Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c28.s12: § 14. Character and achievement of Suraj Mal Jat ; state of his kingdom
Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c28.s12
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§ 14. Character and achievement of Suraj Mal Jat ; state of his kingdom
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Thus perished Suraj Mal at the height of his greatness at the age of fifty-five. He was of middle stature and of a robust frame, very black in complexion and very fat. He had two extremely sparkling eyes, and all his physiognomy showed more of fire than was noticeable in his conduct, which was very sweet and supple. For more than twenty years he had enjoyed the sole government of the Jat kingdom, first as regent under the *faineant* Badan Singh and latterly as king himself. He left behind him five sons,—Nāhar Singh, his intended heir (born of a Jat wife), Jawahir and Ratan Singh (the offspring of a woman of the Gori caste), Nawal Singh and Ranjit Singh. His chief queen Hānsiā was childless but adopted Jawahir as her son.
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So great was his moderation, that in spite of his immense wealth and military force, he used to go to Jaipur every year at Dasahara and offer his homage and customary tribute as a humble vassal to Madho Singh. It was only a few years before his death that he gave up this practice in fear of treachery from his overlord. Though risen from the peasant stock, Suraj possessed the royal gift of knowing men of real merit and esteeming them. The ex-wazir Imad-ul-mulk, long a fugitive at the Jat Court, met with the greatest respect and protection from Suraj Mal, in consideration of his high lineage, though he had in 1753-4 been the most cruel enemy of the rising Jat State.
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∗ Wendel, 82-96.
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Even on the most troublesome occasions, Suraj Mal displayed an instinctive sagacity of political management in which he surpassed all the great men of the time except Najib. "He made himself great amidst the general decay of the empire; none else in Hindustan had such good fortune." He attended so admirably to the business of a landlord, in increasing the value of the country he had subjugated, that he greatly augmented his revenue, and at the same time he controlled his expenditure so well that after some years he used to save at least half the annual yield of his dominions, in spite of the large sums spent on his forts and palaces. "In one word, being prudent, politic, valiant and noble above his birth, he was able to make himself admired and at the same time feared by the outside Powers. He had found the Jats rich already but mere zamindars and unknown except for their plundering; but he left them powerful and highly reputed throughout Hindustan." The only defect noticed in his character by this Jesuit observer was a low greed, which made him keep in his employ, even after he had been raised to the highest fortune, bands of robbers for conveying their booty to him, and induced a miserliness in his expenditure which left his family and troops frequently to languish in poverty by withholding their dues for years together.
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All his expenditure taken together ranged between 60 and 65 lakhs of Rupees a year, while his annual revenue was 175 lakhs, so that in the seven years of his reign he added about six *krores* to the reserve hoard left behind by his predecessors. The revenue of the entire subah of Agra was then less than two *krores*, and the Jat kings did not hold more than three-fourths of its territory. Although Suraj Mal tried his best to make the country yield double the revenue which the Mughal Emperors used to draw from it, yet taking all circumtances into consideration, Suraj Mal's total reserve wealth, both inherited and acquired, could not have exceeded ten *krores*, much of it being buried underground.
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Suraj Mal left to his successor 15,000 cavalry, 25,000 infantry (apart from his fort garrisons), 300 pieces of cannon of all kinds, 5,000 spare horses, 60 elephants, and munition in proportion. Above all, he left a country, well cultivated, tranquil, free from the danger of being easily surprised, which during his last years used to yield Rs. 175 lakhs in cash. Suraj Mal took pride in being a zamindar; he knew how to improve the yield of his conquests, to give them peace, to conserve and defend them. He entertained no foreign soldier in his service: he had conquered all that country by means of his Jat brethren only. "They tilled the soil, they defended it too. He had made them warriors, but after their martial service they returned to their plough, not less industrious as peasants than they had been brave as soldiers when defending the territory on which they were established.
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"Suraj Mal was loved by his own people and held in respect by all his neighbours. The reputation of the Jat race reached its highest point under him and after him it was sure to decline."
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§ 15. Jawahir Singh’s accession ; opposition from his chiefs ; preparations for war against Najib Khan.
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Suraj Mal had been slain so suddenly and his army had dispersed so unexpectedly, when they had twofold odds in their favour, that at first the Ruhelas could not believe in their good fortune. The Jat State was still the richest and strongest in Hindustan and the Ruhelas naturally expected a bloody reprisal upon their homes by the infuriated Jat nation. Hence, immediately after the fall of Suraj Mal, Najib returned to Najibabad instead of following up his victory by an invasion of the Jat kingdom. Even later when he became aware of the internal divisions in the Jat State and Jawahir’s inability to embark on a vendetta immediately, he was distracted by a Sikh incursion into the upper Doab. "The tide of victory [over Zain Khan, faujdar of Sarhind] bore forty thousand warriors across the Jamuna, and at first there was no one to resist them. They took Saharanpur on 20 Feb. 1764." Najib had to hurry to the scene and buy the raiders off with eleven lakhs of Rupees. A Marathi letter rightly remarks, "The Sikhs have done great good to the Jat Rajah; they have saved his kingdom." At the same time, Najib was dunned by Abdali for the unpaid tribute of Hindustan. These events gave a respite to Jawahir Singh.
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The new Jat Rajah * was in sore need of such a respite. He had gained a throne, but was not yet master in his own house. From the bank of the Hindan Suraj Mal's expeditionary army had hurried back to Dig in about 30 hours, bringing the fatal news with them. The tribal elders met together to decide the succession. Nāhar Singh, the chosen heir of the late king, demanded to be recognized at once. The courtiers disliked Jawahir Singh for his fiery temper, rashness, and want of self-control. Just then came a courier from Jawahir reproaching the chiefs for their cowardly desertion of their master and for their unseasonable deliberation to give him a successor without first thinking of avenging his death. Jawahir would, he said, go alone and attack his father's slayer, and think of the succession afterwards. This reproach at one blow disconcerted the conspirators. Nāhar Singh, too young and constitutionally timid, knew his chance gone and fled away by night to Kumbher, where he gathered his family partisans and wealth together and retired to Jaipur for refuge. Suraj Mal’s brother-in-law and chief minister, Balarām, now proclaimed Jawahir, who arrived at Dig at once, on a fast camel, from Farrukhnagar. Many of the chief officers of State who had so long enjoyed Suraj Mal’s confidence and high offices, refused to render accounts and yield their balances to the young king. Jawahir’s authority was too recent for him to coerce such recusants. When he proposed a war of revenge against Najib, none of them approved it. But Jawahir got his war expenses from his father’s widow Hānsiā, openly taunted his pacific counsellors with cowardice, and threatened to hire foreign soldiers for fighting his battles if his old captains held back. They, therefore, had to join him.
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∗ Jawahir's accession and war preparations,—Wendel, 96-97. Nur. 71a-74a. SPD. xxix. 55, 58, 85. Ch. Gulz. 454. Siyar, iii. 84 (cruelty.) DC. (dates only.) CPC. i. 2459 (eve of war.)
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For this war preparations were made long and on a vast scale, which speaks well of the youthful king’s wisdom. First of all, he satisfied his army by at once discharging their arrear salary, which Suraj Mal had kept unpaid for two years. Next, by sending his veteran envoy Rupram Kothari to Malhar Holkar, he contracted for the hire of a Maratha army of 20,000 horse for 22 lakhs of Rupees. In the midst of the campaign he also engaged 15,000 Sikh mercenaries.
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These negotiations took months to mature and could not be kept a secret from Najib. The Ruhela tried to pacify the Jat king by arguing, “What was predestined has happend to your father. If by fighting me you can bring him back to life, then fight me. I have not seized any part of your territory. Why then are you vainly worrying yourself against me? God alone is the Giver of victory or defeat." But it was a point of honour with the entire Jat nation to punish the slayer of their great king. If they peacefully digested that injury and made no attempt at retaliation, their prestige in the Indian world would be totally lost.
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Jawahir's jealous overlord Mādho Singh intrigued for an alliance with Najib. That Ruhela chief also tried to dissuade Malhar from joining the Jats by appealing to their old friendship and his help at Panipat. The Peshwa ordered Malhar to side with Jawahir against Najib; but Malhar's sole interest in the war was to make money at the expense of the fabulously rich Jat king.
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In the first flush of his victory over Suraj Mal, Najib had seized the Jat posts in the middle Doab, from which the collectors had fallen back without resistance. Jawahir now (April 1764) recovered them and strongly reinforced with more artillery and munitions the fort of Ballabhgarh, which was to serve as his base in the operations against Delhi. Here he posted his chief of artillery Bishwa-sukh.
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§ 16. Jawahir attacks Delhi from the west bank.
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The campaign opened early in November 1764.*
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∗ Jawahir Singh's attack on Delhi,—Nur. 74b-92b (eye-witness.)
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Leaving Faridabad on their right, the Jat army struck the Jamuna some 14 miles south of Delhi and entrenched. Jawahir’s own troops were between thirty and thirty-five thousand horse and foot with a hundred pieces of artillery of all calibres, and Najib’s the same number of men with all the guns of the capital. But 20,000 Maratha horse were expected to join the Jats in a few days. Najib had sent his wakil Meghraj to Abdali in Qandahar via Jammu (as the Lahor road was closed by the Sikhs), appealing for protection from the coming storm; he had also called for reinforcements from his brother Afghans of trans-Ganges.
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Arrived before Delhi, Jawahir at first held his troops back, determined to assume the offensive on being joined by Malhar. After the arrival of this ally, he advanced his camp to the bank of the Jamuna east of the old Fort (Purana Qila.) Najib took post in the Buland Bagh, at the foot of the imperial fort, and threw a bridge of boats over the Jamuna to allow provisions to come in from the Doab. He himself lodged in the mansion of the former wazir Qamr-ud-din Khan, while his troops took up their residence by the river side. They dug a ditch with an earthen rampart behind it, lined with artillery, and connected the
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( DC. invaluable for dates.) Wendel 97-98 and foot-note (too general.) Ghulam Ali, ii. 220-231. Muna Lal, 93-98. SPD. xxix. 72, 73, 193.
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south-eastern bastion of the city with the river by these defences.
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The first battle took place on 15th November, and the total casualties on the two sides mounted up to a thousand [DC.] Jawahir advanced to the fort of Firuz Shah in front of the Ruhela trenches, calling upon Malhar to support him in assaulting them. Malhar rode out with his troops, but halted far behind Jawahir’s army, near the fort of Sher Shah, and turned a deaf ear to all the appeals of his Jat ally to advance and join in a general attack, saying that it was unsafe to go further ahead before the Ruhelas were cleared out of the Old Fort. There was that day only an exchange of fire between the two sides, with some petty skirmishes, but no close engagement.
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Jawahir, finding that Najib’s ditch south of Delhi prevented a closer approach to the city, and losing faith in the sincerity of his Maratha allies, changed his plan of operations. Early in the morning of the 16th he sent Balaram with Ram Krishna Mohant (his own guru), Sawāi-rām a Brahman of Jodhpur (who led a contingent of 150 Rathors) and 8,000 Jat horse, to ford the Jamuna at the Amlighat, with orders to drive out the small patrol of Ruhela horse posted on the left bank, overpower the hundred Ruhela musketeers holding the eastern head of Najib’s bridge of boats, and then charge over the bridge and penetrate into Najib’s trenches from the rear. At the same time Jawahir attacked these trenches from the front to keep Najib’s main army in play. The scheme could have succeeded if only there had been a complete surprise; but the Jat horse lost time by stopping to plunder Patparganj, a very rich grain mart, their march was detected by the cloud of dust they raised, Najib’s 500 Turki horsemen from Shahdara and a reinforcement of 600 Afghan cavalry under Nasir Khan Darrati, boldly advanced and fought desperately to stem the Jat advance but were swept away by numbers. Meantime, Najib from his seat on a high bastion had seized the situation on the eastern bank with the help of a field glass. He strengthened the defence of the bridgehead, kept his trench-officers on the alert, and sent a thousand picked Ruhela soldiers by boat to the eastern bank to block the path of the Jat advance to the bridge, for if the enemy’s thousands reached the bridgehead the momentum of their advance would sweep away all obstruction and Najib’s defence would be hopelessly broken.
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The newly arrived Ruhela infantry, crouching in a hollow by the riverside, surprised the recklessly advancing Jat force and shot down most of their leaders. Both sides dismounted and a desperate hand to hand combat ensued. Sawai-ram and his Rathors were cut off and the rest of the Jat force took to flight, pursued by the Ruhelas and Turks.
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Jawahir saw the disaster to his detachment and pushed up reinforcements of 700 Nagas under Umrao-gir Gosain in person, by a luckily discovered ford. They were just in time to save the Jat force on the eastern bank from annihilation. The battle raged till sunset, after which Najib's men fell back to their camps and Jawahir's troops crossed over to the western bank by a ford lit up by two lines of torch-bearers. It must be admitted that Balaram's troops had disgraced themselves, and had been saved only by the desperate and bloody sacrifice of the Nagas.
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§ 17. Jawahir bombards Delhi from the east bank of the Jamuna.
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On the 18th the entire invading army crossed over to the eastern bank of the Jamuna, planted guns along the river and began to bombard Delhi across the water, because there was no wall along the eastern face of the city to stop the balls. This was done after plundering Shahdara, where grain beyond calculation was stored for sale in Delhi; "the floors were dug up, the houses were burnt, and the place utterly devastated." The Jat cannon-balls from the east bank fell on the houses along the eastern side of the capital; some even fell inside the imperial palace, and a few persons were killed and a crystal stool in the Diwan-i-khas was broken. Najib's troops withdrew from their trenches on the river sands (reti) and took refuge in houses within the city, while he himself dug an underground room in the Buland Bagh, with a roof of planks covered with earth. The bridge was protected by guns mounted on the ramparts overlooking it, and held by a strong Ruhela guard under shelter of an earthen wall one yard in height. In the city men were killed by the enemy shots.
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For a fortnight this bombardment of Delhi continued. Every morning Jawahir used to drag his guns up to the edge of the river, fire them all day, and take them back to his lines at sunset. Meantime he had concluded his long negotiations with the Sikhs, as he had lost faith in his Maratha allies, and a Sikh force 12,000 strong, appeared near Delhi early in January 1765. A month before, another fierce horde of Sikhs, known as the Budha Dal, had swept over the upper Doab from its extreme north away to the Barha Sayyid settlements along the Ganges; Miranpur was again sacked; the fierce Ranghars and Gujars rose and joined in the looting Najib could do nothing for the defence of his estates. “All the country up to the bank of the Ganges was brought into the possession of the Jats and Marathas; at some places their outposts were established, or else all was plundered. The parganahs of Dasna, Ghaziabad etc., as a family heritage, were taken over by Imad-ul-mulk,” who was in Jawahir’s camp and had been his chief instigator in this enterprise.
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§ 18. Jawahir’s Sikh allies arrive; their attacks on Delhi.
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When the Sikhs arrived near Barari ghat, Jawahir crossed over from the east bank to the west and interviewed their chiefs. He had to submit to every kind of insult in order to enlist these allies. He was not allowed to approach the place of conference on an elephant. In the assembly of their sardars, he was introduced by their Guru Ardas crying out, ‘Jawahir Singh, the son of Suraj Mal, has sought the shelter of the Khālsajiu and become a Sikh of Nānak. He is demanding [through you] redress for his father’s blood.” They also drove out the Jat Rajah’s *huqqa*-bearer with insult and abuse, because, among the Sikh sect, tobacco is an abomination, but the strongest wine, opium and *bhāng* are allowable. He bore all this in silence. According to the new plan of campaign, the Jat army took post on the east bank opposite Delhi, the Maratha army on the same bank, but to the north of the Jats, and the Sikhs on the west bank, north and west of the capital. The Sikh horsemen were to scour the country on the north and west and cut off provisions from that side. The besieged had only the two gates towards the south open, but these faced the Jat country, and the Jat fort of Ballabhgarh barred the path in that direction.
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Every day the Sikhs used to ride out, enter the old houses which lay desolate in the environs of the city and try to approach the walls. Najib’s men used to fire at them from the cover of the ruined houses, and the day passed in exchange of musket fire at close range, with loss on both sides. But the Sikhs had no artillery and therefore could not assault the fort. Najib with his rockets used to break up every group of Sikhs that was formed within range of the walls. On 25th January 1765, a great battle was fought between Najib’s men and the Sikhs aided by Jats, on the hill close to the Horse market (*Nakhās*) and Sabzi-mandi. Though many men were slain and wounded, the result was indecisive as usual.
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Shortly afterwards, ten thousand Naga sannyasis arrived from Oudh or Allahabad and were taken into Jawahir’s pay through Umrao-gir Gosain. One day they crossed over to the southern suburbs of Delhi with a Jat force and fought a desperate battle with the Ruhelas, but were defeated by Najib’s superior generalship and repulsed with heavy loss at the end of the day.
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§ 19. Peace negotiations between Najib and the Jats ; Malhar Holkar’s double-dealing.
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This sort of fighting continued daily till the first week of February. But though Delhi defied assault as on the first day, it was not impervious to famine. The scarcity of grain in the beleaguered city reached an extreme point, while the Jat and Maratha armies outside revelled in plenty, and even the Deccani mares in the Maratha camp grew fat on an unlimited supply of gram. Men left the city by the bridge and begged food in the Jat camp or migrated elsewhere. The Ruhela soldiers pressed Najib hard to let them make one sortie and die sword in hand rather than perish through famine. But he held grimly on, as he knew that Jawahir had more enemies inside his own camp than within the walls of Delhi. Malhar had secretly pledged himself not to let any real harm befall Najib, his 'adopted son'. He again received considerable sums from the Ruhela. Imad-ul-mulk, once a double-dyed traitor to his imperial masters, was now equally faithless to Jawahir, who had sheltered and protected him and was now risking his all to restore him to the wazirship of the Delhi empire. The two were constantly corresponding with Najib in secret, as one of their agents, Sayyid Nur-ud-din Hasan, has described in detail in his excellent Memoirs of Najib-ud-daulah. Even Suraj Mal's old captains were in collusion with these traitors and wanted the campaign to end in failure. At last Jawahir realized that he had nothing to hope for from the faith of Malhar, the prestige of Imad, or the arms of the Sikhs and Nagas. His spirit was finally broken by the signs of lukewarmness and covert opposition from his own servants. Negotiations for peace were set on foot on 4th February and brought to a speedy conclusion. On the 9th Najib paid a visit to Malhar and Jawahir, and "ponies laden with grain came to the city in large numbers" as the first fruit of the peace. Finally, Najib was reconciled to Imad, whom he visited on the 11th, and conducted into Delhi on the 22nd (which was the first day of the sacred month of Ramzan) for saying his Friday prayer in the Jāmi Masjid. Malhar was presented by Najib to the Heir in the palace and highly honoured; 120 of his officers received khilats. At last Jawahir, on 16th February marched away from the city, before the walls of which he had spent 160 lakhs of Rupees and incurred a further liability of 12 lakhs (due to the Marathas) without achieving anything at all. The peace was hastened and Malhar's desire to escape from the neighbourhood of Delhi was accentuated by the news that Ahmad Shah Abdali was about to cross the Indus and enter the Panjab for rescuing Najib. Malhar and Imad at once sent their families away to the middle Doab for safety, and themselves departed for that side on 25th February. "The Sikhs, on the day that they heard that Abdali had arrived near Lahor, went off all at once without asking leave of Jawahir."
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§ 20. Jawahir Singh crushes his refractory chiefs.
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The baffled Jat Rajah retired to his capital, disgusted with Malhar, disgusted with Imad, and furious towards his own chiefs. He refused to pay Malhar the balance of twelve lakhs still due out of the promised 22 lakhs. He drove Imad out of his shelter in Dig to the Court of the Nawab of Farrukhabad (May, 1766.)* And he set himself to crush the traitors within his own realm. To make himself independent of the Jat tribal army which adored the old stiff-necked officers of Suraj Mal's time, he took into his service foreign soldiers, especially the contingents of Samru (June 1765) and René Madec (June 1767.) Thus furnished with mercenary tools, without any conscience or sense of nationality, he arrested with the help of these foreign troops Balarām and all other leading Jats of his father's days, as well as their families and dependants. This Balarām, once the chief minister of the State, had defied his authority by not admitting him to Bharatpur (which was in Balaram's charge) nor delivering to his new master the treasure deposited there. Balarām and another Jat grandee cut their own throats in prison, in order to escape public disgrace. Some other chiefs saved themselves by giving up their all, and others again died under beating rather than yield their wealth. Mohanrām, the ex-Chief of Artillery, had been so powerful in the last reign that all the principal places were in the hands of his relatives
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∗ "Imad-ul-mulk...has been obliged to quit the Jat country and retire to Farrukhabad, [arrival on 27 May 1766, SPD. xxvii. 133], under the protection of Ahmad Khan Bangash. One of his
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women, whom he loved most [Ganna Begam] had, during Suraj Mal's lifetime, given her love to Jawahir and manifested much passion for him. All had been concerted for carrying her off secretly, but Suraj Mal, being informed in time, prevented its execution...Imad [when migrating to Farrukhabad] narrowly missed leaving her a prey to the Jats again on the way ; the latter, by a secret order of Jawahir and the consent of the belle, went to surprise her conductors and get her into their hands. This they undertook not far from Agra, but they failed in the attempt, as they did not apply all their force." [Wendel, 99.]
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or dependants, and he was credited with having amassed 80 lakhs of Rupees in cash besides articles of value. He, too, died in prison with his son, under torture to make him divulge the hiding places of his hoards.
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Jawahir next attacked the fort of Ver which was held as an appanage by Bahadur Singh, the son of Pratap Singh, a younger son of Badan Singh. After a three months' siege, the place was captured, partly by false peace parleys and partly through the treason of some of the officers of the garrison, and Bahadur was thrown into prison. This new war cost Jawahir 30 lakhs in his own expenses, besides the treasure deposited in that fort which came to be spent during the siege, (c. Sep. 1765.) "These acts of Jawahir Singh* spread consternation among his relatives and utterly dismayed the Jat people in general, and at the same time embittered their feelings and alienated their attachment to his person." His attempt to recoup himself for his huge loss of money in the war with Najib by seizing and squeezing all the rich Jats with whom he was dissatisfied, only made him odious to all, without bringing in more than 15 or 20 lakhs as the result of his extortion.
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§ 21. Nāhar Singh, claimant of the Jat throne; Jawahir's rupture with the Marathas, 1766.
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He now became involved with the Marathas in a quarrel which survived long after him and helped to ruin his State. Nāhar Singh, Suraj Mal’s favourite son and Jawahir’s disappointed rival for the throne, held Dholpur as his appanage. He had a most beautiful wife whom the licentious Jawahir coveted. In self-defence, Nāhar Singh strengthened the fortifications of Dholpur, threw himself under the protection of Malhar Holkar (then campaigning against the Rana of Gohad), and inspired by the Maratha general claimed the throne of Bharatpur against Jawahir, whom he denounced as a bastard born of a lowcaste mother and not of a pure Jat queen. The Marathas jumped at this prospect of a war of succession in the Jat kingdom, as in their own words, “there was no other place for money like this in India.”* They had played the same mercenary part in the contest between two brothers for the throne of Jaipur.
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∗ Wendel, 99-104, SPD. xxix. 165.
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From the Maratha camp, Nāhar Singh kept up a secret correspondence with the leading malcontents in Jawahir’s State, claiming the headship of the clan as Suraj Mal’s fully legitimate heir. Malhar, after having recovered Jhansi (Dec. 1765), was now (January 1766) engaged in fighting the Rana of Gohad, a Jat prince independent of Bharatpur, whose resistance was stiffened by Jawahir’s promise of support. Seizing the opportu-
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∗ SPD. xxix. 177. The mouth of Holkar’s diwan waters at the prospect ; in the course of one short letter he twice writes, “There is no place for getting money equal to this.” Chandra Daf. i. 164 repeats this sentiment.
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Nāhar Singh—Wendel, 105-196; Vam. Bhaskar, 3718.
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nity of interfering in the internal affairs of Bharatpur with a show of legality, Malhar sent a detachment of 15,000 horse under Sultānji Lambhāté, Makāji Lambhāté, and Sāntāji Bāblé, across the Chambal. These men looted the Jat villages from Dholpur up to the walls of Dig and Agra. Jawahir came up with his own troops and 7,000 Sikhs in his pay, and opposed Holkar's men seven kos from Dholpur (13 and 14 March, 1766.) At first the Sikh skirmishers fell back, the exultant Marathas gave chase "thinking the enemy fled," and came upon Jawahir's front line bristling with guns. The Jats now advanced firing, the Sikhs side by side with them. Towards sunset the baffled Marathas turned to retire, when the Jats charged. Many of the Marathas were killed and many hundreds of their horses taken in the ravines of the Chambal. Following up his victory Jawahir easily captured Dholpur and seized Sultanji (wounded) and all the other Maratha generals who had retired there after their defeat. It was only about 15th December next that Naro Shankar secured their release by treaty—and Malhar's successor fired a salute of artillery in honour of the event !
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The Jat prince of Gohad now joined Jawahir, and the two concerted a plan of campaign against Malhar, and began to raid the Maratha possessions in north Malwa. On hearing of this disaster, Malhar sent Mahadji Sindhia and Gangadhar diwan ahead, as he himself was a dying man. Jawahir would have attacked and probably defeated Malhar beyond the Chambal if his Sikh horsemen had not absolutely refused to follow him on account of the intolerable heat which they suffered in a grassless and totally waterless plain. In this way Nahar Singh lost his own estate, and was afterwards cast off by the Marathas as a tool no longer needed. He took refuge in Jaipur and finally at Shāhpurā, where in despair he swallowed poison, *c.* 6 December 1766. This was the sad end of Suraj Mal’s Benjamin, as the Jesuit father aptly calls him.
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Raghunāth Rāo Dādā came to north Malwa, and was joined by Malhar Holkar and Mahadji Sindhia near Bhānder (*c.* 24 April.) But Malhar died a month later and Mahadji was thoroughly antagonized by Dādā, so Raghunāth’s efforts against Gohad failed like all his other campaigns. “After having long and uselessly attacked Gohad, Raghunath threatened Jawahir, who, proud of his success against Malhar, decided to turn the storm away by going in person to the aid of Gohad and encountering the Marathas beyond the Chambal. Recovering from a dangerous malady, he marched to Dholpur a second time for opposing Raghunath, . . . but the discovery of a treasonable collusion of his valued Gosain generals with the Marathas, obliged him to make peace.”
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In December 1766, Raghunath finally gave up the hopeless Gohad business and approached the Chambal for opposing Jawahir, who began to sue for terms through Ramkrishna Mohant and Umrao-gir Gosain. The parley dragged on and no tribute was paid, though the captive captains of Malhar were set free, as a friendly turn (c. 15 Dec.) A personal interview arranged between Jawahir and Dada fell through, because of Jawahir’s fear of treachery. Suspecting that his Gosain generals had secretly gone over to the Maratha interests,—they had in fact been entreating Dada to take them into his pay,—Jawahir in the night between 23rd and 24th December made a sudden attack upon the Gosain camp; some six hundred of their men were slain, but Umaro-gir, Anup-gir and Mirza-gir the three chiefs managed to escape with only 300 troopers across the Chambal and took refuge in the Maratha camp. Jawahir refused to visit Dada’s camp lest his fugitive Nāgās should attack him by surprise. So, next day, the Jat Rajah turned his face from Dholpur to his own capital, while Dādā marched away towards Kerauli. By escheating the Gosains’ property in Bharatpur Jawahir gained 30 lakhs.*
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§ 22. Jawahir conquers the Kalpi region, 1767.
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The Maratha attack on him, with all their forces led by the Peshwa’s uncle himself, had been warded off. His domestic rival was in the grave. His disloyal Gosain troops had been crushed. These successes turned the head of Jawahir Singh. The territory of the Rajah of Ater and Bhind (20 miles west and s. w. of Etawa) had formerly been tributary to the Marathas. After the departure of Dādā and his army from the north, (Sironj reached on 16 May, 1767), Jawahir Singh invaded that region at the height of the rainy season (July) and quickly effected a conquest of all the domains of the Marathas and the petty zamindars, up to Kalpi. Throwing Balaji Govind Kher, the officer in charge of Kalpi, off his guard by friendly messages, Jawahir sent a detachment to surprise him, and Balaji had just time to escape with his family across the Betwa to a friendly Rajah. As the Maratha local agents reported, “Bhadaur, Kachhvadhar, Tomardhar, Sikarbar, Dandrauli, Khitauli, all are gone from us. Only a small tract remains, but that too has been rendered *lamp-less*. We retain Gwalior and Jhansi only ; all else is under Jat rule.” Jawahir established his rule in the Kalpi district, levied tribute from Datia and Seondha, and advanced up to the bridge of Narwar. From this point he turned back, declining the invitation of the Khichi chief to go further south and expel the Maratha posts from his State. Returning towards Gwalior he took the Maratha thanah of Jigni. The Rajahs of Pichhor and Gohad joined him, and he promised to clear their dominions of Maratha posts in October in case no relieving force came up from the Deccan.*
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∗ CPC. ii. 12B *et seq.* Wendel, 105-106. *SPD.* xxix. 117, 126+127, 204, 158. *Chahar Gulz.* 473b-474a (important.)
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∗ *SPD.* xxix. 185, 149, 152, 215. *Chandra Daf.* i. 156. Wendel 106. Recovery, *SPD.* xxix. 75.
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§ 23. *Jawahir visits Pushkar, fights Madho Singh of Jaipur at Maonda, 14 Dec. 1767.*
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Soon afterwards Jawahir sought his doom by arrogantly provoking a war with the Rajah of Jaipur, once the overlord of his house. Mādho Singh, alienated by Suraj Mal’s discourtesy and suspicions during his last years and genuinely alarmed by Jawahir Singh’s manifest design to wrest the Narnol district from him, was further outraged by the incursions of the new Jat Rajah and his Sikh allies into Jaipur territory in 1765. He had intrigued, with his usual futility, with every enemy of Jawahir, and harboured Nāhar Singh, a claimant to the Jat throne, though under the strong recommendation of Malhar Holkar. And now Jawahir, intoxicated with his recent sweeping victory over the Marathas in Bundelkhand, planned to organize a grand coalition with the Rajputs for excluding the Marathas totally from the north of the Narmada. The plan broke down from his pride, recklessness and utter want of diplomacy. He demanded from Mādho Singh the surrender of Nāhar Singh’s widow and children (with their hoarded treasures.) The lady refused, justly fearing Jawahir’s notorious character, and the Jaipur Rajah could not forcibly expel a suppliant for asylum. Jawahir taxed him with the design of adding this beautiful widow to his harem,—the very step he himself had been contemplating. Mādho Singh gave an angry reply. Then the Jat Rajah marched with his army and a full supply of artillery (including Sombre’s and René Madec’s battalions) to Pushkar, through Jaipur territory, inviting Bijay Singh of Marwar to meet him there and form the coalition. Madho Singh had warned the Jat Rajah though in vain to come slenderly attended as befitted a pilgrim and a friendly visitor. On 6th November (Kartik full moon day), Bijay Singh welcomed Jawahir on the bank of the sacred lake. The two Rajahs exchanged turbans and sat down side by side on the same carpet like full brothers, and sent an invitation to Madho Singh to come and join them. The proud Kachhwa Rajah, long the foremost Rajput vassal of the Delhi empire, was provoked beyond control by this insult. He sharply reprimanded Bijay Singh for having degraded his Rathor ancestry by admitting a peasant’s son and a mere servant of Jaipur as his brother and political equal. This roused Jawahir to fury. In his march through Jaipur territory, his soldiery had looted the villages on the way and molested the people. The Kachhwa tribe could no longer restrain themselves. The long halt of Jawahir at Pushkar gave them time to assemble their tribal levy of 16,000 horse besides infantry.
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The Jat Rajah with his immense force and ponderous artillery and baggage set out on return from Pushkar, and had all but reached his own country, when at Maonda, only 23 miles south-west of Narnol, the last Jaipur station near the Jat frontier, the Kachhwa army which had been following him delivered their attack (14 December, 1767.) * Here a narrow defile lay before the Jats ; they sent their baggage ahead, covering it with the troops in the rear. The first attack of the Rajput horse in the open was repulsed by the Jats making a counter-march towards them, as the Kachhwa artillery and infantry were lagging behind. The Jats took advantage of it to enter the defile, hoping thus to escape. But the Jaipur cavalry overtook them in the middle of the pass ; the Jats made a half-turn and offered battle. The Jaipur horse after firmly standing a devastating fire from the Jat guns for some time, at last threw themselves sword in hand on the Jat army, which fled away at the first shock, crying out that all was lost and abandoning their artillery, baggage and Jawahir himself. The Rajputs immediately dispersed for plunder and an indescribable confusion raged over the scene, during which the trained battalions of Sombre and Madec kept their heads and with equal bravery and coolness maintained the battle, fighting with their backs to the rocky walls till nightfall, and thus saved Jawahir and enabled him to make an unmolested retreat, though the rest of his army had dispersed in flight. But all his artillery train (70 pieces of different calibres), tents and baggage including his royal umbrella, had to be abandoned on the field. The total loss on the two sides together was about 5,000 men, the Rajputs losing two to three thousand soldiers, "mostly by artillery fire, before which they stood with astonishing firmness"; but most of their principal chiefs fell on the field; there was hardly a noble family in Jaipur that did not sacrifice a son or two on that day. "Dalil Singh, the commander-in-chief of the Jaipur army, fell in the fight with three generations of his descendants, and none but boys of ten remained to represent the baronial houses of Jaipur". [Qanungo, 211.]
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∗ Battle of Maonda,—Rene Madec 49-50. Wendel 108. Vam. Bhaskar 3720-'27. Chahar Gulzar, 495a. SPD. xxix. 192. DC. Maonda is a railway station on the Reengus-Rewari-Delhi line, sixty miles due north of Jaipur. Wendel puts the Rajput loss at 2 to 3 thousand killed and wounded, Madec that of the two sides together at 10,000 (exaggerated.) CPC. ii. 789-'91.
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Jawahir had saved himself and the men of his army and claimed the victory; but it was a most Pyrrhic victory. "The fortune of the Jats has been shaken and the result has been fatal to them. They have returned home pillaged, stupefied and overthrown; and Jawahir ... has since then only gone backwards. The country beyond the Chambal rose at the first report of that rout and is gone as quickly as it was taken. His own country is the prey of the enemy, who have followed him close."*
Linked texts (2)
- Selections from the Peshwa Daftar — Marathi
- Vaṃśabhāskar — Sūryamall Miśraṇ 1840, raj