Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c12.s1.2

v1.c12.s1.2

Maharajah Abhay Singh of Jodhpur became in his later years intoxicated with pride from his defeat of Sarbuland Khan and accumulation of riches in the *subah* of Gujrāt of which he was viceroy. The Rajah of Bikānir, representing a junior but independent branch of the Rāthor clan, was nominally subordinate to the Maharajah of Mārwār as the head of his clan. Abhay Singh declared war on him for some slight offence and led an army to besiege his capital. Bakht Singh, the younger brother of Abhay Singh, ever on the watch for an opportunity to overthrow his brother, induced Jai Singh of Jaipur to champion the cause of Bikānir. Jai Singh in his cups sent a letter of threat to Abhay Singh, bidding him raise the siege, and the latter replied with defiance saying that it was a purely domestic quarrel between two Rāthor families and no business of the Kachhwā chieftain. War followed between the two States, and Jai Singh hastened from Agra to the defence of his own realm, because Bakht Singh had suddenly changed his policy out of regard for the honour of his own clan and made a raid into Jaipur territory, plundering many villages. A levee *en masse* of Jaipur vassals and allies, including Hādās, Jādavs of Kerāuli, Sisodias of Shāhpurā, Khichi Chauhāns and Jāts, as well as three Muslim generals who had been sent by the Emperor to Agra to assist Jai Singh in keeping the Marāthas out of the North, marched by way of Ajmir towards Mārwār. With this vast but disjointed host of a hundred thousand men, Jai Singh reached Gangwānā, 11 miles north-east of the Pushkar lake, and encamped, with his guns planted in front. The Marwar army was hopelessly outnumbered. But Bakht Singh, at the head of only one thousand Rāthor horsemen, desperate like himself, charged the enemy, swept through the line of guns, and fell upon Jai Singh’s troops, “like tigers among a flock of sheep.” Nothing could stand their onset.* Many thousands of the Jaipur troops were slain and many more wounded, mostly without fighting. The Kachhwā army fled away, and within four hours the field, covering some square miles, was entirely cleared as by magic of all save the dead and the wounded.