Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c47.s1: § 3. The end of Munim Beg and Najaf Quli Khan
Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c47.s1
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§ 3. The end of Munim Beg and Najaf Quli Khan
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Ismail Beg had put his father Munim Beg in charge of Gokulgarh fort near Rewāri in November 1788, when he was working under Sindhia's orders. Early in 1790, Ismail quarrelled with Sindhia, and Munim Beg began to carve out an independent estate for himself round Rewāri. Joined by Gulāb Singh, the son of Mitrasen Ahir (the dispossessed zamindār of Rewāri), he began to plunder the wayfarers and tax-collectors and invade Kot Putli and other mahals where he levied contributions. At this time Sindhia was too busy fighting the Jaipur and Jodhpur Rajahs to send an adequate force against Munim Beg. Two battalions under a clerk of his service occupied Rewāri, but they were defeated and captured by Munim Beg and deprived of all their weapons and guns. This victory emboldened him to increase his force by enlisting the adventurers who flocked to his side. Like the robber-barons of Mediaeval Italy, he made his castle a centre of lawlessness in the country round and insecurity to traders on the highways.
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Towards the close of the year 1790, Patan and Mertā had been won and Mahādji was master again. Being himself engaged in the campaign in Rajputana, he arranged that Najaf Quli Khan and the Rajah of Alwar should undertake the suppression of Munim Beg with their own contingents. Najaf Quli who was now anxious to conciliate Sindhia, arrived at Bhārawās, 10 miles from Rewāri, with a contingent of 4,000 men under the Alwar diwān Rāmsevak, about the middle of December. Gulāb Singh who offered them battle was defeated and driven back into Gokulgarh. The siege of this fort, however, was protracted for more than six months, partly because a personal quarrel between the Alwar diwān Rāmsevak and commander-in-chief Hushdār Khan paralysed the forces of that State, but mainly by reason of Najaf Quli not really wishing to see Gokulgarh taken by Sindhia. At the end of February 1791 it was reported that the siege was going on, but there was no food in the fort and parties of its defenders were coming out in despair; the garrison had sunk to a thousand Mughalia and five hundred men of Gulāb Singh, but "the roads were unsafe, as the peasants were up in arms on all sides."
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Soon after this date, reinforcements arrived from Alwar and the siege trenches were advanced to the wall of the fort. But Najaf Quli used secretly to send provisions to Ismail Beg's father and thus put off its fall, though increasing numbers of the defenders deserted to Sindhia's side. Early in July the garrison had sunk to five hundred men, and Mahādji wrote to Najaf Quli Khan warning him against his double dealing. This letter and the approach of Sindhia's own army forced the hand of Najaf Quli. On 16th July 1791 he secured the capitulation of the fort. By Sindhia's orders, Munim Beg was confined in Agra fort.
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Then Najaf Quli in fear of punishment for his treachery fled away from Rewāri. Illness overtook him; and after a halt for treatment at Kot Qāsim (end of July), he reached his refuge in Kānud, where he died of the same disease on 23rd August, 1791.
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§ 4. Long wrangling about the Jaipur tribute after the battle of Mertā.
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The battle of Mertā (fought on 10th September 1790), though decisive as a military victory, at first made Sindhia’s position worse than before and robbed him of its expected fruits. Holkar’s simmering quarrel with him for an equal partition of his north Indian conquests and spoils of war, at once burst into flame, and the Holkar contingent (in concert with Ali Bahādur’s) left Sindhia’s army by way of protest. This open split between the two Maratha chiefs neutralised the effect of their recent victories; the Rajputs stiffened in their resistance, and Mahādji’s hope of obtaining the due contributions by negotiation faded into the horizon. Everywhere the peasantry rose in arms against the Deccanis. Ismail Beg’s father Munim Beg took possession of Gokulgarh (the fort of Rewāri) and raided up to Kot-Putli and other places under Maratha control. Rao Rajah Pratāp Singh of Alwar, the steadfast ally of Sindhia, died on 24th November 1790, and a civil war broke out among the ministers of his successor which paralysed that kingdom. De Boigne was finding great difficulty in maintaining his brigade owing to Sindhia’s failure to pay their salary for want of money. At the same time a severe famine due to the failure of rains raged in Rajputana, and grain and fodder reached the extreme of scarcity.
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The gathering danger called Mahādji from Mathurā to the scene. He arrived at Sambhar about 7th December 1790, and here the agents of Jaipur met him to negotiate for peace by the payment of contribution. The old minister Khush-hāli Rām Bohrā (friendly to Sindhia) had been degraded a year before.* The new favourite Rodoji Khawās waited on Mahādji on 8th February 1791, and agreed to pay a total of 17 lakhs,—namely 15 lakhs for Sindhia and two lakhs for his ministers. One lakh was paid in banker's bills, and for providing the balance the envoy left for Jaipur on the 16th.
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∗ In May 1789, when Tukoji Holkar invaded Jaipur, its Rajah threw Daulat Rām Haldiā into prison, because that minister had previously assured him that he would induce Holkar to avoid Jaipur territory and march through some other State; but Tukoji had actually entered Jaipur and his Pindharis had robbed the country. (M.D. ii. 139). Rodoji’s embassy, D.Y. Sup. 17, ii. 86.
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Before this the Jaipur Rajah had tried to make a settlement with the Maratha Government through Holkar (to the exclusion of Sindhia). As the Rajah told Holkar's vakil, "Tukoji's father (Malhar) took up the cause of my father (Mādho Singh) and placed him on the throne (in 1750). Similarly, Tukoji should become my patron and settle my dispute with Patil Bābā." (M.D. ii. 139.) Therefore, Holkar, on hearing of this Jaipur agreement with Sindhia, in jealous rage, sent his Pindharis to raid the Kachhwā territory, in April 1791. The Rajah had no help but to send Rodoji to Tukoji to make a monetary settlement. The envoy promised to pay 17 lakhs to Holkar (to make him even with Sindhia). It was impossible for that impoverished State to raise this money, and therefore Holkar encamped in its bosom at Daosā for many months, retaining his hold over Kachhwā mahals like Hindaun etc., which he had attached, and holding Rodoji in confinement. At last the only solution that the Rajah could find was to cede the district of Rāmpurā to Holkar in lieu of a money contribution. But the Bairāgi captain holding the fort of Rāmpurā refused to cede it. After some delay and desolation of the country, Rāmpurā was actually placed in Holkar's possession (in August) and Rodoji was set free. (Chandra. ii. 74.)
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When Rodoji at last returned to Jaipur, his reward was his downfall. Rajah Pratāp Singh was appalled by the obligation thrust upon him to provide such a huge sum to each of the two Maratha invaders.
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Daulat Rām Haldiā and Khush-hāli Rām Bohrā were again made ministers and Rodoji was dismissed (27th Aug.) and thrown into prison, from which he effected his release, but without restoration to office, by paying a fine of seven lakhs.
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§ 5. Jaipur finally makes terms with Sindhia, 1793.
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With the commencement of the year 1792, great changes took place in the political situation of Rajputana. Mewār definitely became a protectorate of Sindhia. Mahādji was created by the Mahārānā his Regent—as he was already that of the Delhi Emperor. Ambāji Inglé was appointed his deputy in the Mewār kingdom and De Boigne was left to collect the moneys due from Jaipur and Jodhpur. Even Ismail Beg—the last remaining enemy of Sindhia, was forced to surrender at Kānud on 16th April and sent into lifelong captivity.
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About 18th January 1792, the Jaipur Rajah met Tukoji Holkar at Daosā and made an agreement for hiring a brigade under Bāpu Rao Holkar for wresting his lost territories from the Rajah of Alwar, on condition of half the conquests being given to Holkar. (D.Y. ii. 9.) Peace having been thus made with the Marathas, and both their great leaders having at last vacated Rajputana, the Jaipur ministers entered on a vigorous campaign for bringing their refractory vassals to submission. In Alwar, Khush-hāl-garh and several other fortalices were recovered; and Holkar's administration was set up in Kāmā, which had originally belonged to the house of Jaipur. (Chandra. ii. 91. D.Y. S. 60, ii. 9. M.D. ii. 235.) A Jaipur force under Chaturbhuj Haldiā and Nanhé Khan Arab, took the rebel stronghold of Jhilāi.
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But by the middle of 1793, Holkar had been knocked out of the Rajput ring, in consequence of Sindhia's victory at Lakheri (1st June) and the Jaipur State came under Sindhia's control. Daulat Rām Haldiā assisted by De Boigne's Third Brigade (under Perron) attacked the Rajah's refractory vassals to realise their long-withheld tributes. In this fighting the aged minister was shot dead at Kalegh-garh (eight miles east of Jobner) about 8th January 1794. (D.Y. ii. 66, 116, 86, 4.)
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The leading actors now left the political stage in rapid succession: Bijay Singh on 8th July 1793, and the long-dreaded Durrāni king Timur Shah on 19th May before it. Next year (1794) Mahādji Sindhia died on 12th February, and his son-in-law Lādoji Deshmukh (Governor of Delhi) on 15th April, and the Bikāner Rajah in the same month as Mahādji. Ahalya Bāi, the most sober and capable ruler that the house of Holkar has ever produced, passed away on 13th August 1795; and Tukoji Holkar ended his invalid existence two years later (15th Aug. 1797),—his death being followed by a war of succession which ruined his house. The Peshwā Mādav Rao II died on 27th October 1795, and Bāji Rao II, the destined destroyer of Maratha independence, came to the Punā throne after a year’s troubled interval. The great Captain De Boigne retired from Sindhia’s service in January 1796, leaving his fine army in the much less competent hands of Perron.
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Jaipur history now entered on a placid uneventful course, which continued till the death of Raja Pratāp Singh in April 1803.
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Mahādji Sindhia before his death had left two armies of his own in Jaipur to assist its Raja in asserting his authority over his vassals; one under Jivā Dādā Bakhshi assisted by De Boigne’s Third Brigade, to recover the lost villages and forts from the usurping Rao Rajah of Alwar (Macheri), and the other army under Apa Khāndé Rao to keep order in Mewāt and collect revenue from the Shekhāwati vassals of Jaipur, half of the royal dues from them having been assigned to Sindhia by the last treaty.
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Though there were frequent conflicts between the Maratha forces and the Jaipur vassals—notably the thākurs of Shekhāwati—the Rajah himself was well-treated by the Marathas. De Boigne and Perron were particularly respectful to him, declaring themselves his friends in their letters, and paying him many social courtesies. The aim of these two French officers was to do their duty of collecting money smoothly, and they took care to save the peasantry from plunder or molestation by their soldiery. We possess a Persian letter in which Perron takes legitimate pride in the discipline of his troops, and assures the addressee, "Dear Rao Sahib, these are *campoo* troops, not Marātha light horse (*fauj*). If my men extort one rupee from your kingdom, I shall pay you two rupees as compensation." (Gulgulé records.)