Jauhar (also spelled johar) is the self-immolation of queens and female royals of the Rajput kingdoms when facing defeat at the hands of an enemy.

The roots of this practice lie in the internecine warfare among different Rajput clans. The most famous Jauhars in recorded history have occurred at the end of Rajput battles with Muslim empires. It was followed by females and children of the Rajput clans in order to avoid capture, enslavement, and rape at the hands of invaders.

The term also describes the practice of mass suicide carried out in medieval times by Rajput women to save their honor from invaders. The term is derived from two Sanskrit words, Jau or Jiv meaning “life” and Har meaning “to take” added together means to take one’s own life. Jivhar was later conflated with the Arabic word Jawhar meaning “mettle”, “jewel” or “property”.

In the palaces of the maharanas, there was a special room of Jauhar that is called “Jauhar Kund” before the johar they speak the slogan” Jai Bhavani” Bhavani is a name another name Durga maa and they give their handprints in the wall surrounded by the jauhar kund.

During the Jauhar, which was said to take place during the night, Brahmin priests would chant Vedic mantras, and the Rajput women, wearing their wedding dresses, would commit suicide with their children via self-immolation. On the morning after the Jauhar, the men would carry out the Saka, after taking a bath, the men would wear saffron clothes, smear the ashes of their wives and children on their foreheads, and put a tulsi leaf in their mouths.

Then, they would sally out either to annihilate their enemies or to be annihilated by them. It has been claimed that the Jauhar and Saka were never carried out when the Rajputs were at war with other Hindus, such as the Marathas, as the defeated could expect to be treated with dignity. It has also been claimed that on several occasions, the Rajputs sued for peace, and the Mughals agreed to their terms.

When the Rajputs, their wives and children came to surrender, however, they were slaughtered by the Mughals. This treachery and deceit may have been the reason for the Jauhar and Saka to be established by the Rajputs.

Jauhar and saka were not just limited to the Hindus who formed the nobility and ruling classes and castes of Rajasthan and northern India. People of all castes and classes practiced it. There is extensive glorification of the practice in the local ballads and folk histories of Rajasthan

Jauhar Pratha: better to die once than to die every day​.