Jai Singh II of Amber
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Birth name: | |
| Title: | Maharajah Sawai |
| Birth: | November 3, 1688 |
| Place of birth: | Amber, India |
| Death: | September 21, 1743 |
| Preceded by: | Bishan Singh |
| Succeeded by: | Isrisingh |
| Marriage: |
Bikaner princess Sheopur princess Udaipur princess |
| Children: |
Kunwar Shiv Singh (d. 1724) Kunwar Ishwari Singh (became Maharaja in 1743) Kunwar Madho Singh (became Maharaja in 1750) |
Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh (November 3, 1688-September 21, 1743) was ruler of the kingdom of Amber (later called Jaipur. He was born at Amber, the capital of Kachwahas. He became ruler of Amber in 1699 at the age of 11 when his father Maharaja Bishan Singh died. The Mughal emperor Aurangzeb bestowed upon him the title of "Sawai" which meant one and a quarter times superior to his contemporaries. This title adorns his descendants even to this date.
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[edit] Problems on his accession
When Jai Singh sat on the ancestral throne at Amber, he had barely enough resources to pay for the support of 1000 cavalry—this abysmal situation had arisen in the past 32 years, coinciding with the reign of the bigoted Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. The Jaipur Rajas had always preferred diplomacy to arms in their dealings with the Mughals, since their kingdom was located so close to the Mughal power centers of Delhi and Agra. Under Aurangzeb, successive Kachawaha Rajas from the time of Ram Singh I were actually deprived of their rank and pay despite years of loyal service. Two of their chiefs, Jai Singh I and Kunwar Kishan Singh, died in mysterious circumstances while serving in the Mughal armies of the Deccan.
Even as a mere 12-year old ruler, Jai Singh was also ordered by Aurangzeb to serve in his ruinous Deccan Wars, and when he delayed in doing so, an additional cut in his rank and pay was made. His feat of arms at the siege of Khelna (1702) was rewarded by the mere restoration of his earlier rank and the title of Sawai (Sawa-meaning one and a quarter, i.e. more capable than one man). When Aurangzeb’s grandson Bidar Bakht deputed Sawai Jai Singh to govern the province of Malwa (1704), Aurangzeb angrily revoked this appointment as jaiz nist (invalid or opposed to Islam).
[edit] Dealings with the later Mughals
The death of Aurangzeb (1707) at first only increased Jai Singh’s troubles. His patrons Bidar Bakht and his father Azam were on the losing side in the Mughal war of succession—the victorious Bahadur Shah continued Aurangzeb’s hostile and bigoted policy towards the Rajputs by attempting to occupy their lands. Sawai Jai Singh formed an alliance with the other Rajput states, which defeated and expelled the Mughals from Rajputana. Aurangzeb’s rule of excluding Rajputs from the administration was now abandoned by the later Mughals——Jai Singh was appointed to govern the important provinces of Agra and Malwa. In Agra he came into conflict with the sturdy Jat peasantry.
[edit] Formation of Bharatpur state
The Jats, like other Hindus and Sikhs, had been provoked into rebellion by the bigoted policies of Aurangzeb and the harshness of his local Muslim governors. While Aurangzeb was sinking deeper into the morass of his Deccan Wars, the Jats successfully overthrew the Mughal maladministration in Agra province. But in later years some Jat war bands began attacking and plundering civilians——their chief Churaman even sent 6000 of his soldiers to aid the later Mughals in their wars against the Rajput alliance (1708-10). Sawai Jai Singh could not tolerate such disturbances in his province and he attacked the Jat stronghold of Thun in 1722. Churaman’s nephew Badan Singh came over to Jai Singh and provided him with vital information on the weak points of Thun. After its conquest Jai Singh captured and demolished other smaller forts and successfully dispersed all the Jat war-bands. Sawai Jai Singh appointed Badan Singh as his local deputy and gave him the title of Braj-raj (ruler of the Mathura country) to give him respectability among the Jats. With his overlord’s permission, Badan Singh constructed several new forts, one of which named Bharatpur became the future capital of the Jat state. The common Jats were pacified from the fact of a Hindu being their governor and his deputy being one of their own chiefs. With the leadership of Badan Singh and the wise policy of Sawai Jai Singh, the Jats emerged from being mere village fighters to having a recognized state of their own.
[edit] Sawai Jai Singh and the Marathas
The Kachawaha Rajput ruler was appointed to govern Malwa three times between 1714 and 1737. In the early years isolated Maratha war-bands that entered the province from the south (Deccan) were defeated by Jai Singh. But when the Peshwa Baji Rao stabilized the internal situation of the Marathas and conquered Gujarat in 1732, Jai Singh was defeated by the now more organized Maratha attacks. Facing up to this reality he proposed compromise with the Maratha power. For this sensible advice he was removed from his post while the Mughals decided on war. In 1737 Baji Rao invaded North India, sacked the various Mughal towns, and defeated the greatest Mughal general, the Hyderabad Nizam——as the price of his victory Baji Rao annexed Malwa. Following his example the Persian conqueror Nadir Shah defeated the Mughals and sacked Delhi in 1739——he annexed the trans-Indus territories. Through this period of turmoil and invasion Jai Singh remained in his own state——but he was not idle.
[edit] Sawai Jai Singh’s ambitions in Rajputana
Jai Singh increased the size of his ancestral kingdom by annexing lands from the Mughals and rebel chieftains——sometimes by paying money and sometimes through war. The most substantial acquisition was of Shekhawati, which also gave Jai Singh the most able recruits for his fast expanding army. This force now numbered 40,000 horse and foot, the latter armed with matchlocks and supported by adequate artillery——in the matter of arming infantry with firearms Jai Singh anticipated the success of later Indian rulers like Mahadji Sindhia and Tipu Sultan.
The fast-spreading Maratha dominion and their raids into the north had caused alarm among the Rajput chiefs——Jai Singh called a conference of Rajput rulers at Hurda (1743) to deal with this peril but nothing came of this meeting. In 1736 Peshwa Baji Rao imposed tribute on the Kingdom of Mewar. To thwart further Maratha domination Sawai Jai Singh planned a local hegemony, to form under the leadership of Jaipur, a political union in Rajputana. He first annexed Bundi and Rampura in the Malwa plateau, made a matrimonial alliance with Mewar, and intervened in the affairs of the Rathors of Bikaner and Jodhpur. These half-successful attempts only stiffened the backs of the other Rajput clans who turned to the very same Marathas for aid, and consequently hastened their domination over Rajasthan! After Sawai Jai Singh’s death in 1743 (he was cremated at the Royal Crematorium at Gaitore in the north of Jaipur), these troubles were inherited by his less capable son Ishwari Singh.
[edit] Social and cultural achievements
Sawai Jai Singh was the first Hindu ruler in centuries to perform the ancient Vedic ceremonies like the Vajpeya sacrifice and the Ashwamedha sacrifice (both in 1734)——on both occasions vast amounts were distributed in charity. He also promoted Sanskrit learning and initiated reforms in Hindu society like the abolition of Sati and curbing the wasteful expenditures in Rajput weddings. It was at Jai Singh’s insistence that the hated [[jaziya]] tax, imposed on the Hindu population by Aurangzeb (1679), was finally abolished by the Emperor Muhammad Shah in 1720. In 1728 Jai Singh prevailed on him to also withdraw the pilgrimage tax on Hindus at Gaya.
In 1719, he was witness to a noisy discussion in the court of Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah Rangeela. The heated debate regarded how to make astronomical calculations to determine an auspicious date when the emperor could start a journey. This discussion led Jai Singh to think that the nation needed to be educated on the subject of astronomy. It is surprising that in the midst of local wars, foreign invasions, and consequent turmoil, Sawai Jai Singh found time and energy to build astronomical observatories!
No less than five massive structures were built at Delhi, Mathura (in his Agra province), Benares, Ujjain (capital of his Malwa province), and his own capital of Jaipur. Relying primarily on Hindu science but also consulting Islamic and European knowledge, these buildings were used to accurately predict eclipses and other astronomical events. Termed as the Jantar Mantar they consisted of the Ram Yantra (a cylindrical building with an open top and a pillar in its center), the Jai Prakash (a concave hemisphere), the Samrat Yantra (a huge equinoctial dial), the Digamsha Yantra (a pillar surrounded by two circular walls), and the Narivalaya Yantra (a cylindrical dial).
Jai Singh’s greatest achievement was the construction of Jaipur city, which later became the capital of the modern Indian state of Rajasthan. Construction of the new capital began as early as 1725 although it was in 1727 that the foundation stone was ceremonially laid, and by 1733 Jaipur officially replaced Amber as capital of the Kachawahas. Built on the ancient Hindu grid pattern, found in the archaeological ruins of 3000 BCE, it was designed by the Brahmin Vidyadhar who was educated in the ancient Sanskrit manuals (silpa-sutras) on city-panning and architecture. Merchants from all over India settled down in the relative safety of this rich city, protected by thick walls, and a garrison of 17,000 supported by adequate artillery.
For these multiple achievements Sawai Jai Singh is remembered even today as one of the greatest kings of 18th Century India.
[edit] References
A History of Jaipur by Sir Jadunath Sarkar
