There were about 500 Sardars holding different mansabs under Akbar. Out of those 22.5 per cent were Hindus. In Shah Jahan’s empire, the ratio stood at 22.4 per cent. Aurangzeb is supposed to be the most fanatic of all the Muslim rulers. When he took over the empire, Hindus accounted for 21.6 per cent of the Mansabdars. When his reign ended, this figure rose to 31.6 per cent. It was Aurangzeb who had appointed Raja Jaswant Singh, a Hindu Rajput, as the Subedar (governor) of the Deccan. Aurangzeb’s first Minister too was a Hindu, Raghunath Das. He was a Rajput and yet fought against Rajputs on
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