Lawa Thikana was a ''

Thikana Thakur is a historical feudal title of the Indian subcontinent. It is also used as a surname in the present day. The female variant of the title is Thakurani or Thakurain, and is also used to describe the wife of a Thakur. There are varyi ...

'' estate or ''Thakurat'' under the

Jaipur Residency Jaipur State was a princely state in India during East India Company rule and thereafter under the British Raj. It signed a treaty creating a subsidiary alliance with the Company in 1818, after the Third Anglo-Maratha War. It acceded ...

of the former

Rajputana Agency The Rajputana Agency was a political office of the British Indian Empire dealing with a collection of native states in Rajputana (now in Rajasthan, northwestern India), under the political charge of an Agent reporting directly to the Governor ...

.Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 16, p. 156.
/ref> It was ruled by

Naruka Naruka (Devnagari : नरुका or नरूका) is a clan of Rajputs found in India. Naruka Rajputs are offshoots of Maharao Naru Singh of Mozamabad, whose grandfather, Rao Bar Singh, gave up the throne of Amer kingdom. Rao Bar Singh was t ...

Rajputs Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...

. It was located very close to Tonk town and included its capital, Lawa, a small town and its surroundings. Lawa is located in the northwestern part of present-day

Tonk district Tonk district is a district of the state of Rajasthan in western India. The city of Tonk is the administrative headquarters of the district. The district is bounded on the north by Jaipur district, on the east by Sawai Madhopur district, on ...

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. Lawa estate near Tonk should not be confused with Sardargarh, a Thikana of Udaipur State (Mewar) which had been known as 'Lawa' before 1738. In August 1947, at the time of Independence, Rajasthan included 19 princely state & 3 thikanas (Chiefships) of Neemrana, Lawa & Kushalgarh.

History

Lawa was formerly part of

Jaipur State Jaipur State was a princely state in India during East India Company rule and thereafter under the British Raj. It signed a treaty creating a subsidiary alliance with the Company in 1818, after the Third Anglo-Maratha War. It acced ...

. In 1772 Lawa became a

jagir A jagir ( fa, , translit=Jāgir), also spelled as jageer, was a type of feudal land grant in the Indian subcontinent at the foundation of its Jagirdar (Zamindar) system. It developed during the Islamic rule era of the Indian subcontinent, starti ...

which came under the control of the

Maratha The Marathi people ( Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed a ...

s through Pindari leader Amir Khan, who would later become the Nawab of Tonk. Lawa became a

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drai ...

of Tonk in 1817, when that state was established. In 1867, following the murder of Thakur Rewut Singh (the uncle of the ruler of Lawa) together with a party of his followers, Lawa was declared a separate Chiefship under the protection of the

British Government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_est ...

.A Collection Of Treaties Engagements And Sanads Vol III
/ref> Lawa was one of the ''Thikanas'' which were existing at the time of the

independence of India The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged from Bengal. ...

and were merged with Rajasthan during the

Unification of Rajasthan The history of human settlement in the west Indian state of Rajasthan dates back to about 5,000 years ago. This region was inhabited during great floods after the ice age as well. This area was known as Matsya kingdom. It was the site of the Indu ...

. It was smallest by area as well as population, and was a completely rural settlement.

Lawa Fort

Although Lawa sustained incalculable myriad of Islamic invasions but the land by the enemy was never occupied, hence no such Islamic or foreign impact is observed in the arts, architecture, culture of this region. This mammoth immersion of Rajput heritage in all its magnificence has civil, military and sacred spreads. The civil area maintained the three, ’administrative block’, 'common living quarters’ and the ladies section which from Mughal days was better known as the ''Zenana Mahal''. The administrative block houses the courts also referred as ''Dari Khana,'' meeting place for all major decisions.16th century henceforth every successive ruler of Lawa went on to add more buildings to ''Barla Mahal'' (outside mahal) for men, time worn but they still faithfully replicate history. Ravages through time may have altered some of the external features but the rest is the same. The ammunitions and other war material were housed in a safe structure known as the S''ilehkhana''. Though the main fortified ramparts are still there the burjh on the four corners are clearly visible yet it would not be erroneous to address this building as a C''houburjha'' structure. Lawa also has ''chattris'' (royal cenotaphs) of rulers and warriors who died in wars.

Connections

Raja Udaikaran (1367), the 3rd king of Amber, had his second eldest son Nar Singh among others. Bar Singh who is said to be the eldest son, gave up his right of succession in favour of his brother Nar Singh. Bar Singh received the estates of Jhag and Mauzamabad towns, a few miles south-west of Jaipur. His grandson was Naru, the eponymous founder of Naruka clan. Thakur Kesri Singh, Thakur of Ladana, eighth in descent from Rao Dasaji (eldest son of Rao Naru), was made the Jagirdar of Ladana by the then ruler of Jaipur. He married and had issue, two sons. Thakur Sawant Singh, succeeded his father and became head of the Ladana Thikana. Thakur Nahar Singh was granted the estate of Lawa by the Ruler of Jaipur in the year 1722. The name of Lawa & Ladana are often taken together when discussions over Lawa Thikana comes.

Books

Book with name ''Lawa Raso'' was composed in Dhundhari language. It was all about the Lawa and Ladana. It has the famous account of Bharat Singh Naruka who cleverly defeated the Pindari leader Amir Khan.

References

External links