dr.vinod
August 26th, 2005, 03:38 PM
Dear all,
One friend of mine is interested in knowing the history of Red Fort.....i.e.
who won the battle? Hopefully Jat won it.
Who took a gate to Bharatpurand when it was faught,who was opponant......
Kindly flesh some light on these issues,
regards,
vinod
vinodks
September 7th, 2005, 10:57 AM
After Aurangjeb's death, 18th century saw immergence of Jats princes as major players in war-scene and politics in north India and consolidation of powerful kingdom (Bharatpur family) of jats -hitherto mainly known as peasants. Lineage of kings like Badan Singh, Surajmal, Jawahar Singh, Nawal Singh etc played very crucial role in dynamics of power in Delhi for one century where other players were Marathas, Mughals, Afgans, Sikhs, Ruhella, Rajputs and Oudhs and during this perios Delhi was captured or sieged many times and during one of these fights gates might have gone to Bharatpur. About Red Fort's gate, I don't know but would mention something related to this..
Before Panipat's 3rd war Surajmal and Peshwa Bhao captures Delhi and looted Mughal's and Afgan's booty like nothing before. During this time Surajmal proved himself one of the most shrewd politician in India (may be second to Nizam, politician is better word than warrior) at that time and there were difference between him and Bhao. One of the point of argument was that Bhao wanted to take down old silver roof in Mughal king's roof and melt it and distribute in army but Surajmal opposed because he wanted to keep sanctity of mughal king intact. (Red fort was captured many times before noone attacked king's room because private property of king demanded implicit respect). But that doesn't mean that Surajmal didn't tear down gates. I guess it happened during one of those fights. Too much digression?.... yeah, enjoy!!!
vinod