Fall of the Mughal Empire v3.c40.s2: § 2. Rise of Pratap Singh Naruka; his doings at Jaipur
Fall of the Mughal Empire v3.c40.s2
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§ 2. Rise of Pratap Singh Naruka; his doings at Jaipur
v3.c40.s2.1
Rāo Pratāp Singh, of the Narukā branch of the Kachhwas, was originally a petty vassal of the Jaipur State, owning only two and a half villages, from one of which he was known as the Mācheri-wālā. But his sleepless ambition and unscrupulous opportunism succeeded so well that before his death (in November 1790) he was recognized by the imperial Government as a Rajah fully independent of his tribal overlord, and he built up a kingdom which to-day embraces 3,158 square miles of territory. This Pratāp Singh early attracted notice by his intelligence and energy, which were in such striking contrast with the other Rajput nobles' opium-bemused stupor, occasionally varied by fits of blind animal fury in the field, that his envious rivals set Mādho Singh against him as a potential aspirant to his throne. The Narukā's life was attempted on the hunting field and he had to leave Jaipur and take refuge with the Jat Rajah. But he regained Mādho Singh's favour by returning to his side and fighting patriotically against Jawāhir in the Jat invasion of 1767-1768. The regency that followed immediately after was his first opportunity; he rapidly seized territories round the nucleus of his poor ancestral acres and built a number of forts, in the undefined borderland between Shekhāwati, Mewāt and the Jat-land. Next he allied himself, now to the Jat Rajah, now to Najaf Khan, as suited his interest for the time being, but was shrewd enough to always take the winning side. The result was that the grateful imperial generalissimo secured for him a confirmation of all his usurpations, the title of Rāo Rājah, a high imperial *mansab*, and a formal recognition of independence of his overlord of Jaipur. The other Narukās now accepted him as the head of their sept. Meantime he had not cut off his connection with Jaipur. Using the Bohrā’s party as his tool, he controlled the administration and gained everything that he desired without bearing the responsibility of any office in the State. His smooth tongue and ready power of deception beguiled every one at the capital, while he went on filching the border lands of the State.
v3.c40.s2.2
We shall pass over the humiliating history of Jaipur and its bloody faction fights during the nominal reign of Prithvi Singh and the changes in the Narukā’s position and policy at the capital; he was in the end left in supreme control, as the helpless people realised that he alone could save the royal house from Mughal greed and baronial anarchy alike. Pratāp Singh Narukā used his power to oust the dowager queen’s father and brother from the administration, got Firuz arrested, squeezed Rupees seven lakhs out of him as the price of his liberation, and confined Khush-hāli Rām Bohrā with the consent of the bewildered and helpless queen-mother. But these acts set every one at the capital against him, and the Narukā, in danger of assassination, one night secretly fled away from Jaipur (the second half of 1777).
v3.c40.s2.3
Next year Rāo Pratāp Singh was called upon to meet an invasion of his eastern frontier by Najaf Khan, who was bent on recovering the places in Mewāt lately usurped by the Narukā. His relations with Najaf, alternating between war submission and war again throughout the year 1778, have been described in Ch. 30 § 1-2. In 1779 the Mir Bakhshi, with a Jaipur army assisting him, pressed the Rāo Rājah so hard as to compel him to pay a visit of submission and to promise tribute. After Najaf Khan’s withdrawal to Delhi in November 1779, the Narukā chief secured the patronage of Najaf’s local agent, Muhammad Beg Hamadāni, and made him his intercessor with the imperial Government.
v3.c40.s2.4
The Jaipur Rajah Prithvi Singh died on 16th April 1778, being succeeded by his brother Sawāi Pratāp Singh, a boy of thirteen, and the affairs of that kingdom fell into worse confusion than before. When at the close of the year 1778 the Emperor marched into Jaipur in person, the Kachhwa Court sent Firuz with rich presents and some tribute to Najaf Khan’s camp to make peace. The faithless Narukā chief, then in attendance on the Mir Bakhshi, volunteered to promote his overlord’s interests and introduced Firuz to Najaf Khan, but afterwards lured the envoy to Agra and there got him murdered,* after which he seized all the wealth and other belongings of his victim.