section_path: Diplomacy/Matrimonial alliances
section_name: Matrimonial alliances
paragraph_text: Matrimonial alliances
  
  Prior to Akbar's reign, marriages between Hindu princesses and Muslim kings failed to produce stable relations between the families involved; the women were lost to their families and did not return after marriage. Akbar departed from that practice, providing that the Hindu Rajputs who married their daughters or sisters to him would be treated equally to his Muslim fathers- and brothers-in-law, except that they would not be allowed to dine or pray with him or take Muslim wives. Akbar also made those Rajputs members of his court. Some Rajputs considered marriage to Akbar a sign of humiliation.
  
  The Kacchwaha Rajput, Raja Bharmal, of the small kingdom of Amer, and an early member of Akbar's court, allied with Akbar by giving his daughter, Mariam-uz-Zamani — who would go on to be Akbar's favorite wife — in marriage to Akbar. Bharmal was made a noble of high rank in the imperial court, and subsequently, his son Bhagwant Das and grandson Man Singh also rose to high ranks in the nobility.
  
  Other Rajput kingdoms also established matrimonial alliances with Akbar, but Akbar did not insist upon matrimony as a precondition for forming alliances. When Akbar met with the Hada leader, Surjan Hada, to effect an alliance, Surjan accepted on the condition that Akbar could not marry any of his daughters. Consequently, no matrimonial alliance was entered into, but Surjan was made a noble and placed in charge of Garh-Katanga. Two major Rajput clans remained aloof — the Sisodiyas of Mewar and Hadas of Ranthambore.
  
  The political effect of these alliances was significant. While some Rajput women who entered Akbar's harem converted to Islam, they were generally provided full religious freedom; their relatives, who continued to remain Hindu, formed a significant part of the nobility and served to articulate the opinions of the majority of commoners in the imperial court. The interaction between Hindu and Muslim nobles in the imperial court resulted in an exchange of thoughts and a blending of the two cultures. Newer generations of the Mughal line also represented a merger of Mughal and Rajput blood, thereby strengthening ties between the two. As a result, the Rajputs became the strongest allies of the Mughals, and Rajput soldiers and generals fought for the Mughal army under Akbar, leading it in several campaigns, including the conquest of Gujarat in 1572. Akbar's policy of religious tolerance ensured that employment in the imperial administration was open to all on merit, irrespective of creed, strengthening his imperial rule.
  
  Akbar's daughter Meherunnissa was rumoured to be enamored of Tansen and might have played a role in his coming to Akbar's court. Tansen converted to Islam from Hinduism, apparently on the eve of his marriage with Akbar's daughter.