Paper short abstract:

The paper explores vernacular stories about Aurangzeb in Rajasthan. Focusing on the campaign in Mewar, it examines narratives that demonstrate ambivalence about royal authority, Mewar’s relationship with other kingdoms, and the emperors’ views about Vaishnavism.

Paper long abstract:

This paper contemplates vernacular legends about Aurangzeb. Gleaned from research in Udaipur, they demonstrate the complex of variously positioned and ambivalent narrators. Among salient motifs are the power of Vaishnavism, the glory of Mewar's Maharana Raj Singh, and the superiority of Mewar over other kingdoms.

Examining devotional literature, oral legends, and local histories, the paper examines diverse ways in which Aurangzeb is represented in the context of his campaign in Mewar. It explores complex representations by narrators, whose stories inevitably pit the emperor against Raj Singh, but also display ambivalence about blame for bloodshed. Some stories about Udaipur's most famous sagasji or hero, Sultan Singh (who was executed because his father, Raj Singh, believed a false rumor), express sympathy for all people subject to the whims of regal authority.

There are also stories about Raj Singh's struggle with Aurangzeb that portray him as nemesis but not antithesis. Among these are stories about Raj Singh's rescue/abduction of Princess Charumati of Kishengarh when Aurangzeb was planning to marry her. In these tales, the problem is not, or not only, Aurengzeb, but Charumati, who had fallen in love with Raj Singh. Not simply running from Aurangzeb, she was running to her beloved. Other stories are diverse accounts of Raj Singh's protection of Vaishnava icons from Aurangzeb (who is sometimes held to become a devotee of Shri Nathji), and legends about the emperor's near, but not complete, destruction of a Jain temple built by Mewar's Jain chief minster.