Why does no one point out that after rivalry between Akbar and Pratap, Mewar rulers later had a wonderful relationship with the Mughals? Shah Jahan was a great friend of the Rana. Mewar was destroyed later because of Marathas who looted everything.

Question posted by “Anonymous”. Hmm…

History tells us that of Anon's three assertions, one is a half-truth while the other two are entirely fallacious.

The reference to “Marathas looting everything” is clearly a reference to the three wars between Mewar and the Holkar family in the 1750s, 1790s, and 1800s respectively.

What OP neglects to mention is that the Mewar-Holkar wars were, at no point, sanctioned formally by Pune. A “Maratha” campaign was never organised, even though several Maratha armies marched in neighbouring states all the time. Furthermore, the Wars began during the Sisodia-Chauhan wars of succession over Jaipur, which then went out of control for reasons beyond this answer.

Thus of the five 18th century chevauchee campaigns in Mewar I can think of, only two involved Marathas and only one was organised by them.

So who led the other three?

One was why Chauhan troops- who were kin to the Sisodia- during a succession conflict.

The other two- and the worst of the lot- were organised by the “great friends” of Mewar, the Mughal Empire.

By the 17th Century, most of Rajputana was independent of Mughal authority. Plagued by heavy taxes, repeated insults, demands for sex slaves, etc- all of which had escalated under the Emperor Shah Jehan- he of the “wonderful relationship”, there were several local revolts. Under the Emperor Aurangzeb, this escalated into the revolts by the Rathores followed by that of the Sisodia. Over time, the conflict spilled into Malwa and Punjab.

The Mewar conflict, in particular, began when the Sisodia family- uniquely among all Hindu States of Bharata- took in Shrinathji Krishna after Aurangzeb's destruction of Mathura.

Sisodia refusal to return the Vigraha and their continued aid to Rathores led to invasion by the Mughals. At the end of forty years of on-off conflict, Aurangzeb's Deccan campaign led to the near destruction of the Rana's forces which led to a Peace Treaty. However the Wars went on until the time of Muhammad Shah Rangila.

This one hundred year-long period, ending in the 1730s, is estimated to have resulted in over five million Rajput casualties- both Civilian and Military. At three points, all major Rajput cities- were either sacked or razed to the ground. The Wars ended when Peshwa Baji Rao I wiped out Islamic nobility in Weastern and Central Bharata- whose effects can still be seen on the map- and the Mughal Emperor was forced to accept Protection.

Please refer to the careers of Emperor Bahadur Shah I and the Sayyid Brothers for such details which are beyond the scope of this answer.

Finally, the “destruction” of Mewar is a vague term, since Mewar has historically been one of the most storied states in Bharata. Mewar's current predicaments in 2018 stem chiefly from two reasons:-

1- Two centuries of Trade collapse due to, first, the Angrej Raj and, then, Nehruvian economics.

2- Lack of adequate Industrialization due to seventy years of varying degrees of License Raj and Subsidies.

The economic restoration of Mewar is not a question for today though so we will stop here.