Shaurya era article of Marwar dynasty Introduction to the kings of Marwar The next part is .. After the death of Rao Ganga, his eldest son Maldev sat on the throne in 1531. At that time only the parganas of Jodhpur and Sojat were under his authority. Maldev was an ambitious and courageous ruler.
In his time Humayun was ruling in Delhi after the death of Babur (1530). He fought in the war against Bahadur Shah and Sher Shah of Gujarat. Seeing this, Maldev adopted the policy of expansion of his kingdom. In 1531, he defeated Sindhal Rathor Vira of Bhadrajun and made his son Ratna Singh the ruler there.
Read the previous part of this article Introduction to the kings of Marwar
Later, Merta tried to take over the kingdom of Veeramdev, but Veeramdev compromised with him. When Veeramdev went to Bhadrajun as per the agreement, he attacked Merta in 1534 by asking the Khan of Nagaur from behind. Seeing the opportunity, Maldev attacked Nagaur and captured it.
Khan of Nagaur compromised with Maldev and gave 21 villages of his rights to Maldev including Harsolav. Viramdev captured Ajmer by defeating Shamsher-u-Mulk, the general of the Sultan of Gujarat. Maldev demands Ajmer from Veeram but he refuses.
Due to this Maldev was angry with Veeramdev of Merta. He attacked Merta and chased Veeramdev to Ajmer. A year later, Maldev captured Ajmer as well. Veeramdev got fed up and went to Delhi Shershah. Maldev also captured Sivana and made Sikandar Khan of Jalore a prisoner.
After defeating the Chauhans of Sanchore also, he took control of Radhanpur and Khabar region towards Gujarat. By 1540, Maldev also took control of Chaksu, Fatepur, Toda, Lalsot, Malarna etc. By 1542 he had reached the zenith of his power.’ It is written in Rajrupak for the victories of Maledav –
Mal Gang Gadi Rao Maru. Everything is done by you.
After the death of Maharana Sanga in Mewar, the governance had deteriorated. Taking advantage of this, Vanveer, the maid’s son, took possession of Badnaur, Kosithal, Madariya, Nadaul etc. and gave them to his supporters. Seeing this, Maldev sent Songara Akheraj to Mewar to help Sanga’s son Uday Singh. The combined army of Rathores and Sisodias defeated Banveer near Mavli and Uday Singh captured Chittor.
Rao Jaitsi, the ruler of Bikaner, was engaged in increasing his power at this time. Maldev became suspicious and sent an army against him in 1541 to destroy his power, but the army of Jodhpur attacked Jaitsi in the dark of night in 1542 at a place called Saheba. Jaitsi was killed in the war. The army went ahead and captured half of the state of Bikaner. Maldev handed over the administration of that place to Samant Kumpa.
In this way, the border of Rao Maldev reached Bikaner and Hisar in the north. The Radhanpur border had reached Bayana and Dholpur in the east, Chittor in the south and Jaisalmer in the west. By 1542, Rao Maldev had reached the pinnacle of his progress.
In 1540, the Mughal emperor Humayun was roaming around after being defeated in the battle of Chausa and Kannauj. Maldev sent a message to Humayun for help in 1541 so that he could take advantage of the prevailing political situation.
On the other hand Rao Maldev’s enemies had reached Sher Shah’s court. Maldev was angry with Sher Shah for this reason. Humayun at first did not care about Maldev’s message but later repented and when his assistants left him, he himself reached Maldev’s kingdom in Phalodi pargana. He talked about help from Maldev through a messenger Angkhan.
Maldev did not give any clear assurance then. Being forced, Humayun went to Umarkot. Muslim historians have accused Maldev of betraying Humayun but this does not seem to be true. Maldev did not help Humayun. On the other hand, after being seduced by the rulers of Bikaner and Merta, Sher Shah marched on Marwar with a large army.
So that a powerful king like Maldev could be suppressed. Sher Shah brought the army but it seemed to him that it was not easy to defeat Maldev. According to Persian Tawarikhs (history texts), Sher Shah reached Didwana with 80,000 soldiers and powerful artillery. Where Maldev’s army chief Kumpa was encamped.
Shershah reached Babra (District Pali) after defeating Kumpa. Maldev also reached a place called Sumel Giri in January 1544 along with his army. Sumel Giri are two adjacent but separate villages. The battle took place at Giri.
Both these places were situated near the border of Marwar and Ajmer. Sher Shah now made a move. Get forged letters prepared in your name, in which it was written that they will arrest Maldev and present him in your service. Such letters were thrown near Maldev’s camp.
He also sent such a letter to Maldev on behalf of Veeramdev of Merta, in which it was written that your state has got some chieftains from Shershah. Maldev got scared after reading these letters. There was a split among the Rathore chieftains. Maldev escaped from the field in the night of January 4, 1544 with his main army.
The Rathor army remaining behind under the leadership of Kumpa and Jaita faced Sher Shah firmly but was defeated in the end. Sher Shah won, but he had to say that “I had put the Sultanate of Delhi at stake for a handful of millet. After the victory, Sher Shah sent an army to chase Maldev and himself reached Ajmer and captured it.
After this he went to Nagaur and gave Bikaner to Kalyanmal. Veeramdev had already captured Merta. In Jodhpur, Khwaja Khan and Isa Khan were appointed for administration. Sher Shah occupied Marwar for 524 days and after his death, Maldev regained control of Jodhpur in June 1545.
Later, he also captured Phalodi, Pokaran, Barmer, Kotra, Merta, Jalore and Badnaur. The Bhatis of Jaisalmer were also suppressed.
Maldev had 22 sons, but as per his wish, his sixth son Chandrasen became his regent. Thus taking away the rights of his elder brothers and sitting on the throne on December 31, 1562, the five elder brothers got angry with him. Maldev’s eldest son Ram was then living in exile in Mewar.
He reached Sojat and started looting. Another brother Raimal started trouble in Dunada. The third brother Uday Singh took control of Gangani and Bawdi. When Chandrasen sent an army against his brothers, Ram and Raimal fled from their respective jagirs. Uday Singh got injured in the war and went to Lohavat.
Akbar reached Nagaur in November 1569 to make friendly relations with the Rajput kings. The kings of Bikaner and Jaisalmer came to meet him when he stayed there for 50 days. Rao Chandrasen and his brothers Ram and Uday Singh also reached there. Seeing the atmosphere of Nagaur’s court, Chandrasen understood that Akbar wanted to divide the Rajput kings, so he left the court.
He definitely left his eldest son Ram Singh with Akbar. Abul Fazal and Badayuni are of the opinion that Rao Chandrasen accepted Akbar’s subordination in Nagaur but the later circumstances do not tell this. After this incident, Akbar sent Subedar Khan Kala to attack Bhadrajun, which clearly shows that Chandrasen did not accept Akbar’s submission.
On the contrary, Akbar lured Chandrasen’s brothers to his side. He sent Uday Singh to suppress the Gujars of Samavali and kept Raisingh with him. In 1572, the administration of Jodhpur was handed over to Raisingh of Bikaner.
After assessing the Mughal power, Chandrasen left Bhadrajun and went to Siwan. The Mughal army got possession of Bhadrajun. Seeing the opportunity, Chandrasen collected some money by plundering the villages of Asarlai (Jaitaran pargana) and Bhinay (Ajmer district), then Akbar sent Bikaner’s ruler Raisingh in 1573 to expel Chandrasen from Siwana.
Chandrasen went to Piplod from Siwana and secretly attacked the Mughal army. When the pressure of the Mughal army increased too much, he went towards Mewar. The Mughal army also captured Sojat. In such a situation, Chandrasen came back to Sarwad near Sojat, but the Mughal army chased him away from there.
Chandrasen went to Haryamali and gathered an army there and captured Sojat. When the emperor sent more troops, Chandrasen went to the hills of Saran, where he died suddenly in 1581. In this way, Akbar could not fulfill his desire to subdue Chandrasen. Chandrasen was a freedom lover like Maharana Pratap.
Raisingh, the eldest son of Chandrasen, was crowned in Sojat in 1582, but was killed in 1583 by being surrounded by enemies in Dattani village by the conspiracy of Rao Surtan of Sirohi, while in Mughal service.
After Raisingh, Maldev’s fifth son Uday Singh ascended the throne of Jodhpur state in 1583. He was the first ruler of Jodhpur, who received Mughal mansabdari by accepting the subordination of the emperor. The emperor gave him the title of Raja. Being obese, he was famous as Mota Raja.
The emperor had appointed him for the security of Lahore and he died there in 1595. Shursingh, the son of Raja Uday Singh, remained mostly in Lahore in the service of the emperor even after attaining the throne. The emperor had given him two thousand caste and one and a half thousand mansab and the title of Raja.
In the year 1619, while living in the Mughal army in the south, he died in the police station of Mahakar. At the time of Raja Sursingh, the revenue management of Marwar state was started on the Mughal style. Jodhpur Nagar
In Sursagar pond, the palace at the foothills, Rameshwar Mahadev’s temple and Suraj Kund were built by him.
Sursingh’s successor Gaj Singh was crowned in 1619, only then he was honored with the title of Burhanpur in three thousand castes, two thousand mansab and king. He was also given the jagir of parganas like Jodhpur, Jaitaran, Sojat, Sivana, Satalmer, Pokaran etc.
Gaj Singh also mostly engaged in war work with the emperor in the south. The emperor was pleased and sent him against Shahzada Khurram in 1623 after giving him five thousand castes and a mansab of four thousand. After the death of Jahangir, he remained active in the Mughal court during the time of Shah Jahan.
He showed great bravery in the battles of Bijapur and Kandahar. Emperor Jahangir had raised his mansab to 5000 castes and 5000 sawars. At that time no Hindu king had got a higher mansab than this. At the time of his death, there were 5400 villages under the rule of Marwar and there were 9 big forts under him.
He died in Agra in 1638. Gaj Singh was angry with his eldest son Amar Singh, so he declared his second son Jaswant Singh as the successor. Nagaur was given to Amar Singh. In 1638, Jaswant Singh was crowned in Agra itself.
The king gave him the title of king by giving him khilat, jadau katar, four thousand caste, mansab of four thousand riders, title of king, mark, nakkara, horse and elephant with golden genes. At that time he was only eleven years old.
The emperor appointed Asop’s Thakur Rajsingh Kumpawat as their head to assist him in the administration, later he was given the rank of 5000 castes and 5000 riders. When he came to Jodhpur in 1640, the coronation festival was celebrated here. Jaswant Singh showed great courage in Shah Jahan’s Kandahar campaign. In 1665, his mansab was made of 6000 castes and 6000 riders. Along with this he was also given the title of ‘Maharaja’.
In 1658, when Emperor Shah Jahan fell ill, the war for succession started among his sons. Aurangzeb walked from the south and came to the ground of Dharmat. The emperor sent Shahzada Dara along with Jaswant Singh, Mukund Singh Hada etc. to face Aurangzeb.
Jaswant Singh fought with great bravery, but he suddenly got surrounded by the enemy army and got injured while fighting. His comrades brought him out of the war zone and forced him to return to Jodhpur. Aurangzeb won even after the sacrifice of thousands of Rajputs. Jaswant Singh reached Jodhpur after the war.
Later (August 14, 1658) Jaswant Singh appeared in the service of the emperor. Then on the recommendation of Amer Naresh Mirza Jaisingh, the emperor pardoned Jaswant Singh and took him into his service, but Aurangzev continued to doubt Jaswant Singh till his death, although Jaswant Singh attended Aurangzeb’s service when he became emperor.
The emperor reinstated his mansab but remained angry with him in his heart. When Shahzada Shuja attacked Aurangzeb, the emperor sent Jaswant Singh as the commander of the right flank of the army to face him. Aurangzeb got the final success in the war. After this Jaswant Singh came to Jodhpur. Aurangzeb got angry with this.
