In British period, the History of Rajasthan had not received the attention of the scholars it deserves. It is because before 1947 Rajasthan was divided into 19 of princely States, big and small, and the documents for history writing, specially the archives were not accessible to the historians.
Col. James Tod was pioner in this field, he wrote his Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan which, though now out of date, is indispensable for further research in the history of Rajasthan.
Mahamahopadhyaya Symaldas’s Vir Vinod, written after careful scrutiny of good deal of material which was made available to him by Maharana Fateh Singh of Udaipur, is a monumental work and mine of information, not only for the history of the Udaipur State but also for the history of such States as were connected with Udaipur in one way or the other.
Mahamahopadhyaya Gauri Shanker Hirach and Ojha’s history of Rajasthan in several volumes is a scholarly work, containing history of all the important States of Rajasthan except Kota, Bundi and Jaipur. It is more precise and impartialand is the result of good deal of patient and careful research.
Ojha’s deep knowledge of epigraphy has lent his work accuracy which we rarely find in other histories of India. However, several fields and many aspects of the history of Rajasthan still remain unexplored. Considerable amount of research has been done by devoted scholars on the history of the Marathas and the Sikhs as also of the Jats but Rajasthan, the land of heroism and chivalry which fought for the defence of India with the mightiest monarchs of the Pathan, Afghan and Moghul dynasties has not yet been adequately studied.
The word ‘Rajasthan’ is comparatively of recent origin. It was first used by Col. Tod and was adopted by the free Government of India when the State of Rajasthan was formed. In ancient times the present State of Rajasthan was not called by one name. Part of it was Malwa, part of it was Gujrat, and it included the Matsya Desh, Jangal Desh and Medpat or Mewar, and the region around Bairath, in which parts of the integrating states of Jaipur and Alwar were included. The principal areas of Rajasthan were called Maru, Jangal, Matsya, Surasen, Sibi Gurjaratra Vagadas etc.
Perhaps the Bairath region was very important in the time of Emperor Ashok who selected a hill there for his two very important inscriptions. We can safely suppose that near about the site of these inscriptions there was a large settlement or colony of Buddhist monks.
One of the rock edicts found at Bairath mentions the passages of the Buddhist scriptures which should be listened to and meditated on repeatedly by the reverend monks and nuns. They are meant to be read and listened to also by the disciples, male as well as females. It was for this purpose that the edict was inscribed by King Asoka.
From this we can reasonably conclude that near about this site a large number of Buddhist monks used to live; and being cut off from main centers of Buddhism, they had no clear idea of the main tenets of Buddhism and therefore there was fear of schisms and differences arising among them. King Asoka, being most anxious to preserve the unity of Buddhism, refers to the main passages of Buddhist scriptures, the study of which was expected to acquaint the monks, nuns and the lay disciples as to what the realand original form of Buddhism was.
An edict prohibiting schisms and prescribing punishment for those who departed from the main Buddhist teachings is inscribed on an Asokan monolithic pillar at Sarnath near Banaras. The edict of Bairath is of still greater importance in the history of Buddhism because it definitely indicates which passages of the scriptures would give easily a rough and ready idea of what Buddhism stood for. This inscription is now not in situ. The block on which it was inscribed was cut out bodily from the rock and taken to Calcutta by a Military Officer, interested in indology.
That the site was important in the time of Asoka is further proved by the presence of a dilapidated structure of bricks not far from the inscriptions. It seems it was a Buddhist temple. An effort was made for its restoration long before the middle of the 19th Century by the progressive Maharaja Ram Singh of Jaipur. Bairath was in the time of Asoka next in importance only to Sarnath and might be as important as Vidisa.
The Yupas or sacrificial pillars, belonging to the third century and discovered in the integrating States of Kotah and Jaipur, indicate that these regions were centers of Vedic culture and the kings ruling these territories performed Vedic sacrifices. There are also remains of either Buddhist or Brahmanic temples belonging to the Saka period and some inscriptions in Gupta script in Jaipur and Kotah territories which show that these areas were rich and fertile and were well populated.
The history of Rajasthan earlier than the 6th Century A.D. is still very vague. As a result of what has been done so far in this direction we have just a dim outline of the cultural conditions obtaining in that period. The regions adjoining Malwa contain ancient sites, monuments and inscriptions which indicate that the region now known as Jhalawar and Kotah and part of Bundi were in a flourishing condition. The same thing can be said about the region adjoining Gujarat. Thus the southern and eastern parts of Rajasthan before the 6th Century A.D. were fertile areas and were ruled by petty chieftains, who were followers of Vedic religion in the early centuries of Christian era and Bairath was a centre of Buddhism in the time of Asoka.
Roughly speaking in the 7th Century A.D. two great ruling dynasties were founded. The Guhilots rose in Mewar and made Nagada their capital. The Chauhans established themselves at Sambhar. The Guhilots then conquered Chittor from a Mauryan king and shifted to that great fort.
The Chauhans also moved to Ajmer and in course of time became an imperial power and made Delhi their second capitaland it was from them that Muhammad Gauri conquered India. The Guhilots after many vicissitudes made themselves powerful and fought successful wars with the Sultans of Malwa and Gujar at and probably also with those of Delhi. Maharana Kumbha and Maharana Sanga are great names in the history of Rajasthan. In the early 16th century Mewar was the second great power in northern India, for fighting against which Babar had to exert his every nerve in persuading his army to stand in the field.
Emperor Prithviraj Chauhan was defe ated and killed either in Talawadi, or, soon after the b attle in Ajmer. After that his son shifted to Ranthambor and for one century after his death, his descendants continued to resist the aggressions of the Delhi Sultans and it was Allauddin Khilji who finally succeeded in seizing the great fort.
An excellent outline history of this period has been given by Dr. Dashr atha Sharma in his scholarly work ‘Early Chauhan Dynasties’ but future historians, who would attempt to write a fuller account will find it a very interesting subject. The same thing can be said about the Chauhans of Nadol, Jalore, Chandraw ati and Abu and other feudatory families.
The heroic defense which the Chauhan rulers of these dynasties put up against the aggressions is a romance in which Kirtipal, Samant Singh, Udai Singh and Samar Singh are great names. But the most illustrious names are Hamir Deva of Ranthambore and Kanhad Deva of Jalore, each deserving a separate biography.
Islam entered Rajasthan with the armies of Muhammad Gauri. Soon after what is now known as Dhai-din-ka-Jhopara was converted from a college into a mosque. Nagaur was seized and made the seat of a petty Muslim Sultan, supported first by Ajmer and then by Gujrat.
The history of Nagaur during the mediaeval period is an interesting topic for research. So far only episodes are known but next to Ajmer, Nagaur was an important Muslim centre in Rajputana and the Sultans were sometimes powerful enough to induce some Rajput rulers to enter into m atrimonial alliances with them.
Yet another Muslim ruling dynasty was established by Kayam Khan, a Chauhan Rajput converted to Islam, during the Sultan ate period at Fatehpur in Shekhawati. It flourished during the rule of the Tughlaqs, Sayyads, Lodis, Surs and Moghuls. One of the rulers of this petty dynasty who was a good poet of Hindi has written a history of his ancestors in Hindi verse known as Kyam Raso.
It was put an end too early in the 18th century by Shiva Singh, a Chief of Sikar. The history of Nagaur and of Fatehpur and Jhunjhunu which was a branch of Fatehpur are interesting attempted.
Khwaja Muinuddin Chisti, Sheikh Burhanuddin and Mitthe chapters in the history of Rajasthan but have not yet been systematically Sahib were the sufi muslims who planted islamic centres in Ajmer, Shekhaw ati and Gagron and with the patronage of the Sultans of Delhi and Malwa propagated Islam in Rajasthan; but the Hindus converted to Islam in Rajasthan were, more tolerant than the Neo-Muslims of Northern India. Poet Jan who wrote an account of the exploits of his ancestors refers to the Chauhan clan of Rajputs, from whom his family had sprung, in very glowing terms and has spoken not a word against Hinduism.
After the 12th century a new power arose in Rajasthan. They were the Rathores who migrated to the arid and inhospitable desert of Rajasthan after they had been uprooted from Kanauj by the Muslims.
Their early history is vague and has not yet been fully explored, but by the first half of the 16th century they had become a power to count the powerful Rathore ruler who ruled Marwar during the time of Humayun was Maldeo. His support was sought by Humayun when he was driven away by Shershah Sur. The battle of Samel in the pargana of Jaitaran fought with Shershah Sur in 1544 was the earlier Haldighati and Maldeo’s continual struggle precursor of Pratap’s struggle for indepedendence.
During the Sultan ate period, the States of Rajasthan were mostly independent. The fall of Chittor, Ranthambhore, Jalore and the conquest of Ajmer, Nagaur and the foundation of the petty ruling Muslim dynasties at Nagaur, Fathepur and Jhunjhunu were mere petty episodes. During this period there were internecine wars and clanish rivalries. But they did not stand in the way of the development of art and literature and the spread of Bhakti cult, though simultaneously Islam also made head way.
But what we know at present is the outline of the histories of the various States and the inter State relations. It was during this period that Jainism spread in Rajasthan almost in every State perhaps because it found here a sympathetic shelter from the persecutions in other parts of India.
This is evidenced by noble Jain monuments, and inscriptions and the rich Jain Bhandars which contain more than two lacs of manuscripts on a large variety of subjects, religious and secular, not confined to Jainism or the Jain community alone. Among them there are works in early Hindi when it was just developing from Apabrash and other derivatives from Prakrits.
With the foundation of the Mughal dynasty, the history of Rajasthan takes a new turn. The Mughals were not only invaders and conquerors but also diplomats. Akbar particularly employed diplomacy backed by force and he mostly succeeded except in case of Udaipur. Pratap neither submitted to the diplomatic overtures nor was cowed down by the force which Akbar continued to Apply.
Similar resistance was put up by Chandrasen of Jodhpur who in point of bravery, tenacity and spirit of independence can be compared only with Maharana Pratap, but the Mughals did succeed eventually in subjecting all the States of Rajasthan to obedience, which lasted till the death of Aurangzeb. During this period the administration, society, language, customs and religion of Rajasthan were considerably influenced by the impact of the Mughal imperialism.
The revenue system, the administration of justice, the military organization and the court manners of Rajasthan during a century and a half, roughly from 1560-1707, is a very interesting study and a scholar who has interest and patience in preparing a picture of one of these aspects, will find sufficient material for its construction.
The last quarter of the 17th century witnessed a great and unprecedented upheavel in Rajasthan against Aurangzeb. The death of Maharaja Jaswant Singh of Jodhpur against whom Aurangzeb had a long standing grievance encouraged him to extend his rule to Marwar and to convert the posthumous son of the deceased ruler to Islam but Durgadas Rathor succeeded in smuggling out the royal baby from Delhi and bringing him to Marwar, and he kept him concealed in inaccessible places of Rajasthan.
When Aurangzeb attempted to set up his rule in Marwar the entire region was up in arms against him and the Emperor, accompanied by his three sons and best generals, had to march to Rajasthan to guide the campaign against rebellious Marwar.
The Maharana of Udaipur joined Jodhpur and made the situation very grim and menacing for the Mughal Emperor, especially when prince Akbar was won over by the Allies with the promise of his installations as an emperor. But Aurangzeb succeeded in alienating the Rajputs from the prince by means of a clever strategy well known to historians.
This led to a greater danger. Durgadas took akbar to Shambhaji. Apprehending the combination of the Marathas and the Rajputs, Aurangzeb patched up peace with the Maharana of Udaipur, and leaving an inadequate force in Marwar to keep the Rathores in check, marched to the south from where he never returned Durgadas’s action was really a piece of very clever diplomacy. For the next twenty years Rajasthan, except Marwar, was free from any effective interference by Aurangzeb.
Of the leading Rajput rulers only that of Kotah was with Aurangzeb in the south. Mewar kept aloof. Jodhpur was fighting against the Mughal army left behind by Aurangzeb for its subjection. The Jaipur ruler was in Assam and his son Jai Singh was too small a boy to participate in military activity. The Bundi ruler posted with prince Mauzzam was sent away to the north.
Every prince felt that he was not well tre ated and all of them were looking forward to the end of Aurangzeb, who was already bent with age. Sawai Jai Singh of Jaipur was sent by his father after repeated imperial orders with a small contingent of Kachhawa force to participate in the attacks of Maratha forts but being then only a boy he was a nominal Commander of the Kachhawas Only a Jagirdar of Jaipur was commanding them.
During the long absence of Aurangzeb from the north the administration in northern India became slack and on Rajputana bus control came almost to an end. His repeated and insistent orders were evaded by the Rajput rulers and the collection of Jazia which he had imposed even on the loyal Rajput States was either resisted or was done just nominally.
A document of the Kotah archives shows that from a whole Fargana the money collected as Jazia amounted to only seven rupees and a few annas which is evidently ridiculous and was done just to keep up appearances. A Jain temple was being built in Hadoti which was against the standing imperial order then in force. Several orders were received to demolish the constructed portion and to stop further construction but the work went on. An imperial officer was killed in Mukundara and no action was taken.
Aurangzeb was too old and infirm and was too much occupied in his fruitless campaign against the Marathas to take any effective action. In fact the Rajput rulers were now awaiting the end of Aurangzeb and contemplating to support either prince Azam or prince Mauzzam after the Emperor’s death.
When at last the long-awaited end of Aurangzeb came and the struggle for the throne between his two sons, Mauzzam and Azam began, and a battle was fought at Jajau, only three Rajput rulers of note participated in it, Bundi on behalf of Mauzzam, and Jaipur and Kotah on behalf of Azam. Maharaja Ajit Singh of Jodhpur assisted by heroic and diplomatic Durgadas was already liquidating the Mughal forces in his state to enable himself to regain his ancestral throne.
After the victory at Jajau, Mauzzam followed a policy of revengefulness against those who had supported his rival, Azam. As a result of this policy all the Rajput rulers except that of Bundi became hostile and he marched into Rajasthan to punish them but could not succeed. Meanwhile, his youngest brother Kambakhsh rose against him in the south.
The Emperor, therefore, like his father Aurangzeb, had to leave Rajasthan and hasten to the south. Left to themselves, Udaipur, Jodhpur and Jaipur formed a triple alliance against the Mughal emperor for the restoration of Ajit Singh and Sawai Jai Singh to their ancestral thrones, which was actually accomplished. Emperor Bahadurshah could not punish this audacity and had to extend a graceful recognition to the fait accompli.
Authorities for the history of Rajasthan since the beginning of war against Aurangzeb to the restoration of Ajit Singh and Sawai Jai Singh are conflicting, the Muslim historians extolling the actions of the Emperors and the Hindu historians praising the diplomacy and military actions of the Rajput rulers. This period requires a more carefuland closer study which will present a true picture; but even at present it is clear that the Rajputs did employ both war and diplomacy against the Mughal Emperors.
After accession of Farrukhsiyar the direction of affairs shifted to the hands of the Sayyad brothers with whose help the Emperor had obtained the throne. The rulers of Rajputana, therefore, ceased to care for the Emperor and transferred their allegiance to the Sayyads.
The history of the relations of the Rajput rulers with the Sayyads has not yet been written. What we know is that ajit Singh of Jodhpur was defeated and reconciled by his appointment as subedar of Gujrat, and Sawai Jai Singh marched to fight against them but some understanding was reached and he returned to his capital. It was with the help of Ajit Singh of Jodhpur and Bhim Singh of Kotah that the Sayyads dethroned and imprisoned Farrukhsiyar and finally had him murdered. Sawai Jai Singh was henceforth the most dominating figure in Rajasthan and a leading noble in the Mughal Empire.
At about this time the Marathas began to infiltrate into Rajasthan from Malwa and Gujrat and plundered the border areas. The Mughal Empire had already begun to decline and there was practically no control on the rulers of Rajputana. Sawai Jai Singh seized Bundi, expelled its ruler and put his own nominee on the throne. As an imperial subedar of Malwa and Ajmer, Sawai Jai Singh fought against the Marathas and then tried to patch up with them. It brought him in close contact with Bajirao I.
The Kachhawa ruler also knew that the Marathas were a danger to Rajasthan. He, therefore, tried to form a military alliance of all the States, big and small, for the expulsion of the Marathas, not only from Rajasthan but, if possible, even from Malwa, and with this object made a treaty with the Maharana of Udaipur for the partition of Malwa between him and Udaipur, in the event of the Marathas being driven south of Narbada.
The military alliance formed did not materialise and Marathas encroachments and rapacities continued to increase. Sawai Jai Singh, therefore, suggested to the Emperor to despatch an imperial army for the expulsion of the Marathas and promised united support of all the Rajasthan princes.
The Mughal army did march under Khan Dauran and the princes of Rajasthan except Mewar joined it. It marched upto Rampura Bhanpura but there it was surrounded by the Maratha cavalry and was completely immobilized and was released when Khan Dauran and Sawai Jai Singh promised a treaty favourable to the Marathas, though the promise was not implemented.
After Bajirao’s dash on Delhi, the Rajput rulers had hardly anything to do with the Mughals, but Bajirao began to tighten his grip on Rajasthan. A Maratha representative was posted at Kota in about 1737 to collect tribute from Kota and Bundi and also to watch political interests of the Marathas.
Udaipur concluded a treaty witht Bajirao and agreed to pay him tribute. Similar treaty was made by Sawai Jai Singh, who also purchased Maratha neutrality in his domination of the Bundi State. Sawai Jai Singh was a great scholar, Statesman and a diplomat of his time and had friendly relations with all the leading personalities, Mughals, Marathas, Jats and Rajputs. He expired in 1743 and after him the Maratha interference in the affairs of the States of Rajasthan began to increase. Sawai Jai Singh and his times deserve a special study which has been so far only partially attempted.
On the death of Sawai Jai Singh, a fratricidal struggle ensued for the throne of Jaipur. A contest for the throne arose in Jodhpur and clannish factions took place in Udaipur where each party claimed the throne for its own nominee. In all these the Marathas interfered or their support was purchased by this rival or that.
A heavy fine of 40 lacs was imposed on Kota, because a successor was adopted without the permission of the Marathas. Maharaja Ishwari Singh of Jaipur committed suicide to escape humiliation at the hands of the Maratha invaders, and though a Maratha military leader was killed in Jodhpur, eventually its ruler had to submit to the Marathas; and it was after squeezing 50 lacs of rupees that the Marathas withdrew from Mewar.
Thus every State was hard hit and lay prostrate before the Marathas, whose raids and plunders occurred almost continually and caused devastations of large areas in every State. The Rajput rulers were helpless before the Maratha methods of hide and seek and mass raids.
To add to the havoc thus caused the Pindaries and the Pathans appeared on the scene. They became the subsidiaries of the Marathas, preceded them in their march, disturbed and plundered the villages and prepared ground for systematic raids by their chiefs, the Marathas. No ruler of Rajasthan could stand the rising tide of the Maratha aggressions except the dictator of Kota, Raj Rana Zalim Singh and he also but partially.
This sorry state of affairs forced the Rajputs to seek shelter from the East India Company in the beginning of the 19th century. Maharaja Man Singh of Jaipur concluded a treaty with the East India Company on 22nd December, 1803 at Sihind and Maharaja Jag at Singh of Jaipur also made a similar treaty the same year. But soon after East India Company abrogated the treaties because under the pressure of the Marathas they were found unworkable and unprofitable.
The first two decades of the nineteenth century of the history of Rajasthan are full of incalculable misery for the people and the princes alike. There was all round desolation caused by the marauding hordes of the Marathas, the Pindaris and the Pathans. The people witnessed the destruction of their homes and crops and the princes their abject helplessness before the marauding bands.
One illustration will be sufficient to make vivid the grimness of the picture. Daulat Rao Sindhia started on a raiding tour of Bundi, Jaipur and Mewar towards the end of the first decade. Skirting the boundary of the Kotah State with which his relations were friendly, he entered the territories of Bundi, Jaipur and Mewar, plundering and pillaging the villages and towns as he marched.
On the villages and towns he levied contributions and when they not paid, people were mercilessly looted. From the Rajput Jagirdars he demanded heavy amounts. There was haggling, but as much as possible was squeezed. What happened at Duni in the Jaipur State will explain the nature of He demanded sixty thousand rupees from the Rao of Duni, who would not pay it. Daul at Rao invested the walled town and levelled his guns at the palace of the Rao. The Rajput chief stood the siege for over a month and also leveled his guns at the camp of the Sindhia. Ultimately an underst anding was reached and the Rao paid twenty thous and rupees to the Sindhia to buy peace. Then it was discovered that neither the Sindhia nor the Rao had any gun powder for firing the guns.
Dualat Rao marched leisurely at about fifteen miles a day and stopped where there was a prosperous town or village which he squeezed, while his troops plundered the surrounding villages. He had about four thous and troops who while marching made about a mile long line, men and women all riding, many of them carrying French pet puppies in their laps.
In the beginning of the second decade, the Marathas and the Pindaris had become a terror in Rajasthan and Amir Khan was a still greater terror. No hearth or home was safe. The petty fortilaces of the Rajput chiefs were the only safe shelters. There, on the sight of the coming brig ands, the panic striken people used to seek protection till the locusts, after consuming and collecting what they easily found, had passed on in search of more easy prey.
Such was the condition in 1816, when the Government of the East India Company decided first to destroy the Pindaris and then deal with the Marathas. Before commencing the campaign, the rulers of Rajasthan were invited to cooper ate, and during the course of 1817 alliances were arranged with Udaipur, Jodhpur and Zalim Singh, the Regent of Kotah.
After the extirpation of the Pindaris and the isolation of the Marathas, the rulers of Rajasthan were invited by the Government of British East India Company to Delhi to accept the treaties proposed for them. The problem of each State was separately examined, discussed and decided with the aid of experienced officers like Metcalfe, Malcolm and Tod.
Further discussions were held with the representatives of the various States, which resulted in the signing of a long series of treaties beginning with Kota and ending with Jaipur.
Prinsep gives an account of the political transactions during the administration of Hestings and the Indian point of view is ably put forth by Dr. Mohan Singha Mehta in his doctor ate thesis ‘Lord Hastings and the Indian States’. But the years from 1815 to 1818 mark a change from anarchy to order, from struggle to peace, and from troubled independence to comfortable subordination. Hence the transactions and the circumstances which compelled them deserve a closer study, particularly because the contemporary relative records are now easily accessible in the archives of the various States, collected and arranged with c are and ability at Bikaner.
The treaties were not hailed by anybody. The princes had signed them under compulsion of circumstances. They found that they were no longer independent rulers, but have been reduced to the position of mere Agents of the company Government. Naturally, they chafed under the control clapped on them. The people also did not like the treaties either.
To Muslim domination they had become accustomed, because the Muslims had been ruling for so many centuries, and had come to be regarded as Indians though they professed a different religion.
The English were sent percent aliens because of their language, religion, culture and complexion, and country which was so distant and generally unheard of not a single Indian, Hindu or Muslim, had been to England. There was, therefore, a great popular resentment against the establishment of a new foreign Government.
So far as the princes were concerned there was a relieving feature. They had lost independence but gained security. But the jagirdars and the masses gained nothing. Apart from the domination of an alien power which the people did not like, they found that their rulers were now not as responsive as before, because they felt secure under the protecting wings for the East India Company.
The alliance with the British was not, therefore, welcomed by the people and the nobility of the States. Popular dissatisfaction was expressed in the anti-British ferment on several occasions and in several States during the first half of the 19th Century.
Jagirdars of Mewar, Shekhawati and Bikaner resisted the British penetration, and the support they received from the general masses was an evidence of the anti-British feelings of the people. There were also rulers like Maharaja Man Singh, who never compromised with the British.
He provided shelter to the enemies of Company, like Jaswant Rao Holkar, Amirs of Sindh and Appa Sahib of Nagpur. Mers of Mewar also rose against the British Government and consideralbe force had to be used in order to supress them. Bhils, Minas and other refractory tribes too could be kept in control only by stationing British troops at various strategic places in Rajasthan. In Jaipur there was a great resentment among the people and majority of them were hostile to the company.
Maharao Kishore Singh of Kota had also revolted against the provisions of the supplementary treaty of 1818, which had made Zalim Singh Jhala and his successors, the virtual rulers of the State. Even the bandit chiefs Doongji and Jawaharji secured support and applause from the people in their anti-British activities. The raising of the Mer Battalion, Kota contingent, the Jodhpur Legion and the Shekhawati Brigade was necessitated primarily to keep the anti-British elements in check.
These sporadic risings are the subject of folklore which reveals the anti-British character of the popular feelings. Bardic poems, composed during the first half of the 19th century in Rajasthan, pay glowing tributes to the anti-British rebels.
After 1817-18 the British Government in India became paramount in theory as well as in practice. The British Residents pursued a policy of active interference in the internal affairs of the States.
At Udaipur, Colonel Tod was directed by the Supreme Government to take the entire administration into his own hands. At Jodhpur, the British Government offered military assistance to the Maharaja to subdue his nobles but, he declined.
The Maharawal of Dungarpur was deposed in 1825 on the charge of mal-administration. Against this policy of the paramount powder there was a widespread indignation both among the princes and the people.
In Kota, the Hada Rajputs stood up in arms under and their protege, Maharao Kishore Singh against the British Zalim Singh and fought an open engagement at Mangrol in which two British officers were killed.
At Jaipur, during the Regency or Rani Bhatiyani, there was a strong party headed by one Jootha Ram that was opposed to the British interference in the State. The strong measures taken by the Agent to the Governor-General enraged the anti-British party.
A serious disturbance took place in the city in which Colonel Alves, Agent to Governor-General in Rajasthan was wounded and his assistant Mr. Martin Blake was killed.
In 1831 when Lord William Bentinck held a Darbar at Ajmer and invited the rulers of Rajasthan to attend it, Maharaja Man Singh of Jodhpur absented himself. This action of Man Singh was applauded by the boards and he was depicted as a national hero.
The troops who captured and escorted Doongji to Ajmer Jail were hooted and insulted by the people. The feeling of the whole country seemed to be in favour of the bandit and the inhabitants of every town through which he passed lined the streets and house tops and pressed forward to obtain a sight of him. The inhabitants of Ajmer were loud in their expressions of dislike to his captors and disapprobation of their conduct. They hooted and pelted the troops.
The Bardic poetry is full of praise for Maharaja Ratan Singh of Bikaner, who refused to hand over Jawahar Singh, a bandit, to the British Government. The sympathy and support which the bandits received from the general public proves that there was such a great dissatisfaction among the people against the British that they admired even the bandits for their anti-British activities.
By the year 1857, the British domination in Rajasthan had become very unpopular. The efficiency of the British rule meant tyranny. It had either perpetuated the irresponsible rule of the princes or made them impotent. The paramount power had ended the right of the people to revolt against unjust rule.
The rulers, therefore, had become irresponsible and indifferent to their subjects. The British rule was unpopular also because it had brought misery and economic exploitation in its wake.
The skilfuland gradual attempt to force western ideas upon the people led them to suspect that the British would ultimately wipe Hinduism out of existence. The nobility was unhappy with the British because the latter wanted to curtail or end their traditional privileges.
The bardic literature of the first half of the 19th century reveals that a wave of indignation against the British rule had swept all over Rajasthan. In the poems and writings of Kaviraja Banki Dass of Jodhpur aud Suryamal Mishran of Bundi, Rajasthani rulers were condemned for their lethargy and incompetence and the people were called upon to rise against the British.
Thus, on the eve of the revolt of 1857 Rajasthan was simmering with discontent. The minds of the people of all classes and ranks, Hindus and Muslims, princes and people were agitated and disturbed by feelings of uneasiness and apprehension.
When the rising of 1857 took place in British India there was great excitement in Rajasthan also. On the 28th May 1857 when the sepoys of Nasirabad returned from the bazar they told their comrades that bone dust had been mixed with the flour for the purpose of destroying their castes. On this information they revolted and seized the guns. Major Spotiswood and Captain Newberg were killed while two more British captains were wounded.
The Sepoys took road to Delhi. The troops sent to pursue did not attack them. at Neemuch the Europeon Officers fled in all directions. The Sepoys plundured the Government treasury and then marched towards Delhi. On their way at Nimbhahera they were entertained by the people and the Hakim of the town.
Further at Tonk, they were cordially welcomed and joined by a large body of local population and soldiery. Later the Kota Contingent also joined them. The rebels attacked the Europeans barracks and the residence of Captain Hall at Mount-Abu. The Jodhpur troops did not show any enthusiasm in pursuing the rebels, who were joined by the Jagirdar of Auwa and several other nobles of Marwar.
When attacked by them Lieutenant. He athcote fled from the battle field. The Jagirdars of Lambia, Banta, Bhiwalia, Ruddawas etc. joined the Thakur of Auwa. An engagement took place near Choolawas and lasted for three hours. The British troops had to retreat, leaving behind a number of the dead and wounded. Captain Monck Mason was killed.
Major Burton the Political Agent of Hadoti was killed by the rebels at Kota. The enquiry commission held that the ruler of Kota made no effort to save Major Burton. In 1858 Tantia Tope marched into Rajasthan with nine thous and troops. He reached Tonk and from there turned towards Indergarh and Madhopur. From Bundi he moved towards Mewar where he had many supporters.
Being pushed out of Mewar by General Roberts, Tantia reached Jhalra-Patan. The ruler paid him five lakhs and his troops joined Tantia. Generally the nobility, the sepoys and the people extended help to the rebels. At various places the masses rose against the British and manifested deep seated hatred of the foreign rule.
Though the mutiny was suppressed, the anti-British feelings continued to grow and develop. The teaching of Swami Dayanand Saraswati and Swami Vivekanand, both of whom received generous and respectful encouragement from the princes and people in the last quarter of the nineteenth century fostered ideas of nationalism and patriotism. The march of events in British India and the various political organizations working in Rajasthan made the people politically conscious which made them welcome the year 1947.
