Important Rulers of Marwar : RAS History

The Rathore rulers of the Indian princely state of Jodhpur were of an ancient dynasty established in the 8th century.

Important Rulers of Marwar (Rathores of Jodhpur):

1. Rao Chuda:

• The descendant of Rao Singh and son of Viramdev was the first famous king of Chuda dynasty. 
• He annexed the fort of Mandor from the subedar of Mandu. 
• He extended his kingdom till Nadol, Nagore areas.
• The eldest son of Rao Chunda was not declared his successor, his eldest son Ranmal went to the service of Maharana Lakha of Mewar.
• There he promised to marry his sister, Hansabai to Maharana Lakha on the condition that her son will be made the successor of Maharana Lakha.
• After some time, Ranmal attacked Mandor, with the help of the army of Mewar and in 1426, he took it under his control. 
• From Maharana Lakha till the  starting days of Kumbha, the rule of Mewar remained in the hands of Ranmal.
• In 1438, Kumbha killed Ranmal when he was influenced by some nobles to do so.

2. Rao Jodha(1438-1489):

• After Ranmal was killed, his son Rao Jodha ran away from Mewar to save his life, but he was chased by the army of Mewar led by Rawat Chunda and  the Mandore fort came under the Control of Mewar.
• In 1453, Rao Jodha again gained control of Mandor and nearby areas.
• In 1459, Rao Jodha constructed the Jodhpur fort (Mehrangarh) on the Chidiya Tunk Mountain and settled the city of Jodhpur.
• Till that time, Jodhpur state had expanded a lot.
• Rao Jodha died in 1489.

3. Rao Maldev:

• He was crowned in June 1531, at Sojat. 
• At that time Humayun was the emperor of Delhi.
• He expanded his kingdom in all directions and he added Nagore, Ajmer, Sivana, Jalore and Bikaner to his kingdom.
• He was married to Ummade of Jaisalmer.
• His wife sulked with him on the first day of his marriage and was famous with the name ‘Ruthi Rani’ throughout her life. 
• She lived at Taragarh Fort and Ajmer.
• He extended his full support to remove the son of maid Banvir and helped Udai Singh to sit on the throne of Mewar, which Banvir had taken by killing the father of Udai Singh. 
• When Sher Shah Suri defeated the Mughal emperor Humayun, he came to Maldev for help. 
• Later on he went towards Amarkot.

Giri Sumel Battle:

• In 1543 AD, the Afghan ruler of Delhi Sher Shah Suri attacked Maldev.
• At a place called Giri-Sumel, near Jaitaran there was a fierce battle between the two armies and Sher Shah Suri could win that battle with great difficulty.
• Then he said that ‘I could have lost the empire of India, for a handful of Bajra’.
• In this battle, the trusted commanders of the army of Maldev, Jaita and Kunpa were killed.
• After this battle, Sher Shah Suri took the fort under his control and he gave it to Khawas khan.
• He died on November 7, 1562.
• He was not only a brave and glorious king, but he was also a builder. 
• He helped build various forts like Pokhran fort, Malkot fort, Sojat, Saran etc. 

4. Rao Chandrasen(1562-1581):

• He was the sixth son of Maldev.
• After the death of Rao Maldev, his younger son was made the king in 1562, as it was the wish of Maldev.
• Those lords who were not happy with his coronation, instigated his brothers against him.
• In 1563, Rao Chandrasen attacked his brother Ramsingh . 
• When Ramsingh felt that he would not win the battle, he went to the Nagore ruler Husain Quli Beg and asked for his help. 
• Akbar took the advantage of this feud between the brothers.
• Akbar ordered  his representative at Nagore to attack Jodhpur and take control of the Fort. 
• During the battle, Rao Chandrasen, along with his family, went towards Varadarajan. 
• In 1564, the fort came under the control of the Mughal army.

Nagaur Darbar:

• In november 1570, Akbar reached Nagaur and established his court in Nagaur for some time .
• Many Rajputs of Rajasthan went to his court and accepted his submission. 
• Among these were the king of Bikaner Rao Kalyanmal and his son Raisingh and Udai singh, the  brother of Rao Chandrasingh.
• Rao Chandrasen also came to Nagaur from Bhadrajun but he did not accept the submission of Akbar and returned to Bhadrajun.
• So Akbar was angry at this and he sent his armies to Bhadrajun in 1574 under leadership of Jalal Khan and 1576-77 under leadership of Shahbaz Khan to bring him under his influence.
• The fort of Bhadrajun was under Akbar's army. 
• Then Rao Chandrasen went to Sivana.
• Now Akbar gave the rule of Jodhpur to Raisingh, the prince of Bikaner.
• In 1572, Akbar nominated prince Raisingh as the Subedar of Jodhpur. 
• Raisingh was the son of King Kalyanmal of Bikaner.
• Akbar now sent a strong army to Sivana, which included Shah Quli Khan, Rao Raisingh, Keshavdas Medatiya(son of Jaymal) also.
• It was the dream of the Emperor to subjugate Rao Chandrasen but the royal army was unable to subjugate him.
• After this, Jalal Khan was sent to Sivana to subjugate Rao Chandrasen in 1574, but he was killed by Rao Chandrasen.
• Then in 1576-77, again the royal army was sent to catch Chandrasen, but they were unable to catch him.
• Rao Chandrasen now made Sojat his residence. There he died on January 11, 1581. 
• He was cremated here and his statue of marble was created, which is still present there. 
• Rao Chandrasen was the first ruler of Rajasthan during the reign of Akbar, who wanted a free kingdom. 
• He refused to submit. 
• Maharana Pratap followed the path shown by Rao Chandrasen.
• Rao Chandrasen was the final free minded  Rathore king who adopted the path of suffering, in order to remain free. 
• With his death, shattered the dream of Rathores to remain free.
• He was the first Rajasthani ruler who started the anti-Mughal policy wholeheartedly. 
• He was the ideal of those Rajputs who wanted to remain independent.
• Chandrasen is also regarded as the path demonstrator to Maharana Pratap. 
• He was the second ruler after Udai Singh who gave more importance to guerilla warfare than open wars. 
• Maharana Pratap also followed the same strategy.

5. Motaraja Rao Udai Singh(1583-1595):

• Udai Singh, the elder brother of Rao Chandrasen had gone to Nagaur darbar in the service of Akbar. 
• Akbar made him the ruler of Jodhpur on August 4, 1583  because he was happy with his service .
• Rao Udai Singh was the first ruler of Jodhpur who submitted to Mughals and established marriage relations with them. He  married his daughter Maanibai to prince Salim.
• Rao Udai Singh fought many battles on behalf of Akbar and won many battles.
• Finally he died in Lahore in 1595.
• Motaraja Udai Singh gave the opportunity to his people to live peacefully  by ending the battles which started at the time of  Maaldev.
• After Rao Udai Singh, his son Shursingh sat on the throne of Jodhpur in 1595.
• Akbar was impressed by the bravery of Shursingh. So in 1604, Akbar gave him the title of ‘Sawai Raja’.
• Shursingh fully supported prince Khurram in his Mewar campaign. 
• He was a great, glorious and intelligent king. 
• After Maaldev, he was the only ruler during whose reign Marwar prospered.
• Gaj Singh, the son of Shursingh, sat on the throne of Jodhpur in 1619. 
• Impressed by his bravery, Emperor Jahangir gave him the title of ‘Dalthambhan’.
• In 1638, he died in Agra.
• His final rites were performed there near Yamuna river.

6. Maharaja Jaswant Singh I (1638-1678):

• He was crowned in Agra.
• Shahjahan honored him with the title of ‘Maharaja’ . 
• In 1656 AD, when Shahjahan was ill, there was a battle for the succession.
• Maharaja Jaswant Singh supported Dara Shikoh, the elder son of Shahjahan and went to Ujjain with his army, to defeat Aurangzeb.
• Battle of Dharmat: A battle was fought between Aurangzeb and Dara Shikoh for the succession to the throne . It was fought at Dharmat near Ujjain. Aurangzeb defeated the emperor’s army. Maharaja Jaswant Singh led the army of Dara Shikoh in battle.
• Battle of Dorai:  from 11 March to 15 March 1659, a battle was fought at Dorai, near Ajmer, between the armies of Aurangzeb and Dara Shikoh. Dara Shikoh was Defeated.
• Aurangzeb sent Jaswant Singh to South against Shivaji. 
• He convinced Shivaji to sign a treaty with Mughals. He brought Sambhaji to Muajjam and they signed a peace treaty.
• He settled a town Jaswantpura near Aurangabad. He died in Afghanistan in 1678.
• His minister Muh Not Nainasi  wrote ‘Nainasi ri Khyat’, and ‘Marwar ra pargana ri vigat’. But in later days of his life, due to some issues with Maharaja, he was sent to prison, where he commited suicide.
• At the time of death of Jaswant Singh, his wife was pregnant but due to absence of a living successor, Aurangzeb merged the Jodhpur state with the Mughal empire.
• After the death of Jaswant Singh, Aurangzeb said that “today the door of Kufra(religious opposition)  has broken”.
• Maharaja Ajit Singh:
• The pregnant wife of Maharaja Jaswant Singh, gave birth to Maharaja Ajit Singh in Lahore on February 19, 1679. 
• Veer Durgadas and other nobles of Jodhpur now asked Aurangzeb to declare Ajit Singh as the ruler of Jodhpur.
• Aurangzeb said that he would be made the king when he is old enough and he called the prince and the queens to Delhi, for the upbringing of the prince.
• Aurangzeb now had an evil desire. 
• He  wanted to kill the prince and wanted to have Jodhpur in his own empire forever.
• Veer Durgadas soon understood this and with the help of a lady named ‘Bagheli’ he brought the queens and the prince out safely and they took shelter at a brahman’s home whose name was Jaydev. 
• The prince was brought up there.
• Another boy was kept in Delhi as fake Ajit Singh.
• Aurangzeb considered him as the real Ajit Singh and he named him ‘Mohammadi Raj’.
• Veer Durgadas realised that Ajit Singh was not safe even in Marwar, so he took shelter in Mewar.
• Mewar king Rajsingh granted him the Jagir of Kelva for upbringing Ajit Singh.
• After the death of Aurangzeb, Ajit Singh controlled Jodhpur, with the help of Veer Durgadas and others. On March 12 1707, he entered his native city.
• Later, on being misled by wrong people, Ajit Singh expelled loyal and brave Durgadas from his kingdom. 
• Now Durgadas went to the service of Mewar, with a sad heart.
• Maharaja Ajit Singh signed a treaty with the Mughal emperor Farrukhsiyar and married his daughter Indira Kunwari to him. 
• On June 23, 1724, his younger son killed him when he was sleeping.

Veer Durgadas Rathore:

• He was  born to Aaskarn, minister of Maharaja Jaswant Singh in 1638 at Aalwa village in Marwar.
• After the death of Maharaja Jaswant Singh, Veer Durgadas played a great role in saving Ajit Singh and making him the ruler of Jodhpur.
• In the history of Rajasthan, this is the second person after Pannadhay, whose loyalty is worth emulating. 
• He served the Maharajas of Marwar throughout his life. 
• Due to being such a brave, courageous and strategist, Marwar was saved from being a permanent part of the Mughal empire.
• Veer Durgadas died in 1718 . 
• His Chatri is situated near Shipra river.
• It is said about Durgadas that ‘Mayado aido put jan jedo Durgadas’, which means hey mother gives birth to a son as  Durgadas.

Raja Mansingh (1803-1843):

• After the war of succession, Mansingh sat on the throne of Jodhpur in 1803.
• When Mansingh was surrounded by Marwar army in Jalore, then Guru Aayas Devnath of Gorakhnath sect, forecasted that Mansingh will be the ruler of Marwar soon. 
• So after becoming the king, Mansingh called him to Jodhpur and made him his Guru. 
• He also constructed the ‘Mahamandir’ of the Nath sect there.
• Battle of Gangoli:  After the Krishnakumari conflict, the army of Jaipur, Pindaris and other armies attacked Jodhpur and annexed a major part of Jodhpur. But Mansingh soon won his lost kingdom back.
• In 1817, Mansingh made his son Chatrasingh the king but he died soon. In 1818, Marwar signed a treaty with the British and gave the British the responsibility of the safety of Marwar.

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Also read : Hisotry of Rathore Rulers