Bakht Singh or Bakhat Singh (16 August 1706 – 21 September 1752) was an 18th-century Indian

Raja ''Raja'' (; from , IAST ') is a royal title used for South Asian monarchs. The title is equivalent to king or princely ruler in South Asia and Southeast Asia. The title has a long history in South Asia and Southeast Asia, being attested f ...

of the Rathore Clan. Born in 1706, he ruled over various domains in the

Jodhpur Jodhpur (; ) is the second-largest city in the Indian state of Rajasthan and officially the second metropolitan city of the state. It was formerly the seat of the princely state of Jodhpur State. Jodhpur was historically the capital of the Ki ...

and

Marwar Marwar (also called Jodhpur region) is a region of western Rajasthan state in North Western India. It lies partly in the Thar Desert. The word 'maru' is Sanskrit for desert. In Rajasthani languages, "wad" means a particular area. English tran ...

states and was a major political force during his life.

Early life and political ascension

Above-Maharaja-Bakhat-Singh-at-the-Jharokha-Window-of-the-Bakhat-Singh-Mahal- 59024 2

Bakht Singh was born on 16 August 1706 as the second son of Ajit Singh, ruler of Marwar. At the time of Bakht's birth, his family was in open revolt against the

Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...

due to an ongoing territorial dispute over

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

. His father was pardoned by

Muhammad Azam Shah Qutb-ud-Din Muhammad Azam (28 June 1653 – 20 June 1707), commonly known as Azam Shah, was briefly the Mughal emperor who reigned from 14 March 1707 to 20 June 1707. He was the third son of the sixth Mughal emperor Aurangzeb and his chief cons ...

in 1708, granting the Rathore clan control over the Kingdom of Marwar and the city of

. In 1724, Bakht Singh and his elder brother Abhai Singh plotted to

kill Kill often refers to: *Homicide, one human killing another *cause death, to kill a living organism, to cause its death Kill may also refer to: Media *'' Kill!'', a 1968 film directed by Kihachi Okamoto * ''Kill'' (Cannibal Corpse album), 2006 * ...

their father and usurp his position as Raja. They succeeded, and Abhai Singh became the Maharaja of the Kingdom of Marwar and Jodhpur. This abrupt change of leadership sparked a brief civil war among the Rathore in Marwar, during which the brothers employed

Maratha The Marathi people (Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a M ...

soldiers to fight their enemies. At this time Marwar was a vassal of the

, which was in constant conflict with the

Maratha Empire The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern Indian confederation that came to dominate much of the Indian subcontinent in the 18th century. Maratha rule formally began in 1674 with the coronation of Shi ...

. The allowing of

soldiers onto Mughal territory to solve a domestic dispute effectively estranged the

Rathore The Rathore is a Rajput clan found in Northern India. Subclans Jodhana, Vadhel, Jaitawat, Kumpawat, Champawat, Meratiya, Udawat, Karamsot etc. are the branches or subclans of Rathore Rajputs. Coverage This article discusses the "Kanauji ...

s from the Mughal government.Gupta, Bakshi pp. 152–155

Siege of Ahmedabad

In 1730 a taxation depute against Sarbuland Khan (Nawab of Gujarat) resulted in Abhai Singh laying

siege A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition warfare, attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity con ...

to the city of

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ; Gujarati: Amdavad ) is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 (per t ...

. ''Google Books'' 2015, pp. 256–257. Bakht Singh personally led the storming of the city, the Marwar army lost 120 soldiers and 700 were injured while Sarbuland Khan lost his son in the cannonade and most of his men were slaughtered along with high ranking Mughal Mansabdars (nobles), some ranking as high as 3,000. Sarbuland Khan surrendered after three days of fighting, after which the Mughal emperor was forced to make Abhai Singh the lord of Ahmedabad and the governor of Gujarat. Bakht Singh was commended for his bravery during the battle.

Lordship

By 1739, Bakht Singh had been appointed lord of

Nagaur Nagaur is a city and municipal council in Nagaur district of the state of Rajasthan in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Nagaur District. The Nagaur city lies about midway between Jodhpur and Bikaner. Nagaur is famous for spices ...

. Seeking to expand his influence, he attempted to force concessions from the

Bikaner State Bikaner State was a princely state in the Rajputana from 1465 to 1947. The founder of the state, Rao Bika, was the eldest son of Rao Jodha, ruler of Jodhpur. Rao Bika chose to build his own kingdom instead of inheriting his father's ...

, calling on his brother for support. The Raja of Bikaner sent a letter to

Jai Singh II Jai Singh II (3 November 1681 – 21 September 1743) popularly known as Sawai Jai Singh was the 29th Kachwaha Rajput ruler of the Kingdom of Amber, who later founded the fortified city of Jaipur and made it his capital. He was born at Amber, th ...

, the powerful Maharaja of the Kingdom of Jaipur, requesting assistance. Jai Singh sent a letter to Abhai Singh asking for leniency to be shown to Bikaner, a request Abhai sharply refuted. Seeking to end the conflict, Jai Singh dispatched his minister Vidyadhar to Bakht Singh. Bakht agreed to withdraw his men from the conflict if he were paid by Jaipur and given the town of Merta. This was done, and with Bakht Singh now removed as a threat, Jai Singh was able to force Abhai to make peace. Unable to face Jaipur alone, Abhai Singh was forced to sign a treaty with Jai Singh. The Kingdom of Marwar was forced to pay 1 lakh (100000)

rupee Rupee is the common name for the currencies of India, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka, and of former currencies of Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates (as the Gulf rupee), British East Africa, B ...

s to the Mughals, 20 lakh (2000000) to Jaipur, give up hostages, and was prohibited from sending emissaries to the Mughal court without the express approval of Jai Singh. The latter condition effectively made Marwar a vassal of Jaipur, as Abhai could no longer request aid from the Mughal government. The treaty enraged many members of the Rathore clan, most of whom felt that Bakht Singh was responsible for the disaster.

Battle of Gangwana

In 1741, Abhai Singh began to gather his forces in Jodhpur in preparation for a war of revenge against Jaipur. Jai Singh detected these movements and gathered his army (of 40000-100000 men) to invade Marwar.Sarkar pp. 200 As the Jaipur army advanced, Bakht Singh arrived at Merta, the forward camp for the Rathore and Marwar army. He entered the Raja's

durbar Durbar can refer to: * Conference of Rulers, a council of Malay monarchs * Durbar festival, a yearly festival in several towns of Nigeria * Durbar floor plate, a hot-rolled structural steel that has been designed to give excellent slip resistance o ...

, where he was chastised by his fellow Rathors for his betrayal. Bhakt accepted his wrongdoing, and promised to lead his personal cavalry contingent (of 1000 men) against the oncoming Jaipur. In the ensuing

Battle of Gangwana The Battle of Gangwana was a military engagement fought between the Kingdom of Marwar and a combined army of the Jaipur Kingdom and the Mughal Empire in 1741. The battle resulted in a peace treaty favorable to Marwar and ended a period of Jaipur ...

Bakht Singh and his cavalry Of 1000 soldiers succeeded in inflicting heavy casualties on the Jaipur army. Over 12,000 Rajputs and Mughals were killed, losses so high that Jai Singh ended the campaign and was forced to accept a mediated peace with Abhai Singh. Bakht Singh, wounded by both a bullet and an arrow during the fighting, was once again praised for his valor. Jai Singh never recovered from shock suffered from losses of this battle and died 2 years later.

Later life

On 29 June 1741, Bakht Singh was offered

by the Mughal Emperor. The

Mughals The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...

hoped that Bakht Singh could become its subedar and counter the rising power of the

Marathas The Marathi people (Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a M ...

. Before accepting, Singh sent his spies to Gujarat and upon learning of the hopeless situation, declined the offer. On 17 June 1749, Abhai Singh died, with his eldest son Ram Singh succeeding him. Bakht Singh (his uncle) disagreed with this

primogeniture Primogeniture ( ) is the right, by law or custom, of the firstborn legitimate child to inherit the parent's entire or main estate in preference to shared inheritance among all or some children, any illegitimate child or any collateral relativ ...

and rose up in revolt. Bakht Singh emerged triumphant in the battle of Luniawas, becoming the Maharaja of Marwar and Jodhpur in July 1751. Bakht Singh's first step as a ruler was to raise an army in

Ajmer Ajmer is one of the major and oldest cities in the Indian state of Rajasthan and the centre of the eponymous Ajmer District. It is located at the centre of Rajasthan. It is also known as heart of Rajasthan. The city was established as "''Aj ...

and to start fortifying his holdings to protect

from external threats like the

and

Afghans Afghans ( ps, افغانان, translit=afghanan; Persian/ prs, افغان ها, translit=afghānhā; Persian: افغانستانی, romanized: ''Afghanistani'') or Afghan people are nationals or citizens of Afghanistan, or people with ancestry f ...

. On May 1752 Jayapa Sindhia and Ram Singh attacked Ajmer, sacked it and massacred the populace. Upon learning of the invasion, Bakht Singh marched with his army and camped 8 miles away from Ajmer. He waited till July and then attacked Jayapa. Bakht Singh blocked the surrounding paths and placed his guns on a hill, he then bombarded the Marathas, upon receiving heavy casualties, the Marathas fled along with the army of Ram Singh. Bakht Singh died a sudden death on 21 September 1752. According to Persian historians, he died by

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...

while Vir Vinod claims that he was poisoned by

Madho Singh I Madho Singh I (December 1728 – March 5, 1768) was ruler of the state of Jaipur in the present-day Indian state of Rajasthan.D.K. Taknet, Razia Grover, Nandita Bhardwaj, 2016Jaipur: Gem of India He was the younger son of Jai Singh II and bec ...

. His son

Vijay Singh Vijay Singh ( hif, विजय सिंह ; born 22 February 1963), nicknamed "The Big Fijian", is a Fijian professional golfer. He has won 34 events on the PGA Tour, including three major championships: one Masters title (2000) and two ...

inherited his titles. The Rathore civil war between

and Ram Singh that would follow after Bakht Singh's death ultimately led to the downfall of the Rathore clan.

Bibliography

* R.K Gupta, S.R Bakshi (2008). ''Rajasthan Through the Ages, Vol 4, Jaipur Rulers and Administration.'' Sarup & Sons. . * ''Jodhpur and the Later Mughals, AD 1707–1752'', by R. S. Sangwan. Published by Pragati Publications, 2006. *

Sir Jadunath Sarkar Sir Jadunath Sarkar (10 December 1870 – 19 May 1958) was a prominent Indian historian and a specialist on the Mughal dynasty. Academic career Sarkar was born in Karachmaria village in Natore, Bengal to Rajkumar Sarkar, the local Zamindar ...

(1994). ''A History of Jaipur 1503–1938''. Orient Longman. . * Faruqui, Munis D. (2012). ''The Princes of the Mughal Empire, 1504–1719''. Cambridge University Press. p. 316. .
G''azetteer of the Bombay Presidency: Ahmedabad''
''Google Books 2015 (Public Domain text)''. 7 January 2015. pp. 248–262. Retrieved 1 February 2015. * Richards, John F. (1995)
''The Mughal Empire''
(Reprinted ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 180–181. .

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bakht Singh 1706 births 1752 deaths Rulers of the Kingdom of Marwar Subahdars of Gujarat Indian warriors