For the longest time, the Rajputs showed absolute contempt for firearms. So much so, that during battle, a wound from a sword received double the compensation paid to a similar wound from a gun. In contrast, the Mughals were totally enamoured by the new war weaponry. Abu'l Fazl, the close confidante of Akbar, who authored Akbarnama, even credited the Mughal emperor for various gun inventions in his region. "With the exception of Turkey, there is perhaps no country which in its guns has more means of securing the government than this," Fazl wrote.

A new book by UK-based historical arms expert Robert Elgood takes a closer look at the Indian subcontinent's tryst with firearms, through the prism of the private collection of the Royals of Jodhpur. Showcasing some of the best Indian matchlocks, British and American sporting guns, rifles, shotguns, revolvers, and automatic pistols spanning over four centuries, Elgood's book, The Maharaja of Jodhpur's Guns (Niyogi Books), also explores how the Rajput clan, which was most resistant to firearms, embraced it, eventually. "I was invited to write the catalogue of the armoury for the Maharaja [of Jodhpur, Gaj Singh II], and I worked on it for a dozen years. But, he also wanted their guns to be included in my book. So, after working on the first two-volume book [which comprises Mehrangarh Fort's collection of swords, daggers, and assorted weapons of war and artistry], I moved on to cataloguing this one. The guns are a very important part of that collection," says Elgood,
of the book that took five years to research.