Jawahar Singh
Maharaja Sawai of Bharatpur State
Bharatendra (Lord of the Bharatá)[1]
Prithvendra (The Lord of the World)
Prince of Victories
Portrait of Maharaja Jawahar Singh
Maharaja of Bharatpur State
Reign1763–68
PredecessorMaharaja Suraj Mal
SuccessorMaharaja Ratan Singh
HouseSinsinwar Dynasty
FatherMaharaja Suraj Mal
MotherRani Gauri [2][3]
ReligionHinduism

Jawahar Singh (r. 1763–1768) (Hindi: महाराजा जवाहर सिंह) was a Jat ruler of the Bharatpur State. He succeeded to the throne when his father Suraj Mal died in 1763.

Early life

During Ahmed Shah Abdali's invasion of India in 1757, Abdali attacked Ballabhgarh. The fort was sieged, Jawahar Singh had to escape from the fort in the night as the defence of the fort was not possible in the face of heavy bombardments of Abdali's guns. After taking the city Abdali sent his generals Jahan Khan and Najib Khan with 20,000 men to attack the Jat territory and holy city of Mathura. According to historian Jadunath Sarkar, the Marathas fled from the north and not a single Maratha soldier fought for the holy city of Mathura which had the holiest of Vaishnav shrines, their "Hindupat-Padshahi" didn't involve any duty to protect it. But the Jats were determined to defend this sacred city. Jawahar Singh with 10,000 men blocked the path of the Afghans. Of these 10,000, 5,000 Jats in Chaumuhan had to face Jahan Khan's troops, in the fight that followed the Jat cavalry charged the Afghan positions and almost ten to twelve thousand men died on both sides and the remnants of the Jat army had to retreat. Afghans subsequently carried out a general massacre in the unfortified city of Mathura. The people were looted, their property plundered and acts of iconoclasm followed.[4]

Military career

In 1764, Jawahar Singh attacked Najib Khan and later bombarded Delhi. He enlisted the help of the Sikh chiefs for the campaign. He also asked for help from Malhar Rao Holkar. The Rohillas were sieged inside the fort and peace negotiations were being carried out. Jawahar Singh was also desperate for peace because he realized the Holkar were double dealing with him and wer in secret negotiation with Najib Khan. The campaign was not much of a success as Jawahar Singh had spent more money than he received.[4]

Jawahar Singh also defeated the Marathas under Holkar with the help of the Sikhs sent by Jassa Singh Ahluwalia near Dholpur in 1766, when Holkar tried to help Jawahar's brother, Nahar Singh gain the throne of Bharatpur. Jawahar Singh had to retreat after some time when Raghunath Rao arrived in northern Malwa. In 1767, after his recent success against the Marathas, he surprised their garrisons in Kalpi and attacked Maratha territory, the Maratha local agent fled and the whole area came under the rule of Jawahar Singh.[4]

War with Kingdom of Jaipur

Main article: Battle of Maonda and Mandholi and Battle of Kama

Relations between Bharatpur state and Kingdom of Jaipur were good until the time of Suraj Mal. He used to visit Jai Singh II every Dussehra and present gifts to him, and whenever Jai Singh passed through Bharatpur territory Surajmal would wait upon him and feed the Jaipur troops and then lay the keys of his forts before Jai Singh as Suraj Mal used to consider him, his Father. These good relations continued till Surajmal's death.

Upon Suraj Mal's death, his successor, Jawahar Singh, was very proud of the wealth and soldiers that he had inherited from his father. Jawahar Singh's army was trained and led by Europeans like Madec and Samru and consisted of 15,000 cavalry, 25,000 infantry (excluding the garrisons) and 300 pieces of artillery.

Jawahar Singh, ruler of Bharatpur state, had earlier defeated his step brother Nahar Singh, who escaped to take refuge in Jaipur state. Nahar poisoned himself, leaving his widow behind in Jaipur. Jawahar demanded Nahar's widow, described by Jadunath Sarkar as one of the most beautiful women on earth. But the lady refused, fearing Jawahar's character as Jawahar Singh wanted to take her in his harem and Madho Singh could not forcibly expel an asylum seeker. This resulted in Jawahar becoming furious. Jawahar Singh along with his Sikh mercenaries had made several incursions into the Jaipur state and their unchecked aggression made Madho Singh intrigue against Jawahar and the Bharatpur state.

In 1767, Jawahar Singh marched through Jaipur territory with his whole army along with French trained battalions and artillery guns to reach Pushkar. There, he met with the ruler of Marwar state; Vijay Singh and an agreement was signed between them to oust the Marathas, who were raiding in Rajputana following their defeat at the hands of Ahmed Shah Abdali in 1761.

This meeting between the two was not liked by Madho Singh. According to Jadunath Sarkar, Madho Singh reprimanded Vijay Singh for sitting equally with Jawahar Singh, whom he considered a mere peasant and a servant of Jaipur.

Jawahar thus attacked and plundered the villages of Jaipur and molested its villagers in revenge while returning from Pushkar. The Kachwaha army followed and attacked forces of Bharatpur at Mandholi, which was the last station of the Jaipur state and was located near to the frontiers of Bharatpur state. The Jaipur artillery had lagged behind, causing their first attack to be repulsed by the Bharatpur army. Jats, hoping to escape from the battlefield, entered a narrow pass ahead of them. In the middle of the pass, the Kachwaha cavalry overtook them. Jaipur forces stood firmly against the guns of Bharatpur and finally threw themselves, with swords in hand, onto Jat army. The Jat army fled with the first shock of Jaipur cavalry abandoning their baggage and artillery which was captured by Jaipur forces. With the rest of Singh's army dispersed, the French sepoys of Samru and Madec saved Jawahar Singh and enabled him to retreat into his territory.

The Bharatpur army thus retreated into their territory after being defeated in the fierce battle which resulted in heavy casualties on both sides, death toll supposedly reaching 5,000. The soldiers of Bharatpur abandoned their artillery and royal standards, including the royal umbrella of their king. According to Sarkar, the Jaipur army lost most of their important generals with death toll on their side reaching 2000–3000. This had happened due to the superior artillery of Bharatpur and the presence of French led sepoys of Samru and Madec, on the other hand Kachwaha artillery and infantry was lagging behind. According to some sources Jawahar Singh's defeat is ascribed to him insulting the Jaipur Raja by not intimating him about his motive while tresspasing through his territory. It is why the Rajputs attacked Jawahar Singh and defeated him. According to Rima Hooja, Pratap Singh Naruka led the Jaipur forces to victory against Jawahar Singh.[5]

The Battle of Kama was fought due to the consequences of Battle of Maonda, Madho Singh followed up his victory and advanced towards Bharatpur territory with 16,000 men.

Upon knowing of Madho's invasion Jawahar employed 10,000 Sikhs and increased Madecs pay in order to employ more Sepoys. On 29 February 1768, the two armies met outside Kama and a fight followed in which the Bharatpur army were beaten back and forced to retreat, with the loss of their general Dan Sahi.[6] Jawahar Singh did not try to fight Madho Singh with his regular soldiers and instead chose to hire more Sikh mercenaries. He hired 20,000 Sikh mercenaries at a cost of seven lakhs a month, after which Madho Singh retreated to his own country.[7][8]

Death

He was assassinated by one of his favourite soldiers in August 1768.[4][9]

References

  1. ↑ Bharatpur Upto 1826: A Social and Political History of the Jats by Ram Pande
  2. ↑ Dwivedi, Girish Chandra; Prasad, Ishwari (1989). The Jats, their role in the Mughal Empire. Arnold Publishers. p. 238. ISBN 978-81-7031-150-8.
  3. ↑ Sarkar, Jadunath (1950). Fall of the Mughal Empire, volume 2. p. 453.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Sarkar, Jadunath (2007). The Fall of the Mughal Empire, Vol II. Delhi: Orient Black Swan. pp. 272–286. ISBN 9788125032458.
  5. ↑ Hooja, Rima (2006). A History of Rajasthan. New Delhi: Rupa Publication. p. 726. Pratap Singh quickly returned to serve it, and led the Jaipur forces to victory against Jawahar Singh of Bharatpur in the battle of Mawade in 1767. The battlefield is also called Maonda-Mandholi, and is located in the torawati hills
  6. ↑ Fall of the Mughal Empire vol-2, page-286, by Jadunath Sarkar, publisher-Orient Black Swan, ISBN 978-81-250-3245-8
  7. ↑ Fall of the Mughal Empire vol-2, page-286, by Jadunath Sarkar, publisher-Orient Black Swan, ISBN 978-81-250-3245-8
  8. ↑ Rajasthan Through the Ages, page-208, by R.K. Gupta and S.R. Bakshi, publisher-Sarup and Sons, ISBN 978-81-7625-841-8 (set)
  9. ↑ Rajasthan District Gazetteers Jaipur by Gupta Savitri [1] p.51
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