Bakht Singh or Bakhat Singh (16 August 1706 – 21 September 1752) was an 18th-century Indian

Raja Raja (; from , IAST ') is a noble or royal Sanskrit title historically used by some Indian subcontinent, Indian rulers and monarchs and highest-ranking nobles. The title was historically used in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. T ...

of the Rathore Clan. Born in 1706, he ruled over various domains in the

Jodhpur Jodhpur () is the second-largest city of the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan, after its capital Jaipur. As of 2023, the city has a population of 1.83 million. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Jodhpur district and ...

and

Marwar Marwar (also called Jodhpur region) is a region of western Rajasthan state in North Western India. It lies partly in the Thar Desert. 'Maru' is a Sanskrit word for desert. The word 'wad' literally means fence in Rajasthani languages. Engl ...

states and was a major political force during his life.

Early life and political ascension

Maharaja Ajit Singh and his son Bakht Singh

Bakht Singh was born on 16 August 1706 as the second son of Ajit Singh, ruler of Marwar. At the time of Bakht's birth, his family was in open revolt against the

Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an Early modern period, early modern empire in South Asia. At its peak, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus River Basin in the west, northern Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the north, to ...

due to an ongoing territorial dispute over

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

. His father was pardoned by

Muhammad Azam Shah Mirza Abu'l Fayaz Qutb-ud-Din Mohammad Azam (28 June 1653 – 20 June 1707), commonly known as Azam Shah, was briefly the seventh Mughal emperor from 14 March to 20 June 1707. He was the third son of the sixth Mughal emperor Aurangzeb and his ...

in 1708, granting the Rathore clan control over the Kingdom of Marwar and the city of

. Bakht Singh had a tall and strong built and was popular amongst the ladies of the Empire. Amongst his admirers was the Empress of the Mughal Empire, who according to the chronicles wanted her husband (

Ahmad Shah Bahadur Ahmad Shah Bahadur, also known as Mirza Ahmad Shah or Mujahid-ud-Din Ahmad Shah Ghazi (23 December 1725 – 1 January 1775), was the fourteenth Mughal emperor, born to Emperor Muhammad Shah. He succeeded his father to the throne in 1748, at ...

) to follow Bakht's diet. In 1724, Bakht Singh and his elder brother Abhai Singh plotted to

kill Kill often refers to: *Homicide, one human killing another *cause death, to kill a living organism, to cause its death Other common uses include: *Kill (body of water), a body of water, most commonly a creek *Kill (command), a computing command *K ...

their father and usurp his position as Raja. They succeeded, and Abhai Singh became the Maharaja of the Kingdom of Marwar and Jodhpur. This abrupt change of leadership sparked a brief civil war among the Rathore in Marwar, during which the brothers employed

Maratha The Marathi people (; Marathi: , ''Marāṭhī lōk'') or Marathis (Marathi: मराठी, ''Marāṭhī'') are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are native to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-A ...

soldiers to fight their enemies. At this time Marwar was a vassal of the

, which was in constant conflict with the

Maratha Empire The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern India, early modern polity in the Indian subcontinent. It comprised the realms of the Peshwa and four major independent List of Maratha dynasties and states, Ma ...

. The allowing of

soldiers onto Mughal territory to solve a domestic dispute effectively estranged the Rathores from the Mughal government.Gupta, Bakshi pp. 152–155

Siege of Ahmedabad

In 1730 a taxation depute against Sarbuland Khan (Nawab of Gujarat) resulted in Abhai Singh laying

siege A siege () . is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or by well-prepared assault. Siege warfare (also called siegecrafts or poliorcetics) is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict charact ...

to the city of

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled Amdavad (), is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 ...

. ''Google Books'' 2015, pp. 256–257. Bakht Singh personally led the storming of the city, the Marwar army lost 120 soldiers and 700 were injured while Sarbuland Khan lost his son in the cannonade and most of his men were slaughtered along with high ranking Mughal Mansabdars (nobles), some ranking as high as 3,000. Sarbuland Khan surrendered after three days of fighting, after which the Mughal emperor was forced to make Abhai Singh the lord of Ahmedabad and the governor of Gujarat. Bakht Singh was commended for his bravery during the battle.

Lordship

By 1739, Bakht Singh had been appointed lord of

Nagaur Nagaur (also Nagor and Nagore) is a city and municipal council in Nagaur district of the state of Rajasthan in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Nagaur District. The Nagaur city lies about midway between Jodhpur and Bikaner. Na ...

. Seeking to expand his influence, he attempted to force concessions from the

Bikaner State Bikaner State was the princely state, Princely State in the north-western most part of the History of Bikaner, Rajputana province of imperial British India from 1818 to 1947. The founder of the state Rao Bika was a younger son of Rao ...

, calling on his brother for support. The Raja of Bikaner sent a letter to

Jai Singh II Sawai Jai Singh II (3 November 1688 – 21 September 1743), was the 30th Kachwaha Rajput ruler of the Kingdom of Amber, who later founded the fortified city of Jaipur and made it his capital. He became the ruler of Amber at the age of 11, after ...

, the powerful Maharaja of the Kingdom of Jaipur, requesting assistance. Jai Singh sent a letter to Abhai Singh asking for leniency to be shown to Bikaner, a request Abhai sharply refuted. Seeking to end the conflict, Jai Singh dispatched his minister Vidyadhar to Bakht Singh. Bakht agreed to withdraw his men from the conflict if he were paid by Jaipur and given the town of Merta. This was done, and with Bakht Singh now removed as a threat, Jai Singh was able to force Abhai to make peace. Unable to face Jaipur alone, Abhai Singh was forced to sign a treaty with Jai Singh. The Kingdom of Marwar was forced to pay 1 lakh (100000)

rupee Rupee (, ) is the common name for the currency, currencies of Indian rupee, India, Mauritian rupee, Mauritius, Nepalese rupee, Nepal, Pakistani rupee, Pakistan, Seychellois rupee, Seychelles, and Sri Lankan rupee, Sri Lanka, and of former cu ...

s to the Mughals, 20 lakh (2000000) to Jaipur, give up hostages, and was prohibited from sending emissaries to the Mughal court without the express approval of Jai Singh. The latter condition effectively made Marwar a vassal of Jaipur, as Abhai could no longer request aid from the Mughal government. The treaty enraged many members of the Rathore clan, most of whom felt that Bakht Singh was responsible for the disaster.

Battle of Gangwana

In 1741, Abhai Singh began to gather his forces in Jodhpur in preparation for a war of revenge against Jaipur. Jai Singh detected these movements and gathered his army (of 40000-100000 men) to invade Marwar.Sarkar pp. 200 As the Jaipur army advanced, Bakht Singh arrived at Merta, the forward camp for the Rathore and Marwar army. He entered the Raja's

durbar Durbar may refer to: * Conference of Rulers, a council of Malay monarchs * Durbar festival, a yearly festival in several towns of Nigeria * Durbar floor plate, a hot-rolled structural steel that has been designed to give excellent slip resistance o ...

, where he was chastised by his fellow Rathors for his betrayal. Bhakt accepted his wrongdoing, and promised to lead his personal cavalry contingent (of 1000 men) against the oncoming Jaipur. In the ensuing

Battle of Gangwana The battle of Gangwana was a military engagement fought between the Kingdom of Marwar and a combined army of the Jaipur Kingdom and the Mughal Empire in 1741. The battle resulted in a peace treaty favorable to Marwar and ended a period of Jaipu ...

Bakht Singh and his cavalry of 1000 soldiers succeeded in inflicting heavy casualties on the Jaipur army. Over 12,000 Rajputs and Mughals were killed, losses so high that Jai Singh ended the campaign and was forced to accept a mediated peace with Abhai Singh. Bakht Singh, wounded by both a bullet and an arrow during the fighting, was once again praised for his valor. Jai Singh never recovered from shock suffered from losses of this battle and died 2 years later.

Later life

Above-Maharaja-Bakhat-Singh-at-the-Jharokha-Window-of-the-Bakhat-Singh-Mahal- 59024 2

On 29 June 1741, Bakht Singh was offered

by the Mughal Emperor. The

Mughals The Mughal Empire was an early modern empire in South Asia. At its peak, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus River Basin in the west, northern Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the north, to the highlands of pre ...

hoped that Bakht Singh could become its governor and counter the rising power of the

Marathas The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern India, early modern polity in the Indian subcontinent. It comprised the realms of the Peshwa and four major independent List of Maratha dynasties and states, Ma ...

. Before accepting, Singh sent his spies to Gujarat and upon learning of the hopeless situation, declined the offer. On 17 June 1749, Abhai Singh died, with his eldest son Ram Singh succeeding him. Bakht Singh (his uncle) disagreed with this

primogeniture Primogeniture () is the right, by law or custom, of the firstborn Legitimacy (family law), legitimate child to inheritance, inherit all or most of their parent's estate (law), estate in preference to shared inheritance among all or some childre ...

and rose up in revolt. Bakht Singh emerged triumphant in the battle of Luniawas, becoming the Maharaja of Marwar and Jodhpur in July 1751. Bakht Singh's first step as a ruler was to raise an army in

Ajmer Ajmer () is a city in the north-western States and union territories of India, Indian state of Rajasthan. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Ajmer district and Ajmer division. It lies at the centre of Rajasthan, earning it the ...

and to start fortifying his holdings to protect

from external threats like the

and

Afghans Afghans (; ) are the citizens and nationals of Afghanistan, as well as their descendants in the Afghan diaspora. The country is made up of various ethnic groups, of which Pashtuns, Tajiks, Hazaras, and Uzbeks are the largest. The three main lan ...

. In May 1752 Jayapa Sindhia and Ram Singh attacked Ajmer, sacked it and massacred the populace. Upon learning of the invasion, Bakht Singh marched with his army and camped 8 miles away from Ajmer. He waited till July and then attacked Jayapa. Bakht Singh blocked the surrounding paths and placed his guns on a hill, he then bombarded the Marathas, upon receiving heavy casualties, the Marathas fled along with the army of Ram Singh. Bakht Singh died a sudden death on 21 September 1752. According to Persian historians, he died by

cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...

while Vir Vinod claims that he was poisoned by

Madho Singh I Sawai Madho Singh I (20 May 1728 – 5 March 1768) was the Kachwaha Rajput ruler of the Kingdom of Jaipur. He was the younger son of Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II and younger half brother of Sawai Ishwari Singh. He became ruler of Jaipur after ...

. His son

Vijay Singh Vijay Singh ( ; born 22 February 1963) is a Fijians, Fijian professional golfer. In 1982, Singh turned professional and played on the local Asia Golf Circuit. However, his early career met with controversy, as he was accused of numerous rules ...

inherited his titles. The Rathore civil war between

and Ram Singh that would follow after Bakht Singh's death ultimately led to the downfall of the Rathore clan.

Bibliography

* R.K Gupta, S.R Bakshi (2008). ''Rajasthan Through the Ages, Vol 4, Jaipur Rulers and Administration.'' Sarup & Sons. . * ''Jodhpur and the Later Mughals, AD 1707–1752'', by R. S. Sangwan. Published by Pragati Publications, 2006. *

Sir Jadunath Sarkar Sir Jadunath Sarkar, (10 December 1870 – 19 May 1958) was a prominent Indian historian and a specialist on the Mughal dynasty. Sarkar was educated in English literature and worked as a teacher for some time but later shifted his focus to hi ...

(1994). ''A History of Jaipur 1503–1938''. Orient Longman. . * Faruqui, Munis D. (2012). ''The Princes of the Mughal Empire, 1504–1719''. Cambridge University Press. p. 316. .
G''azetteer of the Bombay Presidency: Ahmedabad''
''Google Books 2015 (Public Domain text)''. 7 January 2015. pp. 248–262. Retrieved 1 February 2015. * Richards, John F. (1995)
''The Mughal Empire''
(Reprinted ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 180–181. .

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bakht Singh 1706 births 1752 deaths Monarchs of Marwar Subahdars of Gujarat Indian warriors 18th-century Mughal Empire people