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sanjaychhikara
March 6th, 2003, 09:17 PM
Son's love for his father; I found this article about Raja Sural Mal and his son Jawahar Singh in The Tribune

A LOVE affair in the 18th century made a son and his father oppose one another in the battlefield. This historic story, related to the famous Jat Maharaja Suraj Mal of Bharatpur and his son Jawahar Singh, is little known to the common man.

Jawahar Singh was the first born son of Maharaja Suraj Mal from his Rajput wife. But he was adopted by Maharani Kishori, the brilliant queen of Suraj Mal. Being a darling of his grandfather, the childhood of Jawahar Singh passed under the loving supervision of his grandfather Raja Badan Singh. The grandfather trained Jawahar Singh in warfare activities and imparted him administrative skills. The well-known general, Krishan Mahant, was appointed to train the young prince in the art of war and Acharya Som Nath was deputed for teaching Sanskrit, philosophy and mathematics. The young prince was intelligent, bold and clever. At an early age, he learnt riding, archery, gun-shooting and war strategies. His grandfather was his lone tutor in teaching him diplomatic tactics. Jawahar Singh’s marriage was solemnised in November 1743.

Jawahar Singh was endowed with a stout body and robust constitution. Possessed of great military talents and administrative skills, he was a born ruler.

Till his grandfather was alive, Jawahar Singh lived with him and hardly visited his father. Raja Badan Singh, his grandfather, deputed him to wage many wars and fortunately Jawahar Singh did not lose even a single battle as long as Raja Badan Singh was alive. He was termed as ‘Prince of Victories’.

When Raja Badan Singh expired on June 7, 1756, Jawahar Singh lost his greatest patron. The young prince soon developed differences with his father, Maharaja Suraj Mal, and with the passage of time, the rift, between the father and son widened. The major cause of their disagreements was simple. Maharaja Suraj Mal did not like some of the friends of Jawahar Singh and warned him to get rid of them. But Jawahar Singh argued heavily in favour of his friends. This led to tense relations between the father and the son.

Their relationship futher worsened when Jawahar Singh had an affair with Ganna, the beautiful daughter of Ali Quli Khan, a high ranking noble of Alamgir II. Ganna was extremely talented and beautiful. Hence, her hand was sought by the highest nobles in the land such as Shuja-ud-Daula and Imad-ul-Mulk. After the death of her father, Ganna’s mother decided to take her to Lucknow to be married to Shuja-ud-Daula. But Ganna preferred Jawahar Singh to other nobles. She passionately appealed to him to take her away with him. There upon, the young prince deputed his men near Agra to kidnap this famous beauty till their marriage took place. But Suraj Mal’s spies informed him about this plan of Jawahar Singh. He immediately intervened and prevented the execution of the plan.

This act of Suraj Mal made Jawahar Singh revolt against his father. He took possession to Deeg, the previous capital of Bharatpur state founded by his beloved grandfather, and began preparations to fight his father. This came as surprise to everybody because by the time Suraj Mal had occupied a high status among the Indian kings and neither Marathas, nor Rajputs,nor the Mughals had the courage to fight against the great Jat Maharaja.

After the revolt of Jawahar Singh, Suraj Mal at first sent messengers to pacify his son. But the ‘injured lover’ did not stop his rebellious acts. Hence Suraj Mal decided to bring the situation under control by using strong methods. He himself led a contingent to Deeg. Father Wendel describes what followed: "A dogged combat took place. In the first round Jawahar Singh’s army had the upper hand and Suraj Mal’s forces had to come back. But the next day Suraj Mal was successful in winning over the close associates of Jawahar Singh and these lieutenants of the young prince changed sides in the night of the second day. This was a great setback to Jawahar Singh, but he didn’t lose his temper or courage. The young prince, trained by his grandfather was a much better war strategist than his father. But he lacked the means and forces. In spite of this, Jawahar Singh rushed in to the thickest of the fray and fought with exceptional courage. He was seriously wounded by a sabre cut, a lance thrust and a shot which went through the lower part of his abdomen. Suraj Mal, more pained about the wounds of his son than about the destruction of Deeg, rushed breathlessly to snatch his son away from the hands of Balram, the maternal uncle of Nahar Singh, who wanted to kill Jawahar Singh, so that his nephew Nahar Singh could occupy the throne of Bharatpur after Suraj Mal. K. Natwar Singh writes that Balram in spite of all the cries of Suraj Mal was about to crush the wounded prince.

Jawahar Singh’s wounds did not take long to heal but due to his injuries he became impotent. After this war, Suraj Mal reposed full confidence in the courage, vigour, fighting skills, war strategies and administrative ability of his son. Suraj Mal was so confident of his son’s bravery that he made him command his army whenever a war was waged, and the young prince always proved his worth every time in battlefield. But this incident had made Jawahar Singh wary of his father’s policies. That is why he established a separate state in Haryana consisting of Rewari, Farrukh Nagar, Pataudi, Badshahpur, Ghasera, Jhajjar, Bahadurgarh, Hasangarh, Rohtak, Meham, Gohana, Julana and Hansi. Jhajjar was his capital. For winning these Haryana territories, Maharaja Suraj Mal sent big contingents to aid his son. Though Jawahar Singh was revengeful like his grandfather Raja Badan Singh, he always felt grateful towards his father. That is why he himself went to the battlefield against Ahmed Shah Abdali, leaving his father in the capital. Similarly, he himself advanced to Delhi for looting the walled city. His love for his father is evident from the fact that he avenged the murder of his father, whereas all his other four brothers —Nahar Singh, Nawal Singh, Rattan Singh and Ranjit Singh — were busy plotting ways to take over their father’s great kingdom. Jawahar Singh’s mother Maharani Kishori had decided to take a holy dip in the sacred lake at Pushkar, ever since he had adopted Kehri Singh as his son and heir apparent. Kehri Singh was the son of Jawahar Singh’s brother Rattan Singh. But till then only Rajputs were allowed to take a holy dip at Pushkar. Respecting his mother’s wish, Jawahar Singh challenged all Rajput rulers of Rajasthan. He defeated them and fulfilled his mother’s wish of taking bath at the Pushkar lake. But this brave Jat king never forgave Balram and Nahar Singh, who always remained after his blood.

But the question that has baffled many is that why Suraj Mal did not allow Jawahar Singh to marry Ganna, when the two were deeply in love. Moreover, Suraj Mal himself had been married four times and Badan Singh’s harem was no less than that of the Mughal emperors. A simple love affair should not have become such a serious issue forcing both son and father to come to the battlefield. This love story of 18th century still remains a mystery and a chapter for historians to explore further.


http://www.tribuneindia.com/1999/99feb20/saturday/head3.htm

kharub
March 6th, 2003, 10:56 PM
Absolutely beautiful piece of historical information.

Thanks a lot for shedding light on this piece of Jat History.


VJ Kharub

rsdalal
March 6th, 2003, 11:34 PM
Sanjay Bhai Good information....

sanjaychhikara
March 7th, 2003, 01:53 PM
Something more about the great Jats from Bharatpur;

A Jat Legacy Takes Shape
But the most interesting bit in Bharatpur's history comes much later, in the late medieval times when it belonged to the Jats. Actually it all started in the late 17th century, with the Jats of the villages of Sinsini and Thoon rising against the Mughal power. The leaders then were the father-son duo, Bhajjasingh and Rajaram. Though the Jats claimed to have descended from the moon god (it was a matter of great prestige to claim descent from the gods themselves), many historians give them the status of nothing more than a gang of robbers. Whatever it was, the Jats were out to declare their arrival on the scene. The noted historian James Tod quips: "Though reduced from the rank they once had among the 36 royal races, they appear never to have renounced the love for independence." So how could there be no conflict between these daring sons of the soil and the powerful Mughals, who had already established a stronghold in India way back in the 1526?

So leaving aside the plough, the Jats took up the sword instead. They became more than active in the 18th century, when leaders like Churaman and Badan Singh brought them together and turned them into a formidable force. Churaman first started with a few neighbouring villages of Bharatpur. Then his ambitions grew – he rose against the Mughal power and his men attacked and plundered the Imperial capitals. They staged rebellions around Delhi during Aurangzeb's time (1658-1707) that were not easy to quell. The Mughals, finally irked to the maximum, killed Churaman in 1721 and tried to crush the Jats. But the Jats being Jats were quite indomitable. They rose again with Badan Singh (Churaman's brother) and by the 1750s their armies were marching all over the tract between Delhi and Agra. Now the Mughals had no other choice but to recognize the Jat potential, and with that, Jai Singh II of Jaipur conferred the title of 'Raja' to Badan Singh and installed him in the town of Deeg. And Deeg was on its way to having its glorious share of fame and beauty.

The dauntless Jats did not have a smooth sailing with the blood 'n' blade Rajputs too, who had established themselves all over Rajasthan. Obviously! Marital alliances between the two did lessen the tension, but only marginally. (Pssst! This must have been quite a fad in those days, for the Mughals were also into marrying Rajput princesses. The two warring groups went into frequent showdowns, but their greatest enemy, however, remained the mighty Mughals.

After Badan Singh came his eldest son, Raja Suraj Mal, inheriting all the turbulence and energy of his predecessors. He further consolidated the Jat Empire and put the resources to good effect, building many forts and palaces all over the place. The greatest among them are the Deeg Palace and the Bharatpur Fort (Badan Singh had built a fort at Wiir too, but justly gave it to another son, Pratap Singh). Suraj Mal's ambitions rose, and he regularly raided the cities of Agra and Delhi and carried back unimaginable booty. Under his strong leadership, the Jats were able to hold Agra for 13 years, until ousted by the Marathas in 1774. They even marched on to Delhi in 1763, much to the alarm of the Mughals whose once-mighty empire was then speeding towards inevitable collapse. But with a final heave of strength, the Mughals managed to kill Suraj Mal. Following the death of Suraj Mal, his son Jawahar Singh, was installed on the throne at Deeg.

The British Gain Ground
In the meantime the British (then the East India Company) tried to gain ground with these powerful Jats. With their long term plans in mind, they were soon pushing their way into Bharatpur Fort. But Colonel Lake's siege (1805) was fended off well by Ranjit Singh, another of Suraj Mal's son. The Brits could remain there for merely four months, and that too by suffering heavy losses. Lake lost over 3,000 men, the most disastrous setback in his illustrious career. Ultimately the British had to go into an agreement with the Jats in 1818. But this proved to be a disastrous step in the long run, because it was in Bharatpur that the British first developed their fatal Doctrine of Paramountcy, the result of such alliances. The doctrine was first enunciated as a concept by Charles Metcalfe in 1820, and implied the duty of the British to act as "supreme guardians of general tranquility, law and right to maintain the legal succession" in the princely states. It obviously meant the planting of a British Resident or sometimes even troops in these states wherein the prince became a puppet ruler. This ultimately led the British to become the supreme political power in India.

In 1825 Lord Combermere attacked Lohargarh from a strategic point in the north east and successfully captured it after a month-long seige. And with that, Bharatpur became the last one to acknowledge British suzerainty in Central India.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall…
The Jats, being of peasant stock, were never held in high esteem by the elitist Rajputs of Rajasthan. No matter how bravely they fought, they would invariably be snubbed as a 'gang of robbers'. In fact historians, too, did not pay much heed to their doings before the 17th and 18th centuries, that is, until the pinnacle of their glory.

Obviously the Jats were always trying to assert their supremacy over other fellow human beings. Once what happened was that a maharaja of Bharatpur was snubbed by an insolent young Rolls Royce salesman. It hurt the Jat's pride immensely, and to counter that, he brought a whole fleet of Rolls Royces. And guess what he did with them? He made them Bharatpur's garbage collecting vehicles!

Here's something more, though it has nothing to do with elitism. Maharaja Jawahar Singh, Badan Singh's grandson, was a figure of note. It is said that he had a harem of 150 women and 30 sons. How he managed to bring up so many children is beside the point; he didn't even recognize them off hand. One French missionary, Father Wendel, writes that "The swarm was so large that he had difficulty in recognizing his own offspring; each of them had to announce his mother's name and his own name and the place of residence, when he came to his father's reverence."

http://heritagehotels.com/rajasthancity/bha-about.htm

rajendersingh
March 8th, 2003, 07:51 PM
dear sanjay its,

its a good information about jat history ,indeed very informative.keep it up