultant weakness eventually led to their becoming vassal states of the Mughal Empire. Nevertheless, the Rajputs' bravery and sense of honour were unparalleled.
Rajput warriors would fight against all odds and, when no hope was left, chivalry demanded that "jauhar" take place. In this grim ritual, the women and children committed suicide by immolating themselves on a huge funeral pyre, while the men donned saffron robes and rode out to confront the enemy and certain death. In some of the larger battles, tens of thousands of Rajput warriors lost their lives in this way. Three times in Chittorgarh's long history, the women consigned themselves to the flames while the men rode out to their martyrdom. The same tragic fate befell many other forts around the state.
With the decline of the Mughal Empire, the Rajputs gradually clawed back their independence through a series of spectacular victories, but then a new force appeared on the scene in the form of the British. As the Raj inexorably expanded, most Rajput states signed articles of alliance with the British which allowed them to continue as independent states, each with its own maharaja (or similarly titled leader), subject to certain political and economic constraints. These alliances proved to be the beginning of the end for the Rajput rulers who replaced chivalry with indulgence and extravagance by the early 1900s, which considerably burdened the economic and social resources of "Rajputana" (the land of the Rajputs). When India gained its independence, Rajasthan had one of the subcontinent's lowest rates of life expectancy and literacy.
At Independence, India's ruling Congress Party was forced to make a deal with the nominally independent Rajput states in order to secure their agreement to join the new India. The rulers were allowed to keep their titles, their property holdings were secured and they were paid annual stipend commensurate with their status. It couldn't last forever, given India's socialist persuasion, and the crunch came in the early 1970s when Indira Gandhi abolished both the titles and the stipends and severely confiscated their property rights.
While few rulers have survived by converting their palaces into luxury hotels, many have fallen by the wayside, unable to cope with the financial and managerial demands of the late 20th century.
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