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dhinendra
March 16th, 2002, 09:34 PM
For those who all missed it some how.....Jai Ram je ke
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Uniting the Jats
Satish Chandra

The eighteenth century in India is described as one of “great anarchy”, decline of character, cultural stagnation and economic decline. The English are painted the rescuers of India from this abysmal state of affairs. However, I believe that this was a period which produced many men of character, who showed considerable political, administrative and military skill. Among these were the founders of various riyasats — Murshid Quli Khan of Bengal, Nizam-ul-Mulk of Hyderabad and Saadat Khan of Awadh, to name a few. These were men who, though reared in the service of Mughal emperors, struck out on their own on finding the Mughal court mired in factionalism, intrigue and a life of ease and pleasure.
Quite distinct from the above were those who virtually rose from the soil and displayed remarkable organising capacity, military adroitness and a capacity to adapt themselves to a volatile political situation, culminating in their establishing principalities of their own. Among these, a prominent mention must be made of Churaman Badan Singh, who founded the house of Bharatpur, and Maharaja Suraj Mal who took it to a pinnacle of fame.

Natwar Singh, who himself belongs to the Bharatpur house and is well known as a scholar, literary critic and seasoned politician, has written the biography of Suraj Mal after carefully studying published and unpublished sources. The book is not only highly readable, but objective and fair. He does not try to slur over Churaman’s weakness of character or gloss over Jat acts of plunder. He writes: “Churaman had one loyalty — to himself. Nobility of sentiment and generosity of heart were alien to his nature.” He also mentions “his depredations, his constant change of side, his lack of loyalty and opportunism”. But he rightly points out that “it was a hard age and the Jats lived hard lives. They expected no quarter and gave none”. Churaman also possessed “the requisite qualities of leadership — a stout heart, hard head, resourcefulness, luck, an easy conscience, tact and a capacity of binding together highly individualistic and antagonistic elements”. It is the last which is of special note. The Jats were divided into mutually antagonistic, often warring, clans (khaps). They were both warriors and cultivators. To weld such a body together and make it a state which could not only hold its own but play a significant role in the volatile politics of 18th century India is an achievement which has not received due acknowledgement from historians.

dhinendra
March 16th, 2002, 09:35 PM
Singh traces the consolidation of Jat power under Suraj Mal, his building of the powerful forts of Deeg and Bharatpur which later withstood the Maratha siege and the British assault under Lord Lake. A careful description of the Deeg fort is a welcome addition to our knowledge of fort construction during the period.

There has been considerable controversy regarding the Jat role in the Maratha fiasco at the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761. Singh examines carefully how the Bhan, in his arrogance, disregarded Suraj Mal’s advice to remain beyond the Chambal or lodge his women in Jat forts and conduct a guerrilla mode of warfare against the Abdali invader. The Jat raja was also prepared to negotiate a settlement with the Abdali through Safdarjung, the subedar of Awadh, for the Abdali to withdraw from north India and the Marathas to remain beyond the Narmada. He advised the Bhan not to trust the youthful and utterly callous and unreliable wazir, Imad-ul-Mulk, who had earlier struck a deal with the Abdali invader. It was the Maratha intrigues which forced Suraj Mal to leave Delhi, leaving the Marathas to face the Abdali alone. The author gives new life and colour to this oft-told tale.

Singh paints pen pictures which are striking. He calls the Rajput rulers of a time when “obsolete dinosaurs moved inappropriately in the wrong geological age. They were a spent force, nostalgia being their principal pastime”. Regarding Maratha ambitions of dominating north India, he says “something more than bluster and bombastic rhetoric were needed to build an empire and sustain it — some programme, some plan, some philosophy of life”. Thus, he rejects the concept of ‘Hindupad-padshahi’ as being a possible basis of a Maratha empire.

Regarding Suraj Mal’s achievements, he says, “Maharaja Suraj Mal’s great and unrivalled achievement was to weld warring Jat factions into one and to have done so in the most unstable and unsettled century in Indian history. Only Shivaji and Maharaja Ranjit Singh excelled his political skill, organisational genius and qualities of leadership.”

There are, however, some postulates which need correction. Singh pictures the Jat villages around the Agra and Mathura region as being a world unto themselves. But as recent historical research has established, the villages being outside the currents of development — of growth of cities, rural markets, penetration of money, etc — in seventeenth century is far from reality.

There are also a few minor inaccuracies. It is said, “above the Subedar was the Governor of Agra” while the reverse is correct. Emperor Muhammad Shah’s wazir was Qamaruddin Itimad-ud-Daulah, not Imad-ud-Daulah.

This biography shows how a biography dealing with a complex period could be made not only a readable one but become an absorbing account of events, intrigues, the locale and peoples.