RAS question
The 'Jauhar' tradition in Rajasthan was performed by:
Correct answer: (D) Women self-immolating to avoid capture.
In Rajasthan's Rajput tradition, jauhar was performed by women who self-immolated to avoid capture when defeat in a besieged fort or town seemed unavoidable.
Explanation
Jauhar was not a battle charge by men; it was the rite of collective self-immolation associated with a besieged fort or town when resistance was no longer possible and capture by the enemy appeared imminent. Women entered a large fire to protect their honour from invading forces, and Encyclopaedia Britannica similarly identifies jauhar as self-immolation performed by women and other dependants in that crisis. After jauhar, the surviving fighting men went out for a final battle to death, called Saka or shaka. That sequence is why option D captures the core idea: jauhar belongs to the women's act of self-immolation, while the men's last combat is a separate act.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Men and women were not performing the same act together: women performed jauhar, while the surviving fighting men later went into a final battle called Saka or shaka.
- (B) Men going to battle describes Saka or shaka, the final combat after jauhar, not the act of jauhar itself.
- (C) Jauhar was not limited to queens; it was a collective rite involving women and other dependants of a besieged fort or town.
Concept
This tests Rajasthan's medieval Rajput social and martial traditions, especially the distinction between jauhar and Saka. RAS repeatedly asks such terms because they connect polity, warfare, honour codes and Rajasthan's cultural memory.