Rao Raja Sri Sawai Pratap Singh Naruka was the founder king of

Alwar State Alwar State was a kingdom from 1770 to 1818 and a princely state under British rule from 1818 to 1947. Initially its capital was Macheri and then the city of Alwar. The nobility of Alwar State belonged to the Naruka branch of the Kachwaha dyna ...

. He belonged to the

Naruka Naruka (Devnagari : नरुका or नरूका) is a clan of Rajputs found in India. Naruka Rajputs are offshoots of Maharao Naru Singh of Mozamabad, whose grandfather, Rao Bar Singh, gave up the throne of Amer kingdom. Rao Bar Singh was t ...

clan of

Kachhwaha The Kachhwaha or Kachawa is a Rajput clan found primarily in India. Sometimes families within the clan ruled a number of kingdoms and princely states, such as Jaipur State, Jaipur, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Alwar State, Alwar and M ...

dynasty.

Henry Miers Elliot Sir Henry Miers Elliot (1 March 1808 – 20 December 1853) was an English civil servant and historian who worked with the East India Company in India for 26 years. He is most known for ''The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians'' based ...

Supplemental Glossary of Terms Used in the North Western Provinces
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Supplement to the Glossary of Indian Terms, A.-J
/ref>Panjab Notes and Queries
Volume 1

History

Pratap Singh Naruka was the son of Rao Muhabbat Singh of Macheri. He was born in 1740. When still young, he was sent to relieve the famous fort of

Ranthambor Ranthambore Fort lies within the Ranthambore National Park, near the city of Sawai Madhopur in Sawai Madhopur district of Rajasthan, India. the park being the former hunting grounds of the Maharajahs of Jaipur until the time of India's Indepen ...

in 1759 which was besieged 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 M ...

under the leadership of Gangadhar Tautia. He showed great bravery and ability in the battle that ensued at Kakod (in present Tonk District of Rajasthan). The Marathas fled away. Once an astrologer at the Jaipur court predicted that the Rao would attain kingly dignity. Fearing his rise, court intrigues were hatched against him. A shot was also fired at him in 1765. Sensing a danger to his life, he left Jaipur immediately reached Rajgarh. From Rajgarh, he went to

Jawahar Singh Jawahar Singh () ( hi, महाराजा जवाहर सिंह) was a Jat ruler of the Bharatpur State. He succeeded to the throne when his father Suraj Mal died in 1763. Early life During Ahmed Shah Abdali's invasion of India in 1 ...

of Bharatpur who welcomed him and bestowed on him the jagir of Dehra village.In 1768, Jawahar Singh insulted the Jaipur Chief by marching without intimation of his motive, through his Stale, to visit the holy lake of

Pushkar Pushkar is a city and headquarters of Pushkar tehsil in the Ajmer district in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is situated about northwest of Ajmer and about southwest of Jaipur.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 ...

. On his return journey, he was attacked by the Rajputs of the State he had insulted and defeated at Maonda-Mandholi in the Tanwarati hills, 60 miles north of Jaipur. “The victory was, in a great measure, due to the transfer by Pratap Singh of his supporters to the side of his liegelord on the eve of the battle. He was moved to this either by the insult to his country, which a Rajput could ill bear, or by his desire to become reconciled with his own sovereign.” As a result of his loyalty, Pratap was restored to his fief of Macheri and was also allowed to build a fort at Rajgarh.

Madho Singh Madho Singh (1 July 1929 – 2006) was an Indian wrestler. He competed at the 1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII ...

of Jaipur had died only four days after the battle of Maonda-Mandholi and Pratap Singh II, a minor succeeded him under guardianship of the mother of his younger brother. Pratap Singh gained great influence at the court through friends in the Council. At this time Najaf Khan, the imperial commander aided by Marathas, proceeded to expel Jats from Agra and then attacked Bharatpur. Pratap Singh aligned himself with Najaf Khan and aided him in defeating the Jats, "This timely succour and his subsequent aid in defeating the Jats, obtained for him the title of Rao Raja and a Sanad for Machheri, to hold direct of the crown.” Pratap Singh found an opportunity of reducing the fortress of Alwar which then belonged to the Jat princes of Bharatpur and seized it. He entered the fort of Alwar in November 1775. The followers of Pratap Singh began to own him as their feudal lord as soon as the Alwar fort was taken. Some of estates were escheated to the new State. Lands were also snatched from the possessions of Jats. He increased his wealth by relieving a rich man at Thanaghazi of some of his possessions and by plundering Baswa, a town belonging to

Jaipur State Jaipur State was a princely state in India during East India Company rule and thereafter under the British Raj. It signed a treaty creating a subsidiary alliance with the Company in 1818, after the Third Anglo-Maratha War. It acceded ...

. This act resulted in a raid by the Jaipur ruler in person, upon Rajgarh fort. The Maharaja failed to take the place and to defeat his former vassal, on account of the alliance he had formed with the Marathas. He died on September 26, 1791.

References

1740 births 1791 deaths Maharajas of Alwar {{India-royal-stub

History

See also

References