Historical Figures

6. Farrukhsiyar and Sawai Jai Singh

On 2 February 1713, Farrukhsiyar was successful in capturing the throne of the Mughals. By this time the situation in Malwa had become very critical. On the one hand, the Afghans under the leadership of Inayat Khan and Diler Khan had revolted and on the other the Marathas were trying to cross the Narmada river and move towards North India.

Mansab of seven thousand

As soon as Farrukhsiyar became the emperor, he appointed Sawai Jai Singh as the Subedar of Malwa by giving him a mansab of seven thousand. The one Jai Singh to whom Aurangzeb never gave a mansab of more than one and a half to two thousand, who was never allowed to keep the nagara and who was only given the status of sitting on the ground by lying flat, on the same Jai Singh, the Mughal emperor Farrukhsiyar offered a mansab of seven thousand. It is clear from this that the Mughal state left by Aurangzeb was only ready to collapse in a short period of 6 years. Jaisingh also understood that time is turning.

First Subedari of Malwa

Operation Against Afghans and Local Jagirdars

As soon as he took over the post of Subedar of Malwa, Jai Singh started suppressing the Afghan rebels with the help of Chhatrasal Bundela and Buddha Singh Hada. Raja Jai ​​Singh defeated Inayat Khan and Diler Khan from place to place and crushed their power. Mohan Singh of Rajgarh was also suppressed. When there was disturbance in Narwar, Jai Singh established a military post there. Pooranmal Ahir blocked the road from Sironj to Kalabagh. It did not take much time for Jai Singh to suppress him. Fortunately, during these days the Marathas got entangled in conflict among themselves, so Jai Singh got a good opportunity to establish peace in Malwa.

Jai Singh had 10 thousand soldiers in which there were also a good number of gunmen. This army also had sufficient amount of ammunition. That's why Jai Singh's morale was high. In March 1715, Jai Singh had to go to the outpost near Hoshangabad to stop the attack of a Maratha chieftain named Ganga. After that Jai Singh reached the place called Ghamuni towards the north, where he defeated 12,000 soldiers of Ahirs and perky Afghans and killed their 2,000 soldiers with swords. Five hundred soldiers of Jai Singh also came in handy. On 2 April 1715, Jai Singh got 6 elephants, a flag and a palanquin. Dealing with this front, Jai Singh reached Bhelsa in the south where he conducted a successful campaign against the Afghans.

Victory over Marathas

In April 1715, two large armies of Marathas entered Malwa. Kanhoji Bhonsle had brought thirty thousand and Khanderao Dabhade twelve thousand soldiers. Marathas asked for 3 years Chauth from Kampil Pargana. The government staff, frightened by the Marathas, fled to Ujjain. Jai Singh was in Bhelsa at that time. He immediately left for Ujjain. Jai Singh reached Kampil on 8 May 1715. There he came to know that the Marathas were preparing to cross the Narmada near Pilsud with the loot. Jaisingh immediately left for Pilsud and without stopping anywhere on the way, reached Pilsud sometime before the evening of 10th May. The Marathas had many times the army than Jai Singh, so they came with enthusiasm to fight Jai Singh. There was a fierce battle between the two sides for four hours. Along with Jai Singh, Raja Budha Singh Hada of Bundi, Chhatrasal Bundela and Dheeraj Singh Dhichi showed amazing valor in this war. The Marathas fled leaving their weapons. When the war ended, it was almost night. Shortly after, Jai Singh raised his hungry and thirsty and exhausted soldiers again and ordered to attack the Marathas. As soon as the Marathas lying in the jungles saw that the Rajputs were climbing, they ran away with their feet on their heads. They fled across the Narmada at night leaving their wounded, animals and loot. Jai Singh gave his soldiers such a share of the winnings that they could live comfortably for years. No one had taught the Marathas such a difficult lesson before. Due to this victory, the name of Jai Singh became popular all over India. Farrukhsiyar sent a letter of appreciation to Jaisingh.

Mughaliya Conspiracy

The political situation in Delhi was changing rapidly. On the one hand the bitterness between the Farrukhsiyar and the Sayyid brothers was increasing, and on the other, the riots of the Jats under the leadership of Chudaman were increasing in the southern region of the Yamuna between Delhi and Agra. Farrukhsiyar called Jai Singh from Malwa. Jai Singh left from Malwa but did not go to Delhi and stayed in his capital Amber. Farrukhsiyar once again called Jai Singh to Delhi. Jai Singh reached Delhi in May 1716. The emperor asked him to suppress the Jats. Jai Singh gladly accepted this task because the Kachhwaha king of Amer wanted to crush the growing power of Jats on the border of his kingdom and also wanted to merge some parganas of this region into his kingdom.

Jai Singh sent Ruparam Dhaibhai as the unsurpassed Subedar of Malwa and himself took the kings of Jaipur, Kota, Bundi and Narwar and their armies against Chudaman Jat. Chudaman collected twenty years' worth of food and ammunition and was locked up in the fort of Thun. When Sawai Jai Singh reached near Thun with Maharao Bhim Singh of Kota, Maharao Buddha Singh of Bundi and Kachhwaha Raja Gaj Singh of Narwar, Chudaman asked the merchants located in the fort to leave their money and material in the fort and go out. If he won after the war, he would compensate for their belongings. The merchants got out of the fort after being robbed badly. Chudaman's son left Thun fort with his Jat soldiers so that he could inflict damage on Jai Singh's forces by attacking them from behind and stopping their logistics.

Sawai Jai Singh and the armies of the kings under him surrounded the fort of Thun for seven months but could not get Chudaman out of the fort. On this the entire might of the Mughal Empire was thrown against Thun and the forest around Thun was cut and cleared. Military posts were established on the route from Thun to Agra. Thus two years passed and two crore rupees of the Mughal emperor were spent on this campaign. In January 1717, Farrukhsiyar sent a large cannon, but it could not reach the walls of the fort, crossing the trenches of the circle.

On 10 February, Jai Singh, leaving Buddha Singh in the camp, accompanied Bhim Singh to establish a post at Sonkh ki Garhi, 10 miles south-west of Mathura. On his return at night, when the army was inattentive and disorganized, the Jats who were ambushed near Thun opened fire on him. Some bullets even reached the elephants on which the Mughal officers were riding. On this, Farrukhsiyar wrote an angry letter to Jai Singh asking him to punish his spies who could not find the drain of the Jats where they were ambushed.

Farrukhsiyar sent another army under the leadership of Khan Jahan Bahadur Syed Muzaffar Khan. The proceedings were adjourned for a few days due to rain. In the meantime, everything became expensive due to being alone and the Mughal army had to face severe shortage. Syed Muzaffar Khan was a man of Farrukhsiyar's Wazir Qutbulmulk Wazir Syed Abdullah and did not like Jaisingh. He started creating difficulties for Jai Singh. On this, Jaisingh sent complaints against Syed Muzaffar to the emperor, which did not yield any result. On the basis of secret orders received from the Wazir, Syed Muzaffar Khan made a settlement by accepting a symbolic defeat from Chudaman. Raja Jai ​​Singh was kept away from this agreement. Chudaman was pardoned and put in the service of the Mughals. He was asked to attend the Mughal court along with his wife, son and nephews and ordered to destroy the forts of Deeg and Thun. On 10 April 1718, Chudaman and Rupa were presented to the emperor and Khan Jahan Bahadur Syed Muzaffar Khan himself took all the credit for the victory. Jai Singh returned from Thun to Delhi on 20 May 1718.

unrest in Malwa

Ruparam, the Naib Subedar of Malwa, could not keep the Afghans, Ruhelons, Marathas, Girasis, Bhils, local kings and Ahirs under control. Everywhere they started rioting. When Maratha invasions started increasing in Malwa, Farrukhsiyar first appointed Muhammad Amir Khan and then Nizam-ul-mulk as the Subedar of Malwa. At this time the Sayyids made a treaty with the Marathas. In 1717 AD, the Marathas captured Jai Singh's Naib Subedar Ruparam and released him with a ransom of two lakh rupees.

Jaisingh in trouble

The conspiratorial nobles of the Mughal court, with the help of the Marathas, removed Farrukhsiyar from the throne and made Rafi-ud-Darajat the emperor. Due to this the situation of Jai Singh became troublesome because he was a supporter of Farrukhsiyar but with the mediation of Jodhpur Maharaja Ajit Singh, good relations were again established between the Sayyids and Jai Singh.