Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c11.s1.6

v1.c11.s1.6

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.]