Jaswant Singh Rathore (26 December 1626 – 28 December 1678) was a Maharajaof Marwar in the present-day Indian state of Rajasthan. His father was Maharaja Gaj Singh. He was a distinguished man of letters and author of “Siddhant-bodh”, “Anand Vilas” and “Bhasa-bhusan”
He was the Subedar of Assamfrom 1656 to 1666.
Contents
- Early life
- Battle of Dharmatpur
- Death and succession
- See also
- References
Early life
Jaswant Singh succeeded his father on his death by special decree of the Emperor Shah Jahan, in accordance with his father’s wishes, on 6 May 1638.He was invested by Imperial authority and inherited the parganas of Jodhpur, Siwana, Merta, Sojat, Phalodi and Pokharan (Satalmer) in jagir.
He was installed on the gaddi at Sringar Chowki, Mehrangarh, Jodhpur, on 25 May 1638. He was granted the personal title of Maharaja by the Emperor Shah Jahan, on 6 January 1654.
Battle of Dharmatpur
Jaswant Singh was appointed by Shah Jahan to stop the advance of the rebel prince Aurangzeb and prince Murad. Army of Jaswant Singh and combined army of both the princes met at Dharmatpur, fifteen miles from Ujjain. The battle was fought on 15 April 1658. Jaswant Singh’s advisers suggested a night raid to destroy Aurangzeb’s artillery and gunpowder as the Rajput army was almost entirely made up of light cavalry, while Aurangzeb had a well equipped army of heavy cavalry, Artillery and Muskets. However Jaswant Singh replied by saying “It is inconsistent with the manliness of the Rajputs or usage, to employ stratagems or make a night attack”. Jaswant Singh was defeated and lost 6,000 of his soldiers. Ratan Singh Rathore, Maharaja of Ratlam and Mokand Das Hada, Rao of Kota were amongst those slain in the battle.
Death and succession
Prithviraj Singh was Jaswant Singh’s son. It is chronicled in Marwar ‘khyats’ that Aurangzeb presented Prithviraj Singh a dress which was poisoned. On wearing the dress Prithviraj died on 8 May 1667 in great pain at Delhi. Prithviraj was a good leader and a brave prince. Jaswant could not get over the shock of his son’s death. He was very saddened because he had no male heir who could seek revenge.
Jaswant died at Jamrud, near Peshawar, on 28 December 1678. At the time of his death two of his wives were pregnant, and both would later bear sons. This led to a war in which there were attempts to install Jaswant Singh’s elder surviving son Ajit Singh Rathor as ruler of Marwar.