Making Sense of Temples and Tirthas: Rajput Construction Under Mughal Rule

Abstract

This article examines temple construction under Mughal rule by significant Rajput rulers—some reluctant and some amenable—to accepting Mughal authority. During the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries high ranking Hindu nobles who easily found favour with the Mughal court built on both their ancestral lands and on crown lands, but those who accepted Mughal hegemony under duress had a more complicated attitude towards temple construction. The temples that the latter group provided were largely in their own territories, often at pilgrimage sites or at sites they intended to transform into pilgrimage sites. The main questions which is article addresses are: Where did these rulers build temples, why and what forms did they take? How does temple construction provide insights into cultural and political aspirations of Rajput kingdoms? Finally, what were the problems arising out of neglect associated of their maintenance and upkeep?