Page:The Imperial Durbar Album of the Indian princes, chiefs and zamindars.djvu/58



HE present rulers of Bharatpur are Jats of the Sinsinwar clan, and claim descent from Madan Pal, a Jadaw Rajput. They took the name of Sinsinwar from their paternal village Sinsini (8 miles south of Deeg). The first to attain celebrity among these was Brijh, a contemporary of Aurangzeb, who is considered to be the founder of the State. He was killed in the beginning of the eighteenth century, while defending his little capital of Sinsini against the attack of an Imperial army sent to punish him. Churaman, the seventh son of Brijh, became the acknowledged leader of the Jats of Sinsini and Thun, built forts there, and possessed himself of Deeg, Kumbher, and other places of importance. He collected a large army of Jat soldiers and attacked the Mogul territories. In 1718 A.D., Sawai Jai Singh of Jaipur was sent by the Emperor with a strong force to expel Churaman from the country, and Thun and Sinsini were invested. The Jats after a gallant defence, were about to capitulate, when the Sayed brothers, "the Warwicks of India," who then controlled the government at Delhi and were at the head of a faction opposed to the Jaipur Chief, made direct peace with the Jat envoy in Delhi, and Jai Singh retired in disgust. Two years later Churaman was succeeded by his son, Mohkam Singh, who ruled for a very short time. His first step was to imprison his cousin Badan Singh, but the Jats insisted on his release. Badan Singh invited Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh of Jaipur to attack Thun, and the place was captured after a siege of six months, during which Mohkam Singh escaped with his life. Badan Singh was thereupon proclaimed Raja of Deeg, on condition of his paying a tribute to Delhi, and this year (1722 A.D.) marks the recognition of Bharatpur as a separate State.

Badan Singh nominally ruled till about 1735 A. D., but, soon after his accession, left the administration to his capable and successful son, Suraj Mai, who raised the Jat power to a great eminence. Suraj Mai met his death in 1763 A.D., in a skirmish of a squadron of Mogul horse while making an attempt to hunt in the Imperial domains, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Jawahir Singh. The latter possessed the valour without the capacity of his father; but nevertheless, during his short rule, extended the Jat possessions to their utmost limit. He lived chiefly in the Agra palace, where it was his whim to sit on the black marble throne of Jahangir; and it was here that he was murdered in June, 1768 A.D.

From the death of Jawahir Singh the power of the Jats began to decline and their dominions to contract. The downfall was accelerated by family dissensions and the increasing power of the Mahrattas. The Jats of Bharatpur maintained their position by cementing a friendship with the Sindhia.

The early years of the nineteenth century were marked by the struggles of the Mahrattas and the British. In September 1803 A.D. the vakils of Ranjit Singh, the ruler of Bharatpur, met Lord Lake with friendly overtures at Ballabgarh, with the result that an offensive and defensive alliance was at once concluded. A contingent of Bharatpur troops assisted the British in the capture of Agra, and took part in the battle of Laswari (in Alwar), and, for these services Ranjit Singh was rewarded by the grant of five additional districts. In 1804 A.D. war broke out between the British and Yashwant Rao