Kunjpura

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Map of Karnal District

Kunjpura is a village in Karnal district, Haryana, India.

Location

It is about 10 km northeast of Karnal city and about 130 km north of the national capital, Delhi. It is on the right bank (west bank) of the Yamuna River, off the Grand Trunk Road that runs from Amritsar to Delhi and further on to Calcutta.

History

Kunjpura was founded by Nawab Najabat Khan in 1729. Kunjpura village has a fort with a long history. It was a major halting point for those who traveled from Khyber Pass to Delhi before modern metalled roads came to be. In 1739, an Afghan adventurer, Najabat Khan, was granted a chiefdom by Nadir Shah as nawab at Kunjpura.

Kunjpura was won by the forces of Maratha Empire in 1761.

पानीपत का युद्ध

पानीपत के युद्ध में पंचायती उप सेनापति पंडित कानाराम ने यमुना नदी के ऊंचे इस्सोपुर के टीले पर अपनी सेना-चौकी स्थापित की थी. जहां से पानीपत का सारा युद्ध-क्षेत्र स्पष्ट दिखाई देता था. 20,000 पंचायती पैदल मल्ल तथा 2000 घुड़सवार मराठा सेना के साथ पानीपत के पास कुंजपुरा के मैदान में लड़े थे. 1000 मल्ल अपनी तथा मराठा सेना को इसी टीले से 3 मार्गों से भोजन सामग्री पहुंचाते थे. यह टीला संस्कृत भाषा, देश-प्रेम, सैनिक शिक्षा का प्राचीन स्थल है. भाऊ ने पंचायत के तीनों सेनापतियों तथा सैनिकों का बहुत आदर किया और यमुना नदी के जल में प्रवेश कर स्वदेश-रक्षा करने हेतु प्रतिज्ञा की. कुंजपुरा के मैदान में शत्रु की सेना पर जनवरी मास में जोरदार धावा बोल दिया. दोनों और की सेनाओं में घमासान युद्ध हुआ. दोपहर तक अफ़गानों के 50 सरदार और 50000 सैनिक मार दिए. दोपहर के बाद भाऊ के तोपखानों तथा घुड़सवारों का सेनापति इब्राहिम गार्दी घायल हुआ पकड़ा गया. फिर भाऊ के भतीजे विश्वासराव के हाथी के हौदे में तोप का गोला गिरा और हौदा खाली रह गया. यह सुनकर भाऊ वहां पहुंचा. इतने में अफ़गानों ने भाऊ के मरने की झूठी खबर फैला दी, जिसे सुनकर मराठों का साहस टूट गया. विश्वास राव के मरने तथा सेना के पैर उखड़ने पर भाऊ घोड़े पर सवार कुछ सैनिकों के संरक्षण में युद्ध से पलायन कर गया. इस युद्ध में 4000 पंचायती मल्ल भी बलिदान हुए.

Jat History

Suraj Mal's Withdrawal From Bhau's Camp

G.C. Dwivedi[1] writes... This embassy could not remain a secret. The thought of his prospective overthrow "displeased" power hungry Imad and his patron and both of them marched away to their camp at Tughlaqabad the same day. Delhi Chronicle adds that next day (i.e. 2nd August) the Marathas "rode out to remove (their) anger."74 This entry (in the above work) has been mainly relied upon by J.N. Sarkar and H.R. Gupta to establish that Suraj Mal


[p.212]: abandoned the Marathas on 2nd or 3rd August.75 That right now he finally departed to Ballamgarh has not been specified even by the above authority. The above scholars supplement their version with such sources76 (including SPD, XXI, 190, SPD, XXVII 258) which do not specifically place the Jat return under any of the suggested dates. On the contrary, certain hints in most of them suggest a later date, but this discrepancy has been somehow left un-explained.

The available sources need to be critically examined to ascertain the account and date of Suraj Mal's withdrawal. At the outset it is to be noted that overwhelming evidence of the nearly contemporary as well as important later works, the Sakhas and strong local tradition link his presence with such well-known events, which occurred after 2nd or 3rd August. Of the scores of the Marathi newsletters, only one (written from Bhau's camp) refers to Suraj Mal's departure, though only briefly and a little ambiguously too. It tells us that Suraj Mal and Imad got annoyed with, and left the Marathas and Mahipatrao Chitnis, Gangoba Tatya and Ramji Anand "have gone to bring them back". It merely refers to September, 1760, but contains no exact date of that month. Significantly, it does speak of Naro Shankar having been appointed the governor of Delhi77-an event which took place on 12th August, 1760.78 We have another fragmentary letter, written about 16th October, 1760, from Bhau's camp near Kunjpura. It makes the significant disclosure that Suraj Mal then was at Ballamgarh and that the Bharatpur troops under the command of his son(?) were shortly due to join Bhau. This letter also expresses the Maratha conviction, "The Jat is ours" and that there was no fear of supplies being obstructed on the Agra Mathura route.79

An entry of 24th September (1760), in Delhi Chronicle, whose contents are supported by Mirat-i-Ahmadi (a work written only eight months after Panipat) throws a good deal of light on our present issue. We are told that in order to assure themselves that Suraj Mal would not rejoin the Marathas, Ahmad Shah Abdali and Shuja sent robes of honour for that chief (at Ballamgarh) and sought intended assurances.80 These


75. Suraj Mal left according to H.R. Gupta (Panipat, 156) on 2nd while according to J.N. Sarkar (Fall,II, 255) on 3rd August, 1760

76. Of all the authorities quoted by these scholars, only Tarikh-i-Muzaffari (wr. in 1800) is not acessible to us. We, however, presume that had it contained their dates, K.R. Qanungo, who has used it, must have referred to it while contradicting (Jats, 138) Delhi Chronicle. He, however, follows Bhau Bakhar to place the Jat departure somewhere between 25th September to 25th October. This is equally doubtful.

77. S.P.D., XXVII, 258.

78. Sarkar, Fall, II, 266-267

79. Rajwade, I, 259.

80. D.C.; Mirat, 908; Also Gupta, Panipat, 138-139.


[p.213]: references belie Bhau Bakhar's claim that Suraj Mal left Bhau just before Bhau's departure for Kunjpura81 (i. e. in October, 1760) and also that of a popular Sakha which even makes the Jat go up to Kunjpura.82 In addition, they make an important hint about the period that had intervened since the Jat's return. Apparently, the above gesture of the Abdali emanated from his apprehension lest the Maratha efforts to placate the Jat should bear fruit. That it was not totally unfounded is borne out by Bhau's letter of 18th September. Therein he assures Govind Ballal that he could seek assistance from the Jat contingent (at Shikohabad) for threatening the homelands of the Abdali's Afghan allies.83 We know that Suraj Mal had returned annoyed. And Bhau could express such a conviction which suggests a comparative improvement in his relations with Suraj Mal around the middle of September. This leaves an impression that a reasonable period had elapsed since the Jat withdrawal which enabled the Marathas to re-open dialogue with the displeased Suraj Mal and that too in a manner as to cause concern to the Abdali. This, in turn, leads us to look further back, more appropriately to August, 1760, for the intended date, as is also suggested by a number of important sources.

Mir Ghulam Ali Azad (who wrote roughly two years later) relied upon the testimony of the Maratha negotiator with Shuja, who, being in the same camp, had the unique opportunity to know the actual facts. He places the Jat withdrawal after Bhau-Shuja negotiations and the appointment of Naro Shankar to the Capital's governorship (i e. 12th August, 1760).84 Tankh-i-Ibrahim Khan85 and Siyar accept this in toto, though the latter attributes the Jat departure primarily to that chiefs shock over Bhau's removal of the silver ceiling of the Diwan-i-Khas (6th August).86 So far as we are able to infer, the well-circumstanced eye-witness, Kashi Raj87 and Mirat-i-Ahmadi88 also place that event impliedly well after the ceiling episode. Ghulam Ali, whose informant was Rao Radha Kishan, a trusted follower of the Jat Raja says that the latter left following Bhau's exorbitant demand for money and his suspicious watch over the Jat Raja.89 As regards Shah Alam Nama,


81. Qanungo, Jats, 132.

82. The Sakha sung by Imaduddin and Party of Haryana. Its type script was sent to me by ex-M.P. Shri Jagdeo Singh Sidhanti of Delhi.

83. Rajwade, I, 244; also see its Introduction (by VK. Rajwade).

84. Amira, 105.

85. Tarikh-i-Ibrahim Khan in Elliot, VIII, 277-278.

86. Siyar, III, 385.

87. Kashi Raj as referred to by Duff. History of the Mahrathas (Oxford press: 1921), I, 520 footnote; also Owen, The Fall of the Mogul Empire. 247.

88. Mirat, 908.

89. Imad, 276.


[p.214]: although it does not connect the Jat alienation with any specific event, it all the same tends to put it quite a few days after the capture of the Delhi fort.90 Memoires des Jats also supports the inference that can be drawn from the above analysis. According to it, Suraj Mal came back when Bhau first thought (c. 17th August 1760)91 of proceeding northward (apparently to Kunjpura).92 All that the Bakhar and persistent tradition suggest is not correct but both these also agree with Suraj Mal still being with Bhau at that time. Thus, varied, weighty and overwhelming evidence leads us to place Suraj Mal's withdrawal from the Maratha camp sometime in the middle of August, 1760 rather than under the alleged date of the Delhi Chronicle. xx


90. Shah Alam Nama, 173.

91. The First clear mention of Bhau's resolve to go to Kunjpura is found in a letter of 2nd September, 1760. See Rajwade, I, 237. It is implied that the plan had been maturing in his mind for some time. Significantly we find him ordering Govind Ballal as early as 17th August, 1760, to send immediately 500 bullocks, which were needed for dragging the baggage, See Rajwade, I, 231. This would show that Bhau began to toy with Kunjpura project right from this time.

92. Memoires des Jats, 53; Tawarika-i-Hunud silently sidetracks the Panipat days.

XX. Rajpal Singh puts 20th August, 1760 for withdrawal on the evidence of Scindhias of Gwalior, II, letter no. 297 dated 20th August 1760, p, 217; also see Gupta, Panipat, 161-162 and Mirat-A-Ahmadi, 908, cited in Rise of the Jat Power, 127, 151, fn. 209.-Editor.

External links

References