Jodhpur State

Kingdom of Marwar, also known as the Jodhpur State under the British, was a kingdom in the Marwar region from 1226 to 1818 and a princely state under British rule from 1818 to 1947. It was established in Pali by Rao Siha, possibly a migrant Gahadavala noble, in 1243. His successors continued to struggle against regional powers for domination and 9 out of 15 rulers till 1438 died in combat. In 1395, its capital was changed to Mandore by Rao Chunda and to Jodhpur in 1459 by Rao Jodha.

The kingdom remained independent until it was annexed by the Mughal Empire in 1581 after the death of Chandrasen Rathore. It remained under direct Mughal control until Udai Singh was restored to the throne as a vassal and given the title of Raja in 1583. During the late 17th century it was under the strict control of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, but the ruling house of Rathore was allowed to remain semi-autonomous in their territory.

During this time Durgadas Rathore struggled to preserve the Rathore dynasty and freed Marwar from the Mughal Empire after 31 years of war. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries the kingdom was overrun by the Maratha hordes of Scindia and Holkar. Marwar was financially bankrupt due to heavy tributes exacted by the Marathas and its once renowned army had now thinned down because of internal wars and rebellions by its nobles, forcing its rulers to ask the British for aid.

The British had no role in the state's affairs until 6 January 1818, when the Raja at that time, Man Singh, entered into a subsidiary alliance, after which the Rajas of Marwar (or Jodhpur) continued as rulers of a princely state. During the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the Rajput Nobles under Thakur Kushal Singh of Auwa led a rebellion against Maharaja Takht Singh and the British, however the rebellion was put to an end by the British armies under Colonel Holmes after a siege of the Thakur's fort in Auwa. The armies of Jodhpur State fought in World War I for the British. They actively fought in Afghanistan and the Middle-east and scored a series of victories for the British empire. The Jodhpur lancers with the support of the Mysore lancers defeated a large host of Turks and Germans in the Battle of Haifa (1918). Some of the other battles they participated in were the battles of Suez, Gaza, Jordan Valley, Abu Tellul and Megiddo.

Following Indian independence in 1947 Maharaja Hanwant Singh, the last ruler of Jodhpur state signed the Instrument of Accession on 11 Aug, 1947 and merged his state in Union of India.

Geography

Covering an area of , Jodhpur State was the largest state under the Rajputana Agency and the third largest state in British India after Jammu and Kashmir State and Hyderabad State. The average revenue of the state was Rs.56,00,000 in 1901. the Maharaja's of Jodhpur originally had a gun salute of 19 guns with 21 personal. However the gun salute was reduced to 17 guns and 21 personal in 1870 due to a quarrel with the Maharana of Udaipur.The Administration of Jodhpur State, 1800-1947 A.D. by Nirmala M. Upadhyaya, International Publishers, 1973
p.240Gazetteer of the Territories Under the Government of the Viceroy of India
p.388

History

Origin

Recent genealogists believe that the Rathores are connected to the Gahadvala dynasty of Kannauj. A connection is often established between Rajput ruler Jaichand and the Rathores. Jaichand was later defeated by Muhammad of Ghor in the Battle of Chandwar. The one branch of the defeated rulers of Kannauj migrated westwards into Rajputana and were invited to settle in Pali. ''Siha'' is regarded as the first emigrant in the region to establish his kingdom in Pali in 1243 when he helped the locals drive away the ''Meds'' and ''Meenas'' and assumed the title of ''Rao''. He died fighting an invading Muslim force in 1273. In this invasion large amounts of Brahmins in the region were massacred.

Siha's son Rao Asthana captured Khed from the Guhilas and Idar from the ''Bhils''. He died fighting a force of Jalaluddin Khilji in 1291 and was succeeded by his son Dhuhar. Dhuhar captured Mandore from the Pariharas but lost it later. Dhuhar's son Raipal and grandson Karanpal followed by Karanpal's son Bhim who continued to fight the Paramars and the Turkic invaders. Karanpal's son Jhalansi defeated the Sodha Rajputs, and the ruler of Multan but died fighting the Turks in 1328. His son Chhada defeated the Sodha's, the ruler of Jaisalmer, Nagaur and Jalore. He died fighting the Songaras in 1344. Chhada's son Rao Tida avenged his father's death by defeating the Songara's. Tida was succeeded by his son Tribhuvan and his grandson Mallinath. Mallinath fought with the Songaras, Deoras, Bhatis and the Tughluqs.

Rao Chunda

In 1384, Mallinath's nephew Chunda gained the title of Rao and became the ruler. Chunda married in a Parihar Rajpur clan from which he received the city of Mandore as Dowry. He shifted his capital to that city in 1395. In 1396, Zaffar Khan of Gujarat laid siege to Mandore but was repelled by Chunda. Chunda and Zaffar entered into a tribute with Zaffar but Chunda later counter-attacked Zaffar and captured Sambhar and Ajmer. Chunda's aggressive policy earned him enmity with his neignbours, namely Bhati Rao of Pugal, the Sankhlas of Janglu and the governor of Multan, Khidar Khan. These collectively invaded Nagaur. Chunda died defending Nagaur in 1428.

Ranmal

Towards the end of his life, he promised his throne to his younger son Kanha which angered his eldest son Ranmal who sought refuge in Mewar. Ranmals sister Hansa Bai had been married to Rana Lakha of Mewar so he was able to become a powerful member of the Mewar court. Karan died soon in the same year and Ranmal was able to gain the throne of Marwar. Ranmal attacked Bhati, Pugal and Jalore chiefs in his 10 year reign. Ranmal was called to help rule Mewar in 1433 when his sister Hansa Bai's son Mokal was assassinated. He helped rule the kingdom but his power was not received well by the Sisodia clan. Rana Kumbha, son of Mokal, got him assassinated in 1438.

Rao Jodha

After Ranmal's assassination, Mewar and Marwar's relations had gotten bitter and Ranmal's son Rao Jodha escaped Mewar and reached its borders. From there he started building his own power. He recollected allies and defeated his enemies one by one and consolidated power and by 1453, he was able to regain Mandore. To end this enmity, Kumbha and Jodha reached settlements and matrimonial alliance was established by marrying Jodha's daughter ''Shringar Devi'' to Kumbha's son Raimal in 1459. It was after this that Marwar was able to become a prosperous kingdom under the rule of Rao Jodha. Out of the 15 rulers that preceded Jodha, nine died on the battlefield, six of them against foreign armies. Jodha's son himself died after a battle in which he saved 140 women from Afghan raiders.

After restoring peace, Jodha constructed a new capital fort on a hilltop 6 miles south of Mandore named Mehrangarh. The city came to be known by his name. Thus the city of Jodhpur was settled. Soon, he expanded his territory greatly. One of his sons, Bika captured Janglu which he named Bikaner after himself and became its Rao.

He died in 1489 and was succeeded by his son Rao Satal who died in 1492 who was succeeded by Jodha's second son, Rao Suja. Suja's younger brother Bika laid siege to Jodhpur, demanding a separate kingdom in Bikaner, and in the ensuing negotiations, Bikaner was given to Bika as his independent kingdom. Suja outlived his eldest son Bagha and died in 1515 and was succeeded by his grandson Rao Ganga in 1515.

During the rule of Jodha's sons, many chiefs asserted their independence. This led to formations of factions which favored different candidates for succession. When Rao Ganga ascended to the throne, this factionalism led to a civil war like situation because the succession was disputed by another candidate called Biram Deo. Soon after Ganga's accession, Biram was expelled from Jodhpur. To avenge this, Biram started looting Jodhpur. Eventually, with the help of his son Maldeo, Ganga was able to defeat Biram.

Maldeo Rathore

Seeing Rana Sanga's success, Ganga decided to align Marwar with Mewar and assisted Sanga in war against Sultan of Gujarat in 1517, his siege of Bayana in 1527 and the Battle of Khanwa in 1527 against Babur. His son Maldeo Rathore participated in the battle and later escorted an unconscious Rana Sanga from the battleground after defeat. After Sanga's death, Maldeo wanted to fill the vacuum of power in Rajputana and felt that his regnant father couldn't fill it. Ganga mysteriously died in 1531 after falling from his balcony. This fall could've been an accident but is believed that was an assassination by Maldeo.

Expansion

Under Maldeo Rathore, Marwar rose to great power. He was regarded as a great and fearless warrior. According to Ferishta, He was the most potent prince of Hindustan. In 1531, when Bahadur Shah of Gujarat invaded Mewar, Maldeo assisted Rana Vikramaditya. In 1534-35, Maldeo was able to capture Ajmer and Nagaur.

During Maldeo's territorial expansion, Raja of Jaisalmer sued for peace and offered his daughter Umade for marriage. He attacked Jalore in 1538 and took it. Its ruler was imprisoned where he died a few years later. During his rule, Marwar captured a large part of western Rajputana.

He continued his fathers policy towards the Kingdom of Mewar by helping its legitimate heir Udai Singh II in taking the throne back from the usurper Banvir. He invaded Bikaner, ruled by a branch of the same family and annexed it in 1542.

Humayun and Sher Shah Suri

In 1540, Maldeo helped Mughal Emperor Humayun against Sher Shah Suri by providing him 20,000 troops at Bhakkar. There are many reasons about why he provided this assistance including increasing the sphere of influence or avenging shelter given to fugitives in Sher Shah's court. Eventually, an expelled Humayun reached Phalodi, in Marwar, to seek assistance from Maldeo but couldn't secure much help from the Raja. Following a half hearted welcome for Humayun by Maldeo, Sher Shah marched down to Phalodi and asked Maldeo for handing over Humayun, who escaped to Amarkot.

Following Humayun's escape, Sher Shah returned to Delhi and consolidated power. He later planned to invade Maldeo because he was very ambitious. When Sher Shah reached Marwar, he devised a deceptive plan. He dropped several letters addressed to Marwari soldiers asking them to defect to Delhi. This made Maldeo suspect them and order them to retreat. A few thousand soldiers still held frontier who met Sher Shah Suri at the Battle of Sammel. Sher Shah won the battle and further pursued Marwar. Jodhpur was occupied for several months, but was retaken by Maldeo in 1545.Mahajan, V.D. (1991, reprint 2007). ''History of Medieval India'', Part II, New Delhi: S. Chand, , p.43

Continued expansion

In 1550, Maldeo invaded Pokhran and Phalodi and took it over from its chiefs.In 1556, Haji Khan, an ally of Rana Udai Singh of Mewar, sought help from Maldeo to invade Mewar after differences arose between Udai and Haji. In the Battle of Harmada in 1557, Udai Singh was defeated and the territory of Merta was captured by Maldeo.

Akbar

Akbar succeeded Humayun in 1556, many Rajput chiefs mustered around him with their grievances against the Rathore Chief of Jodhpur. Akbar used this as a ''casus belli'' against Maldeo. The Mughals conquered Ajmer and Nagaur in 1557 and soon after Akbar captured Jaitaran and Parbatsar. However the Mughals failed to capture the core territories of Marwar. Maldeo before his death held the districts of Jodhpur, Sojat, Jaitaran, Phalodi, Siwana, Pokhran, Jalore, Sanchore, Merta, Barmer, Kotra and some parts of Jaisalmer. These territories were later captured by Akbar due to the succession war between Maldeo's sons.

Maldeo Rathore died on 7 November 1562.

Rao Chandrasen

After the death of Maldeo, according to his will, his third son Chandrasen Rathore was crowned the ''Rao''. But is first and second son Ram and Udai started a war of succession for the throne. They were defeated by Chandrasen by 1563. After the war of succession, Chadrasen did not accept the suzerainty of Akbar and hence Mughal army invaded Jodhpur and occupied it because of which Chandrasen shifted his capital to Bhadrajun.

While Chandrasen continued to defend his kingdom from the Mughal invasions, his neighbor Rana Pratap of Mewar was defeated in the Battle of Haldighati in 1576. After the battle of Haldighati, Mughals turned their attention to Marwar and invaded in the same year. Chandrasen was dislodged from Bhadrajun and became a wanderer for the next 5 years with no capital, throne or shelter. He made several attempts to regain his kingdom, which included several raids on the imperial forces. Although his efforts went in vain and he died in 1581.

As a Mughal state

In 1583, Akbar formally recognized Chandrasen's rival brother Udai Singh as the ruler of Marwar as a Mughal state. This new ruler of Marwar recognized Akbar's supremacy readily as he was under him since 1570. Udai also contributed to Akbar's imperial force in the invasions of Sirohi. A matrimonial alliance was established between Mughals and Marwar in 1586 when Udai Singh's daughter ''Manvati bai'' was married to Jahangir. In 1592, Akbar tasked Udai to take care of the administrative affairs of his capital Lahore while he led conquest in Kashmir. Udai Singh died in Lahore in 1595.

Udai was succeeded by his son Sur Singh in 1595. Because of his military abilities, he was given the title Sawai Raja. In 1596, he was also given the control of Gujarat. In 1599, he was sent to assist Daniyal Mirza in the conquest of the Deccan for Emperor Akbar. In 1604 on the request of Daniyal Mirza, he was allowed to return to Jodhpur and was granted Jaitaran and western half of Merta pargana. During Udai and his son Sur's rule, their ''pradhan'' (prima minister) Govind Das Bhati reformed the Marwari administrative system and made it similar to the Mughal system. In 1613, he was deputed by the Mughal emperor along with Prince Khurram to undertake the expedition of Mewar. Sur Singh died in 1619 and was succeeded by his son Gaj Singh.

The Mughal emperor was impressed by the military capabilities of Gaj Singh and Gaj helped the Mughal empire subdue Malik Ambar, Nizam ul Mulk and Khan i Jahan Lodhi. Gaj also helped Jahangir quell the rebellion led by his rebellious son Prince Khurram who would later become Shah Jahan. He died in 1638 and the throne passed to his second son, Jaswant.
Jaswant was just 12 years old when he ascended to the throne and his decisions were heavily influenced by Shah Jahan. Jaswant accompanied Shah Jahan and his son Aurangzeb on many of his expeditions. He was able to get rid of the Bhatis of Jaisalmer in 1650.

War of succession of Aurangzeb

In 1657, when Shah Jahan fell ill and his sons Aurangzeb and Murad started a war of succession, Jaswant Singh led a united Mughal front against the two princes.
The two forces met at the Battle of Dharmat in April 1658. During this battle, the Mughal commander Qasim Khan betrayed Jaswant Singh and did not participate in the battle completely causing Rajput casualties. The battle was lost and an injured Jaswant had to retreat.
Following the defeat of Dara Shikoh at the Battle of Samugarh, Aurangzeb was crowned as the Mughal Emperor after which he pardoned Jaswant Singh for siding with Dara.
In 1661, Aurangzeb ordered Jaswant to help his uncle Shaista Khan to fight against the Maratha leader Shivaji. In 1663, Jaswant captured the fort Kondana, weakening Shivaji. Jaswant died in 1678.

Succession crisis of Jaswant Singh

At the time of his death, Jaswant Singh had no living heirs, but soon, his wife gave birth to his son posthumously in February 1679. One of these heirs died but the second, Ajit Singh survived. Jaswant's family was moved to Delhi and Aurangzeb converted Marwar into a crown territory to govern it while it didnot have a ruler. Aurangzeb didnt immediately crown Ajit Singh as the ruler and demanded him to be a grown adult first. Instead, a grand-nephew of Jaswant, Inder Singh Rathore was crowned by Aurangzeb. One of the ministers of Marwar, Durgadas Rathore along with a Rathore delegation rescued Ajit Singh and the ''Ranis'' in June 1679 and took them back to Sirohi where Ajit grew up in anonymity. Over the next few decades, the Mughals and Marwar kept engaging in guerilla warfare.

Durgadas and Ajit Rathore's struggle against Aurangzeb

Marwar and Mewar joined hands to oppose Aurangzeb together but were defeated in the Battle of Debari in 1680.
Aurangzeb sent his son Muhammad Akbar to capture Ajit but Akbar ended up rebelling against his father in 1681. Aurangzeb tried to prevent an alliance between the Rajputs and Akbar by planting fake letters between him and Akbar stating that the rebellion is a plot to lure the Rajputs. This worked and no major alliance formed between Marwar and Akbar. Later, to help Akbar, Durgadas took him to the court of Sambhaji. Durgadas was successfully able to distract Aurangzeb and from 1681-87, he was able to recapture vast expanses of the Marwar territory back.

Rulers of Marwar

The Rathore dynasty of Jodhpur are Rajputs claimed to be descendants of Rastrakuta dynastyIndia: The Peacock's Call by Aline Dobbie p.41 On the fall of the Rashtrakuta dynasty they migrated north and formed their kingdom in Kannauj as Gahadavala dynasty and after the death of last emperor Jaichand in Battle of Chandwar his descendants migrated to Marwar and established Rathore dynasty Niyogi, Roma (1959). The History of the Gāhaḍavāla Dynasty.pg -30 Oriental. OCLC 5386449

Rulers 1226–1438 CE (From Pali and Mandore)

Rulers 1438–1949 CE (From

Jodhpur)

See also

* Political integration of India
* Marwar region
* Kingdom of Mewar
* Naubat Khan
* Rajputana
* Maratha Empire

References

* ''Jodhpur'', Published by .l. 1933.
* ''Maharaja Man Singh of Jodhpur and His Times (1803–1843 A.D.)'', by Padmaja Sharma. Published by Shiva Lal Agarwala, 1972.
* ''The Administration of Jodhpur State, 1800–1947 A.D.'', by Nirmala M. Upadhyaya. International Publishers, 1973.
* ''Marwar under Jaswant Singh, (1658–1678): Jodhpur hukumat ri bahi'', by Satish Chandra, Raghubir Sinh, Ghanshyam Datt Sharma. Published by Meenakshi Prakashan, 1976.
* ''Jodhpur, Bikaner, Jaisalmer: Desert Kingdoms'', by Kishore Singh, Karoki Lewis. Lustre Press Ltd. 1992.
* ''The House of Marwar: The Story of Jodhpur'', by Dhananajaya Singh. Lotus Collection, Roli Books, 1994. .
* ''Modern Indian Kingship: Tradition, Legitimacy & Power in Jodhpur'', by Marzia Balzani. Published by James Currey Limited, 2003. .
* ''Jodhpur and the Later Mughals, AD 1707–1752'', by R. S. Sangwan. Published by Pragati Publications, 2006.
* ''Jodhpur's Umaid Bhawan: The Maharaja of Palaces'', by Aman Nath. Published by India Book House, 2008.

Bibliography

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External links

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Official website

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History of Rajasthan
Princely states of India
Marwar
Rajputana Agency
1226 establishments in Asia
13th-century establishments in India
1949 disestablishments in India
Rajput princely states