Vir Singh Deo, also known as Bir Singh Dev, was a

Bundela The Bundela is a Rajput clan. Over several generations, the cadet lineages of Bundela Rajputs founded several states in area what came to be known as Bundelkhand anciently known as Chedi Kingdom from the 16th century. Etymology As per Jaswant ...

Rajput Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...

chief and the ruler of the kingdom of

Orchha Orchha is a town, near city of Niwari in Niwari district of Madhya Pradesh state, India. The town was established by rajput ruler Rudra Pratap Singh some time after 1501, as the seat of an eponymous former princely state of covering parts of c ...

. He was a vassal of 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 ...

. and ruled between 1605 and either 1626 or 1627. Vir Singh Deo assassinated

Abul Fazl Abul is an Arabic masculine given name. It may refer to: * Abul Kalam Azad * Abul A'la Maududi * Abul Khair (disambiguation), several people * Abul Abbas (disambiguation), several people * Abul Hasan * Abul Hasan Ali Hasani Nadwi * Abu'l-Fazl ibn ...

who was returning from Deccan in a plot contrived by the Mughal

Prince Salim Nur-ud-Din Muhammad Salim (30 August 1569 – 28 October 1627), known by his imperial name Jahangir (; ), was the fourth Mughal Emperor, who ruled from 1605 until he died in 1627. He was named after the Indian Sufi saint, Salim Chishti. Ear ...

. According to Aruna, he is "the most famous and most powerful of all the Orchha Chiefs. A man of dashing personality, a great warrior and no scruples, a bold and organised administrator". He was considered to built the

Jhansi Jhansi (; Hindi: झांसी, Urdu: ) is a historic city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It lies in the region of Bundelkhand on the banks of the Pahuj River, in the extreme south of Uttar Pradesh. Jhansi is the administrative head ...

fort

Deo was among the Rajput rulers of his era who sponsored temples in the Brajmandal area that comprised

Vrindavan Vrindavan (; ), also spelt Vrindaban and Brindaban, is a historical city in the Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is located in the Braj Bhoomi region and holds religious importance in Hinduism as Krishna spent most of his childho ...

and

Mathura Mathura () is a city and the administrative headquarters of Mathura district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is located approximately north of Agra, and south-east of Delhi; about from the town of Vrindavan, and from Govardhan. ...

. In addition, the Phool Bagh gardens, and the

Lakshmi Lakshmi (; , sometimes spelled Laxmi, ), also known as Shri (, ), is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism. She is the goddess of wealth, fortune, power, beauty, fertility and prosperity, and associated with ''Maya'' ("Illusion"). Alo ...

temple were all built by Deo. His mausoleum is located in

, and features both Hindu and Mughal architecture. Vir Singh Deo was succeeded by Jhujhar Singh, the first-born son of the senior of his three queens. Deo was patron to the poet

Keshavdas Keshavdas Mishra (1555–1617), usually known by the mononym Keshavdas or Keshavadasa, was a Sanskrit scholar and Hindi poet, best known for his ''Rasik Priya'', a pioneering work of the ''riti kaal'' (procedure period) of Hindi literature. Li ...

, who wrote the 1607 hagiographic work ''Virsimdevcarit'' (''Deeds of Vir Singh Deo'').

References

Mughal nobility Rajput rulers Bundelkhand Tikamgarh district 17th-century Indian monarchs Orchha {{india-royal-stub