Jauhar

The Rajput ceremony of Jauhar, 1567, as depicted by Ambrose Dudley in Hutchinsons History of the Nations, c.1910

Jauhar, sometimes spelled Johar or Juhar,[1][2] was the Hindu custom of mass self-immolation by women in parts of the Indian subcontinent, to avoid capture, enslavement and rape by invaders, when facing certain defeat during a war.[3][4][5] This practice was historically observed in northwest regions of India, with most famous Jauhars in recorded history occurring during wars between Hindu Rajput kingdoms in Rajasthan and the Muslim armies.[6][7][8] Jauhar is related to sati, and sometimes referred in scholarly literature as jauhar sati.[4]

According to Veena Oldenburg, the roots of this practice "almost certainly" lie in the internecine warfare among different Rajput kingdoms.[9] In contrast, according to Kaushik Roy, the jauhar custom was observed only during Hindu-Muslim wars, but not during internecine Hindu-Hindu wars among the Rajputs.[10]

The term jauhar sometimes connotes with both jauhar-immolation and saka ritual. During the Jauhar, Rajput women committed suicide with their children and valuables in massive fire, to avoid capture and abuse in the face of inescapable military defeat and capture.[4][11] Simultaneously or thereafter, the men would ritually march to the battlefield expecting certain death, which in the regional tradition is called saka.[1]

Jauhar by Hindu kingdoms has been documented by Islamic historians of the Delhi Sultanate, and the Mughal Empire.[11][12][13] Among the oft cited example of jauhar has been the mass suicide committed in 1303 CE by the women of Chittorgarh fort in Rajasthan, faced with invading army of Khilji dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate.[14][15] The jauhar phenomenon was also observed in other parts of India, such as in the Kampili kingdom of northern Karnataka when it fell in 1327 to Delhi Sultanate armies.[13]

Etymology

The origins of the word jauhar are unknown. The Monier Monier-Williams Sanskrit dictionary with etymology does not contain it. The closest word in Sanskrit, according to Monier-Williams, is jauhava which means "relating to the sacrificial ladle".[16] Jauhar in North Indian languages may be a loanword from Arabic-Persian jauhar, related to Middle-Persian derived gauhar, where it means "jewel, gem" or "main substance, the fundamental element of something".[17][18][19]

In Rajasthani language, the word jauhar means "jewel".[20] In Punjabi language, johar means "costly stone, gem, jewel, essence".[21]

Practice

This practice is culturally related to Sati with both a form of suicide by women, although it occurred for different reasons.[9] Sati was a custom of a widow to commit suicide by self-immolation on her dead husband's funeral pyre, while Jauhar was collective self-immolation by women to escape abuse and rape, when they expected certain defeat at the hands of enemies.[9][4]

Scholars disagree about the roots of this custom. Veena Oldenburg states that the roots of this practice "almost certainly" lie in the internecine Rajput warfare.[9] Kaushik Roy states, in contrast, that the jauhar custom was observed only during Hindu-Muslim wars, but not during internecine Hindu-Hindu wars among the Rajputs.[10]

The phenomenon of jauhar has been reported by Hindus and Muslims differently. In the Hindu traditions, jauhar was a heroic act by a community facing certain defeat and abuse by the enemy.[4][22] For some Muslim historians, it was unwilling and a throwing away of lives.[1] But Arvind Sharma, a professor of Comparative Religion, states that Amir Khusrau described it as "no doubt magical and superstitious; nevertheless they are heroic".[23]

Occurrence

Among the more cited cases of Jauhar are the three occurrences at the fort of Chittaur (Chittaurgarh, Chittorgarh), in Rajasthan, in 1303,[24] 1535, and 1568 CE.[25] Jaisalmer has witnessed two occurrences of Jauhar, one in the year 1295 CE during the reign of the Khilji dynasty, and another during the reign of the Tughlaq dynasty in 1326.[26][27] Jauhar and saka were considered heroic acts and the practice was glorified in the local ballads and folklore of Rajasthan.[28]

Jauhar-like suicide of the Agalassoi: Alexander the Great

The mass self-immolation by the Agalassoi tribe of northwest India is mentioned in Book 6 of The Anabasis of Alexander, Arrian's 2nd-century CE military history of Alexander the Great between 336 and 323 BCE. Arrian mentions Alexander's army conquering and enslaving peoples of the northwest Indian subcontinent. During a war that killed many in the Macedonian and Agalossoi armies, the civilians despaired of defeat. Some 20,000 men, women and children of an Agalossoi town set fire to the town and cast themselves into the flames.[29][30]

Jauhar of Sindh: Muhammad bin Qasim

In 712, Muhammed bin Qasim with his army attacked kingdoms of western regions of the Indian subcontinent. He laid siege to the capital of Dahir, then the Hindu king in a part of Sind. After Dahir had been killed, the queen coordinated the defense of the capital for several months. As the food supplies ran out, she and the women of the capital refused to surrender, lit pyres and committed jauhar. The remaining men walked out to their death at the hands of the invading army.[31][32]

Jauhar of Jaisalmer: Alauddin Khilji

Sultan Alau'd Din put to Flight; Women of Ranthambhor commit Jauhar. Indian, Pahari style painting from c. 1825

Bhatnair, Tanot and Jaisalmer, capitals of Bhati Rajputs, witnessed the scene of Jauhar thrice, the last time men did not have enough time to build the pyre and hence slit the throats of women, and hence, it is considered half Jauhar.[33] In the time of Maharawal Jait Singh, Alauddin Khilji besieged the fort of Jaisalmer, and after seven months, 24,000[34] women committed Jauhar.[33]

First Jauhar of Chittor: Alauddin Khilji

The first jauhar of Chittorgarh occurred during a 1303 CE siege of Chittor fort.[35][36][37] This jauhar became a subject of legendary Rajasthani poems, with Rani Padmini the main character, wherein she and other Rajput women commit jauhar to avoid being captured by Alauddin Khilji of Delhi Sultanate.[35]

Jauhar of Kampili: Muhammad bin Tughluq

The Hindu women of the Kampili kingdom of northern Karnataka committed jauhar when it fell in 1327 to Delhi Sultanate armies of Muhammad bin Tughluq.[13] From the ruins, rose the Vijayanagara Empire in 1336 CE that challenged the Tughluq dynasty and Delhi Sultanate for the next three centuries.[38][39]

Jauhar of Chanderi: Babur

The Hindu king Medini Rao ruled over Chanderi in northern Madhya Pradesh in early 16th century. He tried to help Rana Sanga in the Battle of Khanua against the Muslim armies of Babur, the founder of the Mughal Empire. In January 1528 CE, his fort was overwhelmed by the invading forces of Babur. The women and children of the Chanderi fort committed jauhar, the men dressed up in saffron garments and walked the ritual of saka on 29 January.[40]

Second Jauhar of Chittor: Bahadur Shah

Rana Sanga died in 1528 CE after the Battle of Khanwa. Shortly afterwards, Mewar and Chittor came under the regency of his widow, Rani Karnavati. The kingdom was besieged by Bahadur Shah of Gujarat. Rani committed Jauhar with other women on 8 March 1535, while the Rajput army rallied out to meet the besieging Muslim army and committed saka.[41]

As Chittorgarh faced an imminent attack from the Sultan of Gujarat, Karnavati sought the assistance of the Mughal emperor Humayun by sending him a rakhi. Before Humayun could reach Chittorgarh, Bahadur Shah sacked the fort for the second time. Rani Karnavati with 13,000 women shut themselves with gunpowder, lit it and thus committed mass suicide.[42]

Third Jauhar of Chittor: Akbar

The armies of Mughal Emperor Akbar besieged the Rajput fort of Chittor in September 1567.[43] After his army conquered Chittorgarh in Rajasthan, Hindu women, fearing sexual enslavement, committed jauhar in spring of 1568 CE, and the next morning, thousands of Rajput men walked the saka ritual.[44][45] The Mughal army killed all the Rajputs who walked out the fort.[45] Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak, who was not an immediate witness, gave a hearsay account of the event as seen by Akbar and his army. Abu'l-Fazl states that the women were victims of Rajput men and unwilling participants, and these Rajputs came out walking to die, throwing away their lives.[1] According to David Smith, when Akbar entered the Chittorgarh fort in 1568, it was "nothing but an immense crematorium".[46]

According to Lindsey Harlan, the jauhar of 1568 is a part of regional legend and is locally remembered on the Hindu festival of Holi as a day of Chittorgarh massacre by the Akbar army, with "the red color signifying the blood that flowed on that day".[45]

Three Jauhars of Raisen: Humayun

Raisen in Madhya Pradesh was repeatedly attacked by the Mughal Army in the early 16th century. In 1528, the first jauhar was led by Queen Chanderi.[47] After the Mughal army left, the kingdom refused to accept orders from Delhi. After a long siege of Raisen fort, that exhausted all supplies within the fort, Rani Durgavati and 700 Raisen women committed the second jauhar in 1532, the men led by Lakshman Tuar committed saka.[48] This refusal to submit to Mughal rule repeated, and in 1543 the third jauhar was led by Queen Ratnavali.[47]

Jauhar of Bundelkhand: Aurangzeb

Aurangzeb with three army battalions lay siege of Bundela in Madhya Pradesh in December 1634 CE. The resident women committed jauhar as the fort fell. Aurangzeb's army entered the fort. Those who had not completed the ritual and survived the jauhar in progress were forced into the harem, men were forced to convert to Islam, those who refused were executed.[49][50]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Margaret Pabst Battin (2015). The Ethics of Suicide: Historical Sources. Oxford University Press. p. 285. ISBN 978-0-19-513599-2.
  2. ↑ Richard Maxwell Eaton (1996). The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204-1760. University of California Press. p. 166. ISBN 978-0-520-20507-9.
  3. ↑ John Stratton Hawley (1994). Sati, the Blessing and the Curse: The Burning of Wives in India. Oxford University Press. p. 189. ISBN 978-0-19-536022-6.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Lindsey Harlan (1992). Religion and Rajput Women: The Ethic of Protection in Contemporary Narratives. University of California Press. pp. 160 footnote 8. ISBN 978-0-520-07339-5., Quote: "In this she resembles the sati who dies in jauhar. The jauhar sati dies before and while her husband fights what appears to be an unwinnable battle. By dying, she frees him from worry about her welfare and saves herself from the possible shame of rape by triumphant enemy forces."
  5. ↑ Arvind Sharma (1988), Sati: Historical and Phenomenological Essays, Motilal Banarsidass Publ, ISBN 9788120804647, page xi, 86
  6. ↑ Pratibha Jain, Saṅgītā Śarmā, Honour, status & polity
  7. ↑ Mandakranta Bose (2014), Faces of the Feminine in Ancient, Medieval, and Modern India, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0195352771, page 26
  8. ↑ Malise Ruthven (2007), Fundamentalism: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0199212705, page 63;
    John Stratton Hawley (1994), Sati, the Blessing and the Curse, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0195077742, page 165-166
  9. 1 2 3 4 Veena Oldenburg, A Comment to Ashis Nandy's "Sati as Profit versus Sati as Spectacle: The Public Debate on Roop Kanwar's Death," in Hawley, Sati the Blessing and the Curse: The Burning of Wives in India, page 165
  10. 1 2 Kaushik Roy (2012), Hinduism and the Ethics of Warfare in South Asia: From Antiquity to the Present, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-1107017368, pages 182-184
  11. 1 2 Claude Markovits (2004). A History of Modern India, 1480-1950. Anthem Press. pp. 57–58. ISBN 978-1-84331-152-2.
  12. ↑ Dirk H. A. Kolff (2002). Naukar, Rajput, and Sepoy: The Ethnohistory of the Military Labour Market of Hindustan, 1450-1850. Cambridge University Press. pp. 87, 100–101, 109. ISBN 978-0-521-52305-9.
  13. 1 2 3 Mary Storm (2015). Head and Heart: Valour and Self-Sacrifice in the Art of India. Taylor & Francis. p. 311. ISBN 978-1-317-32556-7.
  14. ↑ Clifton D. Bryant; Dennis L. Peck (2009). Encyclopedia of Death and the Human Experience. SAGE Publications. p. 696. ISBN 978-1-4522-6616-9.
  15. ↑ Gavin Thomas (2010). Rajasthan. Penguin. pp. 341–343. ISBN 978-1-4053-8688-3.
  16. ↑ Monier Monier-Williams, Jauhava, A Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, page 425
  17. ↑ Kr̥pāśaṅkara Siṃha (1978). Readings in Hindi-Urdu Linguistics. National. pp. 37–38.
  18. ↑ Parviz Morewedge (2015). The 'Metaphysica' of Avicenna (ibn Sīnā). Routledge. pp. 191–192. ISBN 978-1-317-36611-9.
  19. ↑ Mona Siddiqui (20 May 2013). Christians, Muslims, and Jesus. Yale University Press. pp. 254 note 44. ISBN 978-0-300-16970-6.
  20. ↑ B.S. Nijjar (2008). Origins and History of Jats and Other Allied Nomadic Tribes of India. Atlantic Publishers. pp. 304–306. ISBN 978-81-269-0908-7.
  21. ↑ Nirbhai Singh (2007). The Philosophical Perspective on Sikh View of Martyrdom. Singh Brothers. p. 392. ISBN 978-81-7205-388-8.
  22. ↑ Lindsey Harlan; Paul B. Courtright (1995). From the Margins of Hindu Marriage: Essays on Gender, Religion, and Culture. Oxford University Press. pp. 209–210. ISBN 978-0-19-508117-6.
  23. ↑ Arvind Sharma (1988). Sati: Historical and Phenomenological Essays. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 21–22. ISBN 978-81-208-0464-7.
  24. ↑ "Main Battles". Archived from the original on 2012-02-06.
  25. ↑ Dirk H. A. Kolff (2002). Naukar, Rajput, and Sepoy: The Ethnohistory of the Military Labour Market of Hindustan, 1450-1850. Cambridge University Press. p. 109. ISBN 978-0-521-52305-9.
  26. ↑ Mary Storm (2015). Head and Heart: Valour and Self-Sacrifice in the Art of India. Taylor & Francis. p. 142. ISBN 978-1-317-32556-7.
  27. ↑ Hans-Joachim Aubert (2014). DuMont Reise-Handbuch Reiseführer Indien, Der Norden: mit Extra-Reisekarte (in German). Dumont Reiseverlag. p. 307. ISBN 978-3-7701-7763-9.
  28. ↑ Andrea Major (2010). Sovereignty and Social Reform in India: British Colonialism and the Campaign Against Sati, 1830-1860. Routledge. p. 34. ISBN 978-1-136-90115-7.
  29. ↑ Vincent Arthur Smith (1914). The Early History of India from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest: Including the Invasion of Alexander the Great. Clarendon Press. pp. 93–94 with footnotes.
  30. ↑ The Anabasis of Alexander/Book VI by Arrian, translated by E. J. Chinnock, Wikisource
  31. ↑ Partha Chatterjee (2010). Empire and Nation: Selected Essays. Columbia University Press. pp. 84–85. ISBN 978-0-231-52650-0.
  32. ↑ Derryl N. MacLean (1989). Religion and Society in Arab Sind. BRILL Academic. pp. 13–14 with footnote 43. ISBN 90-04-08551-3.
  33. 1 2 R.K. Gupta, S.R. Bakshi, Studies In Indian History: Rajasthan Through The Ages The Heritage Of ..., page 100
  34. ↑ Beny & Matheson. Page 149.; Khooni Itihaas, Arya Prakashan Mandi, Bikaner,1926
  35. 1 2 Catherine Weinberger-Thomas (1999). Ashes of Immortality: Widow-Burning in India. University of Chicago Press. p. 122. ISBN 978-0-226-88568-1.
  36. ↑ Paul E. Jaiwant (2005). By My Sword and Shield. Simon & Schuster. pp. 50–52. ISBN 978-81-7436-325-1.
  37. ↑ Mary Storm (2015). Head and Heart: Valour and Self-Sacrifice in the Art of India. Routledge. pp. 141–142. ISBN 978-1-317-32557-4.
  38. ↑ David Gilmartin; Bruce B. Lawrence (2000). Beyond Turk and Hindu: Rethinking Religious Identities in Islamicate South Asia. University Press of Florida. pp. 300–306, 321–322. ISBN 978-0-8130-3099-9.
  39. ↑ Burton Stein (1989). The New Cambridge History of India: Vijayanagara. Cambridge University Press. pp. 18–19. ISBN 978-0-521-26693-2.
  40. ↑ Sunil Kumar Sarker (1994). Himu, the Hindu "Hero" of Medieval India: Against the Background of Afghan-Mughal Conflicts. Atlantic Publishers. p. 83. ISBN 978-81-7156-483-5.
  41. ↑ R.K. Gupta, S.R. Bakshi, Studies In Indian History: Rajasthan Through The Ages The Heritage Of ..., page 124
  42. ↑ Everett Jenkins, Jr. (2000). The Muslim Diaspora (Volume 2, 1500-1799): A Comprehensive Chronology of the Spread of Islam in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas. McFarland. p. 58. ISBN 978-0-7864-4689-6.
  43. ↑ R.K. Gupta, S.R. Bakshi, Studies In Indian History: Rajasthan Through The Ages The Heritage Of ..., page 125
  44. ↑ Annemarie Schimmel (2004). Burzine K. Waghmar, ed. The Empire of the Great Mughals: History, Art and Culture. Reaktion. p. 166. ISBN 978-1-86189-185-3.
  45. 1 2 3 Lindsey Harlan (2003). The Goddesses' Henchmen: Gender in Indian Hero Worship. Oxford University Press. p. 162. ISBN 978-0-19-534834-7.
  46. ↑ David Smith (2008). Hinduism and Modernity. John Wiley & Sons. p. 54. ISBN 978-0-470-77685-8.
  47. 1 2 Dirk H. A. Kolff (2002). Naukar, Rajput, and Sepoy: The Ethnohistory of the Military Labour Market of Hindustan, 1450-1850. Cambridge University Press. p. 85. ISBN 978-0-521-52305-9.
  48. ↑ Dirk H. A. Kolff (2002). Naukar, Rajput, and Sepoy: The Ethnohistory of the Military Labour Market of Hindustan, 1450-1850. Cambridge University Press. pp. 85, 99–103. ISBN 978-0-521-52305-9.
  49. ↑ S.R. Sharma (1999). Mughal Empire in India: A Systematic Study Including Source Material. Atlantic Publishers. pp. 457–458. ISBN 978-81-7156-818-5.
  50. ↑ Dirk H. A. Kolff (2002). Naukar, Rajput, and Sepoy: The Ethnohistory of the Military Labour Market of Hindustan, 1450-1850. Cambridge University Press. pp. 141–142. ISBN 978-0-521-52305-9.
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