Pratap Singh (2 December 1764 – 1 August 1803) was a
Kachwaha ruler of
Jaipur
Jaipur (; Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had a population of 3.1 million, making it the tenth most populous city in the country. Jaipur is also known as ...
. He is known for constructing the
Hawa Mahal
The Hawa Mahal is a palace in the city of Jaipur, India. Built from red and pink sandstone, it is on the edge of the City Palace, Jaipur, and extends to the ''Zenana'', or women's chambers.
The structure was built in 1799 by the Maharaja Sawai ...
.
Biography
Pratap was born as a younger son of
Madho Singh I on 2 December 1764 . Pratap Singh became the Maharaja at the age of 14 after the death of his brother Prithvi Singh. He ruled from 1778 to 1803. His 25-year rule witnessed many spectacular achievements and strategic failures. Being constantly goaded by 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 ...
and 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 ...
, he had to face repeated threats and a heavy drainage of funds.
The fountains behind the Govind Dev temple are credited to him, his poetic talent and patronage of arts and crafts. During his time, the art of paintings reached its peak. By the time of his ascension to the throne, the Mughal Empire was almost in shambles and the artists were fleeing
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders wi ...
. Pratap Singh gave them patronage and they came and settled in Jaipur. It was these artists who brought recognition to the Jaipuri school of painting.
![Jaipur-Hawa Mahal-Panoramic view-20131017](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/Jaipur-Hawa_Mahal-Panoramic_view-20131017.jpg)
The finest example of his connoisseurship is the unique monument of
Hawa Mahal
The Hawa Mahal is a palace in the city of Jaipur, India. Built from red and pink sandstone, it is on the edge of the City Palace, Jaipur, and extends to the ''Zenana'', or women's chambers.
The structure was built in 1799 by the Maharaja Sawai ...
(the palace of the Winds) and few rooms of City Palace, which he got constructed. A large number of scholarly works were produced during his time. He himself was a good poet and wrote poems in
Braj Bhasha
The Braj language, ''Braj Bhasha'', also known as Vraj Bhasha or Vrij Bhasha or Braj Bhāṣā or Braji or Brij Bhasha or Braj Boli, is a Western Hindi language. Along with Awadhi (a variety of Eastern Hindi), it was one of the two predominant ...
and
Dhundari language under the pen name of Brijnidhi.
See also
*
House of Kachwaha
*
Hawa Mahal
The Hawa Mahal is a palace in the city of Jaipur, India. Built from red and pink sandstone, it is on the edge of the City Palace, Jaipur, and extends to the ''Zenana'', or women's chambers.
The structure was built in 1799 by the Maharaja Sawai ...
References
Pratap
1764 births
1803 deaths
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