Gokula

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Gokula - Chieftain of Sinsini

Gokula (Hindi: गोकुला) or Gokul Singh (Hindi: गोकुल सिंह) (died 1670 AD) was a Jat chieftain of Sinsini village in Bharatpur district (Hindi: भरतपुर) in Rajasthan, India. Gokula provided leadership to the Jat peasants who had the audacity to challenge the Imperial power. Gokula inspired the Jats to unsheath their swords and to wield them against the mighty Mughals.

His father's name was Madu. Madu had four sons namely, Sindhuraj, Ola, Jhaman and Saman. The second son Ola later became famous as Gokula. More details about the birth of Gokula are not available.

1 Left Sinsini
2 Rise of Gokula
3 The battle of Tilpat
4 Gokula hacked to death
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Left Sinsini

In year 1650-51 Madu and his uncle Singha had fight with Rajput Raja Jai Singh in which Sindhuraj died and second son of Madu Ola became the successor. After this war Singha along with other Jat families in the fortress 'Girsa' moved to Mahavan beyond River Yamuna. Ola (Gokula) also moved with Singha to this place.

[edit] Rise of Gokula

Gokula came on scene when the fanatic Mughal emperor Aurangzeb (1658-1707) attempted to convert Dar-ul-Hurb (Hindustan) to Dar-ul-Islam forcibly through persecution and dogmatic policies.

In early 1669 Aurangzeb appointed a strong follower of Islam Abdunnabi as Faujdar of Mathura to curb the Hindus of this area. Abdunnabi established a cantonment near Gokulsingh and conducted all his operations from there. Gokula organized the farmers not to give taxes to the Mughals. The Mughal soldiers started atrocities on the farmers. This was the starting point of struggle of farmers. Meanwhile Aurangzeb issued orders on 9 April 1669 to abolish the temples of Hindus. As a result large number of Hindu temples and ancient heritages of the period of Kushans were damaged. During month of May, 1669 the faujdar Abdunnabi seized village Sihora. Gokula was there and there was a fight in which Abdunnabi was killed. Gokula and his fellow farmers moved further, attacked and destroyed Sadabad cantonment. Sadullakhan had founded Sadabad during the period of Shahjahan. This incidence inspired the depressed Hindus to fight against atrocities of the Mughal rulers. The fights continued for five months.

[edit] The battle of Tilpat

The Jat peasants of Tilpat (Mathura) had the audacity to challenge the Imperial power under the leadership of Gokula. Jats were thus first to unsheath their swords and to wield these against the mighty Mughals.

Emperor Aurangzeb had to march himself on November 28, 1669 from Delhi to curb the Jat menace. The Mughals under Hasan Alikhan and Brahmdev Sisodia attacked Gokula Jat. Gokula and his uncle Uday Singh with 20000 Jats, Ahirs and Gujars fought with superb courage and tenacity, the battle at Tilpat, but their grit and bravery had no answer to the Mughal artillery. After three days of grim fight Tilpat fell. Losses on both sides were very heavy. 4000 Mughal and 3000 Jat soldiers were killed.

[edit] Gokula hacked to death

Gokula and Uday Singh were imprisoned. Jat women committed Jauhar. Gokula was offered pardon if he accepted Islam. To tease the Emperor, Gokula demanded his daughter in return. Gokula and Uday Singh were hacked to death piece by piece at Agra Kotwali on 1 January 1670.