Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c11.s1: § 2. The chief centres of dispute in Rājputāna under Muhammad Shah
Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c11.s1
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§ 2. The chief centres of dispute in Rājputāna under Muhammad Shah
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The three storm-centres in Rājputāna in the second quarter of the 18th century were Bundi, Jaipur, and Mārwār. In the Hādā country there had recently sprung up a rivalry for the headship of that clan between the old senior branch with its seat at Bundi and the junior branch enjoying the appanage of Kotā, which the Emperor Jahāngir had in 1624 made independent of the former by declaring its chief a feudatory holding direct of the Crown. A quarrel was precipitated in 1707 by the then Kotā chief claiming the headship the entire Hādā clan. Their rivalry was encouraged by Aurangzib’s sons at that time and later by the Sayyid brothers and some other Delhi nobles to serve their own ends. But this quarrel was submerged by a greater threat to the honour of the clan when Sawāi Jai Singh embarked upon a campaign of ambition to make Bundi a vassal of Jaipur by ousting its legitimate ruler Budh Singh and giving his throne to Dalil Singh (a laird of the house of Karwar) in 1729. The various attempts of the dispossessed Budh Singh and his gallant son Ummed Singh to recover their own constitute the history of that part of Rājputāna during the next 19 years and ended in the complete triumph of Ummed Singh.
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In Jaipur the struggle raged between Ishwari Singh (reign 1743—1750) and his younger brother Mādho Singh, the latter claiming to set aside the eldest-born of his father on the ground of his own mother having been the Mahārāna’s daughter, to whose offspring Jai Singh had promised the succession at the time of marrying her. Ishwari Singh held his own during his life time by heavy concessions to his brother, and it was only after his death without issue that the throne passed to Mādho Singh.
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In Mārwār the rivals were Rām Singh, the successor of Mahārājah Abhay Singh, and his paternal uncle Bakht Singh, the chief of Nāgor. The contest began in 1749, soon after the death of Abhay Singh, and though Bakht Singh gained the throne in 1751 and bequeathed it to his own progeny, the land knew no peace till the death of the dispossessed Rām Singh (1773).
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Each of these three dynastic quarrels drew into its vortex the neighbours of the two main contestants, and in time all three became merged into one, with a clear-cut array of allies facing opponents similarly confederated. The Marāthas were called in to decide the issue, and that by every party and almost in every year. In the end the three claimants mentioned above gained their ancestral thrones, but only after ruining and weakening their kingdoms and leaving the Marāthas in supreme command over a divided impotent and impoverished Rājputānā which lay helplessly subject to their annual exactions and ravage. Such is the mournful story of Rājasthān upon which we shall now enter.
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§ 3. *Character of the leading Rajput princes.*
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A study of the characters of the chief actors in this tragic drama will help us to understand the course of events better. The two outstanding personages of this period, in energy persistence and courage, were Bakht Singh Rāthor and Ummed Singh Hādā. The other Rājahs and princes of the time fell below the average of human character and intellect. Jai Singh II had begun his reign as a lad of 18 (in 1699) with the brightest of promises and had won honours under the very eyes of Aurangzib, as a lieutenant of Prince Bidār Bakht, during the strenuous warfare in the Marātha hills. Later, he rose to command supreme influence for a Hindu at the imperial Court and to hold the government of important provinces like Agra and Mālwa. His intellect was exceptionally keen and versatile for a Rājput. But his later record was barren of glory or success, and he failed utterly when sent against the Marāthas, either through disloyal collusion or through equally disgraceful cowardice. Indeed, if the Emperor’s cause had been served with the courage enterprise and fidelity of his illustrious grand-father Mirzā Rājah Jai Singh, instead of Sawāi Jai Singh’s love of sensual ease, misappropriation of the imperial chest of military defence, and treacherous subserviency to the enemies of the country, the Marāthas would have been successfully kept out of Northern India, and Rājputāna would have been spared the horrors of Marātha domination. After failing to make a stand against the Marātha invaders in Mālwa, and inducing the Emperor to make a complete surrender to them (1736), Jai Singh returned to his own State and gave himself up to sexual excess. He had always been a deep drinker and now the habitual use of aphrodisiacs to stimulate his failing powers entirely ruined his health, till at last he died of a loathsome disease on 21st September, 1743. [*Vam. Bh.*, 3322.]
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The next king of Jaipur, Ishwari Singh (r. 1743-1750), lacked his father's courage and cleverness, though he inherited most of his vices. He was a weak-minded man, liable to sudden and capricious changes of opinion under the lead of rogues or fools. The exceptional capacity and devotion of several hereditary officers of his house often saved his troops in battles, where their chieftain's cowardice and incompetence would have ruined them, as he had covered them with shame and loss on the field of Mānupur (1748.)
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The ruler of Jodhpur, Mahārājah Rāj-Rājeshwar Abhay Singh, for such were his superlative titles, (r. 1724—1749), had been solicited by the Emperor to take up the *subahdāri* of Gujrāt (1729.) After a year spent at home in making preparations, he had reached Ahmadābād (October, 1730) and made his appointment good by defeating his refractory and dismissed predecessor Sarbuland Khān. The spoils of this campaign were reported in the pardonable hyperbole of his Court poets as "four *kror* of Rupees and 1,400 guns of all calibres, besides military stores of every description." His bardic flatterers sang, "Abhay Malla rules over the seventeen thousand towns of Gujrāt and nine thousand of Mārwār besides one thousand elsewhere. The princes of Idar, Bhuj, Pārkar, Sind, Sirohi, Jesalmir, Jhunjhuno, Dongarpur . . . . and Nāgor every morning bowed the head to Abhay Malla." Though his governorship of Gujrat had ended ingloriously in two years in his surrender of *chauth* to the Marāthas and his return home with failure, such eulogies would have turned a stronger head than his. He became insane with pride. "His ferocious courage was tempered only by excessive indolence . . . . and his love of ease and opium increased with years." (Tod, ii. Marwar, ch. 11.)
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His son and successor, Rām Singh (r. 1749—1751), "inherited the arrogance of his father with all the impetuosity of the Chauhāns" (of Sirohi, his mother's stock.) Utterly lacking in self-control, foresight and consideration of his own good, this youngman came to unbridled sovereign power at the age of nineteen, and very quickly alienated all his nobles and kinsfolk by the display of boundless pride, violence of temper and insolence of tongue.
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§ 4. First Marātha conquest of Malwā.
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The Marātha penetration of the province of Mālwa supplied the most convenient starting point for raids into Rājputānā. Indeed, the Rājput States, though under Hindu rulers, could not remain outside the sphere of Marātha aggression as, apart from their untapped wealth, their two greatest princes, Abhay Singh of Mārwār and Sawāi Jai Singh of Jaipur, were appointed by the Emperor governors of Gujrāt and Mālwa respectively and were bound in duty to oppose Marātha encroachments upon their charges.
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Girdhar Bahādur, who was *subahdār* of Mālwa from September 1722 to November 1728 (except for the two years, 1723—1725, when he had to make room for the Nizām’s nominee), was defeated and killed by Chimnāji, the younger brother of the Peshwā Bāji Rāo, near the fort of Māndu on 29th November 1728. His cousin Dayā Bahādur, who then took up the command of his forces, met with the same fate at the hands of the same general, close to the same place (Amjhera) about the 14th December following.[*] Girdhar Bahādur’s son Bhavānirām was next appointed by the Emperor as acting *subahdār* of Mālwa, and for two years (1729-30) battled manfully against increasing difficulties to hold his own. In January 1731, Muhammad Khān Bangash reached Ujjain as the new viceroy, but he could effect nothing with his own resources which the Emperor did not supplement. His stay in his new charge was short and he failed in his struggle with the Marāthas here as completely as he had failed in Bundelkhand in 1729. Next year he was replaced as governor by Sawāi Jai Singh,* who started from his capital on
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∗ When I edited William Irvine’s *Later Mughals* in 1920, I could give only my conjectures for the dates of the death of
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Girdhar Bahādur and Dayā Bahādur and the governorship of Bhavāni-rām (ii. 243-249), because the Persian authorities are silent on the point and I had before me only a rough translation of the Persian correspondence of Girdhar Bahādur’s sons, the *Ajāib-ul-āfāq*, no ms. of which is available in India, so that I could not utilise the dates (if any) given in the original. The Marātha letters printed by Parasnis contain gross errors of date. But the chronology and main features of the history of this period have been correctly established by the recent publication of the State-papers of the Peshwas, *S.P.D.*, xiii. and xxii.
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∗ *Farman* of appointment dated 28 Sep. 1732. *Vamsha Bhāskar*, p. 3133, states that Jai Singh being ordered by the Emperor to go to Mālwa started from Jaipur on 23rd Oct. 1729. But he was sent there this time not to act as governor but to drive the Marāthas out with his own forces. *Ibid*, p. 3212. Jai Singh’s more engrossing cares were the decoration of his new capital and the construction of four astronomical observatories. For the latter purpose he summoned the Jesuit Father Boudier from Bengal in 1733 and Fathers Antoine Gabelsperguer and Andre Strobl from Germany in 1736 to Jaipur, paying their
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20th October 1732 and reached Ujjain in December.
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But the Emperor's Mālwa viceroys, old and new, were equally unsuccessful against the Marāthas. Jai Singh received large sums (20 lakhs of Rupees) from his impoverished master on condition of raising an army and driving the Marāthas out of the province. But he only made a show of fighting and preferred the policy of buying them off for the time with a part of the money given him, pocketing the balance, and thereafter passing his days in his own kingdom regardless of the fate of the province entrusted to his care. [*Warid*, 115-116.]
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§ 5. *Jai Singh defeated by the Marathas in Malwa.*
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At the beginning of 1733, Malhar Rāo Holkar and Rānoji Sindhia, after finishing their work in Gujrāt by taking Champānir and provisioning Pāvāgarh, came on raid to Mālwa. Jai Singh was then at Māndesar. The Marātha generals, leaving their camp behind, advanced with a light force, hemmed the Rājah round and put his troops
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expenses. (Tieffenthaler, tr. by Bernoulli, i. 307.) *S.P.D.* xiii. 51. *Vam. Bh.* 3212.
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Order by Rajah Shāhu, 18 March 1730, "Jai S. has come to the Ujjain province. Chimnaji Udaji Pawar and Malhar Holkar are ordered to treat him with respect in view of the old hereditary friendship between the two royal families. Give him Māndu fort if he asks for it." [*Vad.* i. p. 95.]
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to great distress by cutting off their grain and water supply. Krishnāji Pawār and Udāji Pawār, out of jealousy for the Peshwā, had been tempted to join their forces with Jai Singh. But Holkar plundered a part of Udāji’s baggage, and mutual friends intervened, severely rebuked the Pawārs for their alliance with their nation’s enemy and induced them to withdraw from the Mughal side. Jai Singh had to sue for peace, offering six lakhs of Rupees to the Marāthas, but Holkar held out for more. While these negotiations were going on, the Rājput captains, emboldened by a rumour that the Emperor in person was marching from Delhi to Agra to support them, came forth to battle. The commander of Jai Singh’s rear-guard was slain. On Holkar’s side a hundred or two hundred horses and some fifteen high officers were killed, and he fell back about 30 miles, while Jai Singh advanced 16 miles. Then Holkar rapidly doubled back to Jai Singh’s position. The Rājput prince had no more stomach for fighting left; he made peace by promising to pay six lakhs in cash and to cede 28 parganahs in lieu of chauth. This happened at the end of February. (S. P. D., xiv., 2, xv. 6.)
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From April to December 1733, Bāji Rāo was engaged in the war with the Siddis of Janjirā and the main Marātha forces were concentrated there.
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Pilāji Jādav planned to march into Hindustān at the end of this year, and skirting Narwar on his right, enter Kotā and Bundi territory and levy contribution there for a month or so, finally returning by way of Orchhā and Datiā, where the Marāthas had already established their hold. But the plan was modified; he was at Nimār at the end of December and then went to Bundelkhand where Holkar and Sindhia too were assembled. He next marched from Datiā to Gwālior, but finding the whole country desolate and thankful to get only Rs. 50 from a village where he could, he fell back on Narwar, where we find him on 8th April 1734. Finally Pilāji returned to the Deccan marching with Chanderi on his left hand. The Bundi expedition was undertaken by Holkar and Sindhia. (S. P. D., xiv. 10, 11, 13.)
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Gujrāt and Mālwa were practically lost to the Empire, but hitherto no Marātha had entered Rājputāna. Now, however, the eternal domestic feuds of that unhappy land brought the Deccanis in, first as hired allies and finally as masters levying tribute and ravaging the country year after year. We shall here trace the steps that led up to this.
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§ 6. The dispute for the throne of Bundi.
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Sawāi Jai Singh, finding that his position and influence at the imperial Court were unrivalled by any other Hindu feudatory and daily witnessing the increasing weakness and incapacity of his suzerain, embarked on "a deeply cherished scheme" for imposing his supremacy over the minor Rājahs. He determined to seize upon all the districts on his frontiers within his grasp. (Tod, ii. Haravati, Ch. 3.) He occupied the fort of Bundi with his own troops during its ruler Budh Singh’s absence and secured from the Emperor an edict transferring that State to Dalil Singh (the second son of Sālim Singh Hādā of Karwar), on condition of his acknowledging the house of Jaipur as his overlord, (c. Sept. 1729.) Budh Singh survived his fall for ten years (dying on 26 April 1739), and though his excessive consumption of wine and opium, joined to the disappointments and hardships of his lot, soon deranged his never very sane mind, he for the rest of his life and his exceptionally gallant and able son Ummed Singh after him gave the usurper no rest till at last Ummed Singh entered the capital of his ancestors and was crowned king of Bundi (23rd October 1748); but his heritage continued even thereafter to be disturbed by internal enemies and fleeced by the Marāthas. [Vamsha Bh., 3542, 3285.]
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Jai Singh, the sole prop of the usurper of Bundi, having left his home for Mālwa at the end of 1729, Budh Singh advanced to recover his lost city. But Jaipur troops quickly arrived to the aid of Sālim, who was holding Bundi for his young son Dalil. This huge host scared away most of the supporters of Budh Singh, so that he counselled his followers not to fight. But some of his devoted tenants would not listen to him, they attacked the Jaipur force and were defeated, at Kusalath, 6th April 1730. (*Vamsha Bh.*, p. 3147.) Dalil Singh, thus freed from rivalry, was crowned on 19th May and married to a daughter of Jai Singh.
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§ 7. First Maratha invasion of Rajputana.
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The defeated Budh Singh took refuge in Udaipur and then at Begham, and sank deeper and deeper into wine and opium, finally turning mad. But he found an unexpected ally. Pratāp Singh Hādā, the eldest son of Sālim Singh, on seeing his younger brother Dalil raised to the throne of Bundi, came over to Budh Singh’s side out of wounded pride and fought against his own father and brother. He was now sent to the Deccan by Budh Singh’s queen with her money for hiring Marātha aid against Dalil Singh. The price was settled at six *lakhs* of Rupees. On 22nd April 1734, the day of a solar eclipse, Malhar Rāo Holkar and Rānoji Sindhia, guided by Pratāp Singh, attacked Bundi which was being held by Sālim Singh the regent. In the end the fort was captured and Sālim Singh was carried away as prisoner by the Marāthas. The queen of Budh Singh tied the rākhi thread round the wrist of Malhar, publicly declaring the goat-herd’s son the brother of a princess of the solar line that claimed descent from the god Rāmchandra. But as soon as Malhar had left, a Jaipur force, 20,000 strong, came and restored Dalil Singh at Bundi. [Vam. Bh., 3216-3220.]
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This first Marātha penetration into Rājputāna had opened the eyes of the more thoughtful among the princes to their perilous condition. The terror of it continued to be remembered for long afterwards.* In the second half of October 1734, Jai Singh called a conference of all the Rājahs of Rājasthān at Hurdā near Agaunch (a village in Mewār) to concert measures for keeping the Deccani spoliators out of their fatherland. That end could be reached only by a close co-operation with the imperial troops sent against the same enemies. But nothing came of the meeting. Indeed, the moral decay of the Mughal nobility made a vigorous and united policy of defence against the Marāthas impossible. [Vam. Bh. 3227.]
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∗ Tod. i. Mewar, Ch. 15.
Linked texts (1)
- Vaṃśabhāskar — Sūryamall Miśraṇ 1840, raj