History of the Jats:Dr Kanungo/Jat History in Aurangzeb’s Reign
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By K. R. Qanungo. Edited by Vir Singh. Delhi, Originals, 2003, ISBN 81-7536-299-5.
Chapter II. Jat History in Aurangzeb’s Reign
Contents
Hindu reaction and the Rise of the Jat Power
[p.20]: After the enchanted sleep of a century, administered successively by the hypnotic spell of Akbar, the genial indifference of Jahangir, and the mild pattings of Shah Jahan, Hindu India woke to life again in the second half of the seventeenth century, being rudely shaken by the pious activity of the saintly Emperor Aurangzeb. Accustomed to look upon the occupant of the throne of Delhi, though of an alien faith, as the shadow of God on earth, (दिल्लीश्वरो वा जगदीश्वरो वा) the awakened Hindus found to their surprise and sorrow that the impartial Ruler of Hindustan had changed into a militant missionary of Islam. He reverted to the old and forgotten ways. Jaziya (poll-tax) was reimposed; temple destruction and image-breaking went on briskly under strict Imperial supervision; cart-loads of broken idols came in from, all qarters and were buried under the stair-cases of Jama mosques of Delhi and Agra. Hindus were excluded from public offices, and an Ordinance was issued to dismiss all Hindu Clerks from the revenue department. Hindu religious fairs were abolished and public celebration of their festivals prohibited. Custom duty was altogether abolished in the case of Muslim traders while that on the Hindus was retained at the old rate. Hindus were tempted out of heathenism by the grant of State subsidies. In short "Every device short of massacre in cold blood was restored to in order to convert heathen subjects."1 We are not inclined to attribute this, either to Aurangzeb's deliberate wickedness, depravity of
1. Sarkar's Hist. of Aurangzib, iii. 290.
[p.21]: heart, or short-sighted policy. This was rather the outcome of the severe and uncompromising pursuit of an idea, neither eccentric nor vicious. His fault lay in his failure: he carried to his grave this unfulfilled dream of an Islamic India.
However, by this open enemity, Aurangzeb unknowingly revived Hindu Nationalism, which the cruel kindness of his predecessors had well-nigh succeeded in killing. From the far-off Maharashtra came the pulsation of a new life which moved northwards stirring the paralysed limb of Hindu society. In the Punjab, persecution turned a humble sect of sentimental devotees into ferocious warriors.
The Sikhism of Guru Govind was a veritable counterblast to Islam Fanaticism was met with fanaticism; Sikhs went out to fight Muslim armies singing, "He is of the Khalsa who fights in the Van, who slays a Khan." Aurangzeb's attempt to imprison Jaswant's wives and infant son opened the eyes of the Rajuts. The brave Durgadas led the way and the Rathor blades were unsheathed for the defence of liberty and religion. His countrymen paid a tribute to his memory, saying "Had not Durga been born in the house of Askarn,2 all would have been circumcised."
In 1669 another sturdy race, the Jats living almost under the very shadow of the imperial capital rose in revolt. This was but one flare of the mighty conflagration, kindled throughout India, by the missionary zeal of the Emperor.
Rise of the Jats of Mathura and Agra
The Jat peasants of the Mathura and Agra districts had long been the victims of oppression and misrule. Their religious susceptibilities were shocked by the destruction of the Hindu temples of Mathura, whose lofty spires seemed to mock the edifices of Agra. They saw their fields devastated and their wives and daughters carried off to gratify Muslim lust. One faujdar of Mathura, Murshid Quli Khan used to make raids upon the Villages to procure beautiful women. Another infamous practice of his was this:at the time Of Hindu fairs and festivals, "the Khan, painting his forehead and wearing
2. It is said once a Jat carried off the palm of poetic victory from a charan by reciting the following extempore lines:- ढमक ढमक ढ़ोल बाजे दे दे ठोर नागराकी। आसो घर दुग्गा नहीं होती सुन्नयत हो जाती सारांकी॥...Marwar Census Report (vernacular) 1892, vol. iii. p. 56.
[p.22]: a dhoti like a Hindu used to walk up and down in the crowd. Whenever he saw a woman whose beauty filled even the Moon with envy, he snatched her away like a wolf, pouncing upon a flock, and placing her in the boat which his men kept ready on the bank (of the Jamuna) he sped to Agra."3
Aurangzeb appointed as governor of Mathura, Abdun Nabi, "a religious man" in the sense understood by his master. He entered heartily into the Emperor's policy of "rooting out idolatry, and fell in the fight against the Jats (about 10th May 1666).III The victorious rebels, under the leadership of Gokla, the zamindar Tilpat, looted pargana Sadabad. So serous was the menace that the Mughal Government offered him pardon on the condition of giving up his booty. The rebel refused to come to terms. Aurangzeb sent a very strong army under Radandaz Khan, Hassan Ali Khan and other high officers, and himself marched from Delhi to the affected area. Hassan Ali delivered an attack upon three fortified villages of the Jats and won a very costly victory. The peasants fought long and steadily, displaying that cool obstinate valour which had ever characterised them. When resistance became hopeless, many of them slew their women and rushed upon the Mughals to sell their lives dearly. Gokla mustered 20,000 men and offered fight to the imperial forces at a place 20 miles from Tilpat, charging their lines most gallantly. But courage could hardly make up the deficiency in discipline and equipment. After a very long and bloody contest, they had to give way before the superior discipline and artillery of the Mughals. They fell back upon Tilpat, and there held out for three days. The Mughals lost 4000 men in killing 3000 rebels: Gokla was taken prisoner; his limbs were hacked off one by one on the platform of the police office of Agra. [Safkar's Hist. of Aurangzib,iii. 330-336]. Gokla's blood did not flow in vain; it watered the newly-sprouted seedling of liberty in the heart of Jats.
3. Sarkar's History of Aurangzib, ill. 332.
III. Abdun Nabi was killed on 12th May 1669 (21st Zil Hijja, 1079 A.H.) at village Sahora (about 6 miles from Mathura). G.C. Dwivedi, The Jats: their role in the Mughal Empire, p. 28.....Ed.
Rajaram Jat (1686-1688)
[p.23]: Fifteen years after the death of Gokla Jat, a more capable leader appeared among the Jats in the person of Rajaram, son of Bhajja Singh, laird (zamindar) of Sinsini. He united his own clan, the Sinsinwar Jats, with the Sogorias under their chief Ramchehra, who owned the castle of Sogor. 5 He gave the disorderly host of tribesmen the appearance of a regular army, embodied in regiments, equipped with firearms, and trained to obey their captains. Small forts (garhi) were built at advantageous positions, amidst the almost trackless jungles of the Jat country, and strengthenedby mud walls that could defy arti11ery.V
Rajaram soon put an end to the authority of the Mughals in the Agra district, closing the roads to traffic and plundering many villages. Safi Khan, the governor of Agra, became practically besieged in the city, and it was after a very severe fighting that Mir Abul Fazl, the faujdar of the place, succeeded in saving Akbar's tomb at Sikandra, from being sacked by Rajaram. The Jats soon showed greater audacity. Near Dholpur they surprised the camp of the renowned Turani warrior Aghar Khan and carried off his carts,horses and woman. The Khan while pursuing the raiders, was killed with his son-in-law, and 80 followers.
Worn out with the unending chase of the Maratha fox in the south, the unhappy Emperor was startled at the yell of the Jat wolves howling for their prey under the very walls of his capital. As early as May, 1686, Aurangzeb had recognised the gravity of the situation by detaching against
4. Sinsini, 16 miles n.w. of Bharatpur.
5. Sogor is spelt as Sogghair in the French MS. of Wendel, it lies four miles to the south-east of Bharatpur. Rustam Sogoria and KhemchandIVSogoria were the prominent leaders of their got. Suraj Mal captured BharatpurIVfrom the last named chief. Ramchehra, rather an awkward name, occurs nowhere except in the French MS.
IV. Suraj Mal captured Fatehgarhi from Khemkaran Sogoria in 1733 and founded Bharatpur fort at that site in 1743. The name is Khemkaran not Khemchand Sogaria.U N Sharma, Jaton Ka Navin Itihas,I, pp. 325 - 330. Ed.
V. For Raja Ram (1682 -1688) and Ram Chehra see Wendel's Memoirs (Hindi): Hindustan Mein Jat Satta, pp, 89-93; U.N. Sharma, Jaton ka Navin Itihas, I, p. 123; Ganga Singh. Bharatpur ka Itihas, I, pp. 75- 82; G.C. Dwivedi, The Jats: their role in the Mughal Empire, pp. 34-48. - Ed.
[p.24]: the Jats a great general, Khan-i-Jahan Kokaltash Zafar Jang. Now the success of Rajaram and the failure of Khan-i-Jahan thoroughly alarmed him, and in December he ordered his son Azam to go there and command the operations in person. But the prince had only reached Burhanpur, when he was recalled to the Emperor's side by the more pressing need of retrieving Mughal prestige before Golkonda (July 1687). The prince's eldest son, Bidar Bakht, a gallant lad-of 17, was however sent (in December 1687), to assume the supreme command in the Jat war, while Khan-i-Jahan was to continue as his advisor and Chief officer.
But before the prince could arrive, the Jat leader committed more atrocities. Early in 1688, Mir Ibrahim of Hydrabad (newly entitled Mahabat Khan) was marching to his viceroyalty of the Punjab. Near Sikandra he was encamped on the back of the Jamuna, wnen Rajaram attacked him, but was repulsed after a long and stubborn fight with the loss of 400 men, while the Mughals lost 190 in killed and wounded. Rajaram soon returned to the scene, and profiting by the delay in the coming of Shaista Khan, the new subedar of Agra, he plundered Akbar's tomb,6 taking away its carpets, gold and silver vessels, lamps, etc. and damaging the building. Khan-i-Jahan did nothing to check him.
Bidar Bakht, on his arrival, infused greater vigour into the Mughal operations. At this time an internecine (deadly) War was raging between the Shekhawat and Chauhan clans of Rajputs for lands in the Bagtharia and some other parganas. The Chauhans enlisted the support of Rajaram, while the Shekhawats gained the armed help of the Mughal faujdar of Mewat. A severe battle was fought between them near the village of Bijal. The Rajputs grappled with one another in deadly animosity, and many were slain on both sides. In the thick of the contest, Rajaram was shot dead by a Mughal musketeer hiding in a tree (4th July 1688).
6. Ishwardas, 132b. Manucci (ii. 320) adds "They began their pillage by breaking in the great gates of bronze which it had, robbing the valuable precious stones and plates of gold and silver, and destroying what they were not able to carry away. Dragging out the bones of Akbar, they threw them angrily into the fire and burnt them."
Raja Bishan Singh's campaign against the Jats
[p.25]: After the death of Rajaram, the leadership of the Jats was assumed by his old father Bhajja Singh of Sinsini. Bishan Singh Kachhwah, the new Raja of Amber (Jaipur), was appointed by the Emperor as faujdar of Mathura with a special charge to root out the Jats an take, Sinsini as his own jagir (Ishwardas, 133a). He gave the Emperor a written undertaking to demolish the fort of Sinsini (Ishawar, 139a, 135b), as he was burnin to distinguish himself and win a high mansab like his father Ram Singh and grandfather Mirza Raja jai Singh. Bidar Bakht laid siege to Sinsini. But the campaign in the jungles of the Jat country severely taxed the invading army.
The Mughals before Sinsini had to undergo great hardship from scarcity of provisions and water, as the enemy by frequent attacks cut off the grain-convoys and watering parties. Incessant night-attacks kept the siege-camp in perpetual alarm. "The men were prostrated by hunger, and the animals perished in large numbers through weakness." But the besiegers held tenaciously on, and in four months carried their trenches to the gate of the fort, mounted guns on raised platforms, and laid mines. The jungle round the fort was cleared.One mine under the gate was fired but the Jats having previously detected it and blocked its further side with stones, the charge was driven backwards, destroying many of the artillerymen and supervising officers of the Mughal army. A second mine was then laid and carried under the wall in a month's time. It was successfully fired (end of January, 1690), the wall was breached, the Jat defenders liningg it were blown up, and the Mughals stormed the fort after three hours of stubborn opposition. The Jats disputed every inch of the ground and were dispersed only after losing 1500 of their men. On the imperial side 200 Mughals fell and 700 Rajputs were slain or wounded. The remnant of the garrison was put to the sword (Ishwardas, 136b-137a; M.A. 334; Hamid-ud-din's Ahkam, § 26).
"Next year (21st May,1691) Raja Bishan Singh surprised the other Jat stronghold of Sogar. The Raja hastened there with the imperial army. By chance, as the gate of this little
[p.26]: fort was kept open at the time for admitting grain the invaders entered it at the gallop, slaying all who raised their hands and taking 500 of the rebels (Ishwar). The result of these operations was that the new Jat leaders went into hiding in 'nooks and comers' unknown to the imperialists. The tribesmen returned to the peaceful work of cultivation and the district enjoyed peace for some years.7 VI
Churaman Jat (1695-1721)
Churaman, the younger cousin brother of Raja Ram assumed the leadership of the Jats after the death of his father Bhajja Singh VII of Sinsini. "He had a genius for organization and making clever use of opportunities,"8 combining in his character the stubborness of a Jat with the cunning and political sagacity of a Maratha. His moral maxim was that of the sixteenth century Muslim theologians like Sayyid Rafiud-din Safavi, who assiduously preached to the faithful that no faith should be kept with the infidel.9 Churaman served many a Muslim master, but he was never faithful to any for faithfulness sake. He was a hard, practical politician, who could boast of never losing his head under the impulse of any noble sentiment like fidelity, honour or compassion, which had indeed no room in his cold heart: yet this was the man who built up the fortune of the Jats and made the Jat Power an important political factor to be reckoned within the eighteenth century politics of Northern India.
The author of lmad-us-Saadat gives the following account of the early career of Churaman. "He began his career as
7. This section is partly a summary, and for the most part quotation verbatim from Prof. J.N. Sarkar's article. "The Breaking-up of the Mughal Empire: Jats and Gaurs" published in the Modern Review, October, 1923.
VI. The author has summarized the account of two operations only given by J.N. Sarkar in the said article. He has not mentioned the numerous operations by the imperialists against the Jat peasants during 1688-1695. In Appendix C also, the author gives a very brief account of the Jat Rising in Aurangzeb's reign and mentions only one major operation against Sinsini. For this gap period of 7 years read Qanungo, The History of Diggi House, Ch. VII &VIII. - Ed.
VII. Brij Raj and Bhajja Singh were brothers. Churaman was the son of Brij Raj and Raja Ram of Bhajja Singh. Thus, Churaman and Raja Ram were cousins. U.N. Sharma, Jaton ka Navin Itihas, I, 342 also 180. -Ed.
8. Prof. J.N.Sarkar's article "Jats and Gaurs" -Modern Review, October, 1923.
[p. 27]: the leader of a gang of highwaymen, plundering caravans and wayfarers. Within a short time he collected under his command 500 horses and one thousand footmen. Nanda Jat, the father of Bhure Singh, and grandfather of Daya Ram and Bhup Singh, the notorious castellans of Hathras and Mudsan, also joined him with 100 horsemen. As his establishment became too large to be maintained by the plundering of merchant caravans, he began to loot parganas. At this time he built a place of refuge in a low marshy and thickly wooded tract about 48 kos from Agra, digging a deep moat around it. There he used to deposit his booty, and, by gradual additions, it was turned into a mud fort which afterwards became known as Bharatpur.VIIIHe brought
VIII. The author mistakes Bharatpur for Thun. All the account given here is related to Churaman's strong mud-fort Thun. Shivdas is a contemporary writer whose work Shahnama was written in 1722. Shivdas says that Thun was built in the impenetrable jungle of thorny bushes that even the birds found it difficult to pass through it. The sky-high rampart of Thun were encircled with a ditch, which was so deep that water burst up from the bottom. Shivdas, Shah Nama Munawwar Kalam, 19; Iqbal Nama 23; (both Askari trans.), G.C. Dwivedi, The Jats: their role in the Mughal Empire, pp. 49-50, f.n. 91-95.
Qanungo quotes 'Imad-us-Saadat' which is a later work written in 1807 A.D. at Lucknow, when the fame of Bharatpur fort was at its peak after General Lake's unsuccessful expedition against Bharatpur. It appears that the impact of Bharatpur on the minds of the people was so dominant that Mir Ghulam Ali confuses Bharatpur with Thun. Imad-us-Saadat is mainly a history of Nawabs of Awadh, it throws sidelights on the early activities of Churaman and more confidently on Suraj Mal, whose associate Rao Radha Krishan was the informant of the author. Qanungo himself observes in his bibliography on the work 'Though his history is neither full nor methodical, it amply repays, perusal.' Strangely enough, Qanungo himself and Irfan Habib (The Agrarian System of Mughal India, 392) take Bharatpur for Thun on the wrong information given by Imad-us-Saadat, at p.55. Churaman built the fort of Thun not Bharatpur. Thun was captured from Churaman's son Muhkam Singh by Sawai Jai Singh on 9th November 1722 and no fort was built at Thun's demolished site again. It lies 11 miles west of Deeg. At present also the descendant of Thakur Churaman are inhabited in Jatoli Thun.In 1733 Suraj Mal captured Fatehgarhi of Khema Jat and built Bharatpur at that site during 1743-1750. U.N. Sharma, Jaton ka Navin Ilihas, I, 198-199 f.n. 40-41, 304 f.n. 100, 327; also Final Settlement Report Bharatpur State, III (1901) p.25 for site of Thun. Also see, Growse, Mathura, I, 23; Tod. III, 1358; Gokal Chand Dixit, Brijendra Vansh Bhaskar, 20. -Ed.
[p.28]:some Hindu Chamars from the neighbouring villages, and settling them there, entrusted its defence to them. When his army grew to 14,000 men, he left one of his trustworthy brethren with sufficient men and materials of war in-charge of Bharatpur,(Thun ed.) and himself started on a plundering expedition towards Kota and Bundi where he looted many caravans and acquired a rich booty.10Being more enterprising than those who had preceded him. he not only increased the number of his soldiers, but also strengthened them by the addition of fusiliers (musketeers) and a troop of cavalry whom he shortly after set on foot . . . and having robbed many of the ministers of the Court on the road, he attacked the royal wardrobe and the revenue sent from the provinces (Fr. Ms.f. 41). . . . About 1704 he recovered Sinsini from Mughal possession, but lost it again in October 1705. (Prof. J.N. Sarkar, Modern Review, October, 1923).
Greater opportunities came to the robber chief, when Aurangzeb closed his weary eyes in the Dakhin in 1707. Bahadur Shah and Azam prepare for a decisive fight at Jajau, not far from Samugarh, where Fortune had placed the crown of Hindustan upon their father's brow. Churaman collected his tribesmen, and hung about the neighbourhood of both armies, looking out for an opportunity to attest his timely zeal for the victor by falling upon the camp and baggage of the vanquished. He became eminently successful, securing at the end a very rich booty as well as a mansab of 1500 zat, 500 horse, bestowed upon him by the victorious Bahadur Shah. Churaman made an intelligent investment of his vast wealth by building forts, collecting men and winning over his enemies. But as the government of Bahadur Shah was fairly strong, he Chose to be faithful to it,IX and render good services to justify his newly acquired rank as an Imperial Commander.XHe accompanied Bahadur Shah to Lahor in 1711
10. Imad-us-Saadat, Pers. text p. 55.
IX. Contra see G.C. Dwivedi. 'that Churaman remained faithful for fearof Bahadur Shah's government being "fairly strong" is untenable. It was unquestionably weaker than the preceding one and even that failed to make Churaman faithful to the Mughals. [[The Jats: Their role in the Mughal Empire]], p. 55, f.n. 14. -Ed.
X. Churaman joined the Emperor near Delhi. Qanungo altogether ignores this issue. See for clarification, G.C. Dwivedi, The Jats: Their role in the Mughal Empire, p. 57, f.n. 23. -Ed.
[p.29]: and there witnessed the battle of succession among his four unworthy sons in 1712.
Jahandar Shah, the eldest son of the late Emperor, a profligate fool, now disgraced the throne of Aurangzeb. He was old in years (about fifty at this time), but worse than a child in frivolity and frolicsomeness, a slave to him sweet-voiced concubine Lal Kunwar, and passing the few inglorious days (ten months) of his reign in midnight revelry and morning slumber, preferring fiddlers to soldiers, and loving to play at night the part of the Great Monkey, Hanuman, by setting fire to a mimic city of Lanka. A successful rebel who had carved out a principality for himself, could scarcely entertain any fear or respect for such a sovereign.
Accordingly, Churaman retired to his own estates and gathered resources to make a fresh bid for fortune. When the news of Farrukh-siyar's march from Patna reached Delhi, Jahandar Shah induced Churaman by many far promises to join his army. Churaman had come the de facto ruler and law-giver of the Jats and other Hindu people, inhabiting the western bank of the Jamuna from Delhi to the Chambal, owing to the weakness of the imperial Government to provide security of life and property to the inhabitants. So, he was a man to be reckoned within those troubled times- his attitude practically determining the friendship or hostility of the whole rural population towards a particular candidate for the throne of Hindustan. He came with a large number of Jats and was present with Jahandar Shah's army at the battle which was fought outside Agra city. But, instead of rendering any help to the unfortunate Jahandar Shah, he rather contributed to his defeat by falling upon the imperial baggage at a critical moment of the fight (January, 1713).
Churaman marched away from Agra after plundering the baggage of both sides impartially. He seemed to have been aiming at independence, at least deferring his submission till the new Emperor should show more energy. He felt himself strong enough to hold out, because the Emperor was weak-minded and his Court corrupt and divided against itself. The majestic beauty and splendid physique of Farrukh-siyar, ill-suited his cowardly and vacillating nature: never did a more magnificent body clothe
[p.30]: a poorer spirit. Early in Farrukh-siyar's reign Chabela Ram, the then subedar of Agra, made strenuous but unsuccessful efforts to humble the stiffnecked Jat chief. Samsam-ud-daula (Khan-i-Dauran), the next governor of Agra, reluctant to risk his reputation in a doubtful enterprise, tried conciliation. He secured Churaman's pardon from the Emperor, who summoned him to the Court, Churaman marched at the head of 4000 horsemen and was escorted with honour, befitting a raja, from Barahpula into the city. He was conducted to the Dewan-i-khas by Khan-i-Dauran himself, and appointed by the Emperor to the charge of royal high way (Shah-rah) from the neighbourhood of Delhi to the crossing on the Chambal. A wolf was left to watch over the flock; thereby loot was only legalised and made more methodical.
Churaman had been allowed by the Mughal Government to levy a toll on traffic along that portion of great road which was left in his charge. He made his collections so harshly and arbitrarily that an outcry soon arose against him from every quarter. A Jat tax-collector, as the proverb says, is indeed a sign God's wrath; his penny breaks a head while the Bania's hundred hundred rupees hardly touch the skin. He behaved as if he were the absolute master of the whole tract traversed by this portion of the road. Even the jagirdars could not get their dues from the villages, except what Churaman pleased to dole out to them. The Emperor and his courtiers burned with rage, but no one was willing to undertake the task of punishing the rebel.
The rapid growth of the Jat power on the immediate border of his own state caused alarm as well as hatred of the ruler of Jaipur. Aurangzeb had employed Raja Bishan Singh Kachhwah to crush the ancestors of Churaman since that time a hereditary feud had continued between the Jats and their Rajput neighbors. Now Raja Jai Singh Sawai came forward to take command against Churaman, to the great joy of Farrukh-siyar. The Raja was liberally supplied with men and money; Maharao Bhim Singh Hada of Kota, Raja Gaj Singh Narwari, and Maharao Budh Singh Hada of Bundi also accomplished him. The campaign (November 1716-April 1718), opened with the siege of Thun in which Churaman
[p.31]: was said to have gathered grain, salt, ghee, tobacco, cloth and firewood for 20 years! The prudent Jat had turned out empty handed all merchants and traders-useless consumers of bread, with their families, before the siege began. The besieged made a sally and led by Churaman's son Muhkam Singh, and his nephew, Rupa, gave battle in the open. The Jaipur Raja claimed a victory which only enabled him to resume the blockade. But as success seemed doubtful, Adbus-Samad Khan, the brave and energetic governor of Lahore who had won great fame by crushing the Sikhs, was recalled from the Punjab to reinforce Raja Jai Singh. However, owing to court intrigue, he was not sent. Churaman had also allies out side, viz., the jamindars and villagers who kept the Imperialists in perpetual alarm by pillage and plunder. The siege dragged on for 20 months without any definite result. Party strife at the court between the Hindustani faction headed by the Sayyid brothers, and the Turani faction led by the Nijam-ul-mulk proved the salvation of Churaman. The wazir Sayyid Abdullah was hostile to the Jaipur Raja, whose success, therefore, he did not wish. Through a relation and agent of the wazir, Churaman made offers of submission by promising to pay a tribute of 30 lacs of rupees to the Imperial treasury, and another 20 lacs to the Wazir himself. Farrukh-siyar was helpless, like Sindbad the Sailor, with the the two Sayyids upon his shoulders; so he reluctantly and ungraciously granted pardon to the rebel, brought before his presence, under the safe conduct of the Wazir. From this time Churaman became an active and trusted partition of all powerful Sayyids.
Churaman and the Sayyid Brothers
In February 1719, Farrukh-siyar was deposed, blinded, and put to death by the Sayyids who raised a consumptive youth, Rafiud-darjat, to the throne. The new emperor was deposed after three months, and his elder brother Riifi-ud-daula succeeded him. This man was so fortunate as to die a natural death after four months. Then the throne was given by the Sayyids to Muhammad Shah in September 1719. However, the end of the Kingmakers was drawing near. A woman's curse rested upon one, and extreme insolence drew
[p.32]: down Heaven's vengeance upon the other. Sayyid Abdullah had fixed his licentious gaze on Inayat Banu Begam, wife of the Emperor Rafi-ud-darjat. The unhappy queen, feeling her husband unable to protect her, cut off her beautiful locks and sent them to her tempter in order to escape dishonour. The vanity and infatuation of Sayyid Husain Ali had also gone beyond limit. He once boasted that upon whomsoever he cast the shadow of his shoe that man would become the equal of the Emperor Alamgir! Churaman followed the Sayyids like a shadow; he was with the army of Husain Ali at the time of Farrukh-siyar's deposition. Later on he accompanied him to Agra in the expedition against a pretender, Neku siyar, who had been proclaimed Emperor by the enemies of the Sayyids. He was assigned an important post in the siege of that fort,11 and it was through his influence with the garrison that the fort was surrendered. After that he started for the Dakhin with Husain Ali when he marched against the Nizam-ul mulk (May 1720). For his faithful services, the Sayyid promised him the title of Raja, but this promise could not be fulfilled as Husain Ali was soon afterwards murdered by the Mughals with the connivance of Muhammad Shah. Large rewards were offered to Churaman to induce him to desert the cause of the Sayyids. Considering it foolish to incur the enemity of the Emperor for nothing, he accepted them and joined Muhammad Shah's army. The cunning Jat persuaded the Emperor to change his route which would have passed through his villages. Leaving his own villages at a distance, he led the army of emperor across the territories of his enemy Raja Jai Singh; and took it over high hills, thorny jungles, and waterless waste (Irvine's Later Mughals,ii. 68-69).
11.Another instance of Churaman's heartless treachery is given by Father Wendel:- "There having made an agreement with Neku-siyar to allow his brother Ali Zafar to pass with a large sum of money to Raja Jai Singh's country for raising troops and marching, when he would be summoned, to his succour, Churaman turned traitor to the unfortunate prince, seized the money (50 lakhs in gold), and sent by perfidious hand, Ali Zafar, to Husain Ali (Orme MSS. p. 70 of Prof. J.N. Sarkar's transcript).
[p.33]: When Syyid Abdullah advanced at the head of a large Army against Muhammad Shah, Churaman went over to the Minister with all his Jats. In this he was note certainly actuated by sentiments of devotion and gratitude to his old pattern. XI The cynical Jat argued that "in case of the Sayyid's defeat, it would be much easier to secure pardon from Mohammed Shah, then it would be, in the rivers case, to save himself from the Sayyid's vengeance" (Later Mughals, ii. 81)
On the day of the battle (November 1720), fought in the neighborhood of Hodal, Churaman12 with his Jats was employed to make diversion by attacking the camp and baggage of Muhammad Shah. He threw himself heartily into this congenial task which meant a maximum of gain with minimum of loss. Like a pack of walves, the Jat fell upon the baggage camp from the west, south, and east in succession, and though driven back with difficulty, they carried off many oxen and horses and created much confusion among the camp followers. But in actual fighting, the day had ended in the virtual destruction of Abdullah's Army. So, next morning, Churaman without caring, for the favour are frown of either party, plundered both sides with strick impartiality, and made off with the booty to his own country.
Churaman now open acted as an independent Raja the he did not assume that title for fear of exciting the jealousy of his kinsman. He strengthen himself against the Kachhwahas by making an Alliance with Raja Ajit Singh Rathore of Marwar and he sent assistance to the Bundelas to keep the Mughal government busy in the east. But he committed an indescretion and injustice by throwing his nephew Badan Singh into prison.
Badan Singh was released by the intervention of other Jats who begin to be suspicious of Churaman's design. Family dissension afforded fresh opportunities to his enemies. Badan Singh fled for protection and assistance to Saadat Khan, subedar of Agra, who had already Begun a campaign against the Jats. Muhkam Singh, son of Churaman, inflicted a crushing defeat upon Nilkanth Nagar, Deputy of Saardat Khan. The Khan himself fared no better, and was accordingly removed from his office. Again Raja Jai Singh took the
XI. "There is not enough ground to suspect his 'devotion and gratitude' to the Sayyid. . . . . . Churaman's presence in the royal camp was a temporary device to avert a possible danger to his territory." For detail see, G.C. Dwivedi, The Jats: Their role in the Mughal Empire, 71-72. -Ed.
12. According to another account, "Churaman with his band fell on the baggage of Emperor and that of Abdullah also, and took a considerable booty in the very heat of the action." [Fr. MS., p. 73].
[p.34]: command against the Jats, to wipe of the disgrace of his previous failure. But by this time, old woman had committed suicide by taking poison (September-October 1721)XII
The story of his death runs as follows:- "One of his relations, a wealthy man died childless. The brethren sent for Muhkam, the eldest son of Churaman, and made him head of the deceased's zamidari, and gave over to him all his goods. Zul Karan, the second son of Churaman said to his brother, "Give me too a share in those goods and admit me as a partner." A verbal dispute followed and Muhkam made ready to resis by force. Zul Karan determined to have the quarrel out, gathered men together, and attacked his brother. The elders of the place sent word to Churaman that his sons were fighting which was not well.... Churaman spoke to Muhkam. The son replied to his father in abusive language, and showed himself ready to fight his father as well as his brother. Churaman lost his temper, and from chagrin swallowed up a dose of deadly poison which he always carried with him, and going to an Orchard in that village lay down and gave up the ghost. After a long time had elapsed, men were sent to search for him and they found his dead body" (Later Mughals,ii. 122)
Again did Raja Jai Singh Sawai appear on the scene to subdue the Jats.He began is operations with 14000 horsemen, and the number by subsequent reinforcementa rose to 50,000. The sons of Churaman were besieged in Thun, whose chief defence was a belt of impenetrable jungle. The Imperialists gradually closed upon the fort by cutting the trees. Badan Singh who was with the Army of Raja Jaisingh pointed out the weak spots and helped in the reduction of two fortified outworks. After conducting the defence for about 2 months, Muhkam Singh lost heart, and secretly free from Thun, took refuse with his father's ally, Raja Ajit Singh Rathore. On November 18, 1722; the Imperialists entered the place. Badan Singh was was installed a the chief of the Jats with the title of Thakur, by the ruler of Jaipur.
XII. G. C. Dwivedi conclude that Churaman died between 17th September and 10th October 1721. For details see, The Jats: Their role in the Mughal Empire, p.76,f.n.11. Contra see Rajpal Singh, 'Churaman did not die in zul-hijja (September-October 1721) as has been asserted by William Irvine (Later Mughals,II.122) and undisputedly accepted by almost all the later historians. Several farmans preserved in the Rajasthan state Archives regarding correspondence between Delhi government and jaising reveal that Churaman guided the Destiny of the Jats still May 1724. Kapatdwara Records, Farman No. 26,29 to 31, 34 to 39. Also see Sivani-I-Khizri by Md Umar, son of Khizar Khan that Author was present on the spot where Churaman's son quarreled and the Jat chief was made to take poison, cited by Rajpal Singh, Rise of the Jat Power, p.47 f.n. 127....Ed
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