Jawahar Singh

Maharaja Jawahar Singh (r. 1763–1768) (Hindi: महाराजा जवाहर सिंह) was a ruling Maharaja of the Bharatpur State. He succeeded to the throne when his father Maharaja Suraj Mal died in 1763. At the time of Maharaja Suraj Mal's death in 1763 Jawahar Singh was in Farrukhnagar.

Jawahar Singh ascended the throne

Maharaja Suraj Mal's nobles placed Nahar Singh on the throne. On hearing this news Jawahar Singh lost his temper and sent a letter to Bharatpur expressing how painful it was that while the dead body of his father Suraj Mal was restless for his head, his sons were quarrelling among themselves for the throne. Jawahar Singh announced that he would soon return to Bharatpur and would contend for the throne only after taking revenge for his father’s head.

By the time he reached Bharatpur, the news had spread that Jawahar Singh took shelter with the Raja of Karauli. Bal Ram brother-in-law of Maharaja Suraj Mal the commander of Bharatpur forces closed the gates of Bharatpur fort and prepared for war against Jawahar Singh. Ultimately, however, he accepted Jawahar Singh's claim to the throne. Maharaja Sawai Jawahar Singh ascended the throne of Bharatpur with the title of Bharat Indra.

Jawahar Singh’s revenge

Maharaja Jawahar Singh punished all those courtiers who had opposed his succession to the throne. Nahar Singh fought a war against him with the help of Karauli and the Marathas, but was defeated. Jawahar Singh helped the Raja of Dholpur to be independent of the Marathas. He also made alliances with the East India Company against the Maratha Leader, Raghunath Rao. He had his maternal uncle Balram murdered. Raja Suraj Mal had been maintaining superficially friendly relations with Raja Madho Singh of Jaipur, in spite of his having a born foe of the Bharatpur 'Raj'. Jawahar Singh did not approve of it. After the death of Nahar Singh, Jawahar Singh called his wife and his children back from Jaipur to Bharatpur, but Madho Singh refused to send them. In reply, Jawahar Singh gave shelter to Pratap Singh, a rebel Sardar of Jaipur, and demanded Pargana Kama of Jaipur, which was adjacent to Bharatpur. He further annoyed Madho Singh by adopting the title of Sawai, which was the title adopted by Madho Singh's father, Raja Jai Singh.

Jawahar Singh’s march against Delhi

In October 1764, Jawahar Singh had marched against Delhi with 100 cannons,60,000 Cavalry of his own, 25,000 Maratha soldiers of Holkar and 15,000 Sikh soldiers.

After a siege of several months Najibuddin appealed for peace. But Jawahar Singh was determined to take revenge for his father, by severing his head. After several days, some Rohilla leaders came to the camp of Jawahar Singh with Zubita Khan who sought the intervention of Maharaja Holkar.

Holkar tried to persuade Jawahar Singh to make peace on the condition that Najibuddaulah would pay the whole expenditure for the war. Jawahar Singh did not accepted this offer and continued attacking mughals.

Jawahar Singh renovated and built the Sheetla Mata Mandir Gurgaon whose blessings he had sought in the war. She is Kripi (wife of Guru Dronacharya) who was the teacher of the Pandavas and Kauravas according to Indian epic Mahabharata and Gurgaon is named after him.^[1]

The Pushkar bath by Maharani Kishori

Maharani Kishori, wife of Maharaja Suraj Mal, who had adopted Jawahar Singh, was adept at political intrigues. She was pained to see that Jawahar Singh was not adopting a favourable policy towards the members of the family and the nobles. She knew that only keeping him engaged in warfare could control him. She also knew that the Rajputs of Jaipur could never tolerate this abrupt rise of Jat rule and would always resist the latter's efforts to gain power. The solution for both the problems lay in war.

Maharani Kishori expressed her desire to her proud son that she wanted to go for a sacred bath at Pushkar. Jawahar Singh pointed out that Pushkar was situated in the territory of his eternal and deadly foe, Raja Madho Singh, who would not tolerate her arrival at Pushkar with a large retinue, and advised her that if at all she were keen to go for Pushkar bath, she would go with only a few followers and Rupa Ram the Purohit.

The Rani retorted by saying that she was the mother of Jawahar Singh, and the Rani of Maharaja Suraj Mal and taking a bath like Marwari women would hurt her pride, and that she would like to take her bath along with the Rajput Ranis there.

Jawahar Singh marched to Pushkar with 600,000 Cavalry, 50 lakh Infantry and 100,000 Cannons. With fluttering banners and beating drums they entered Jaipur territory and set up an impressive camp in the Sandy plains of Pushkar.

Maharani Kishori was weighed in gold, which was given in charity.

References

• Dr Natthan Singh: Jat – Itihas (Hindi), Jat Samaj Kalyan Parishad Gwalior, 2004
• Dr SR Bakshi & Dr RK Gupta: Rajasthan Through the Ages Vol 4 Page 207: https://books.google.com/books?id=DLQeSBLpUwsC&pg=PA207

3. Page 468 of Fall of the Mughal Empire Vol 2 Jadunath Sarkar , 4. page 474 of Fall of the Mughal Empire Vol 2 by Jadunath Sarkar 5. Pg 478 Fall of The Mughal Empire Vol 2 by Jadunath Sarkar 6. History of Jaipur by Jadunath Sarkar pg. 255.