Durgadas Rathore
Encyclopedia
Durgadas Rathore (13 August 1638 – 22 November 1718) is credited with having preserved the rule of the Rathore
dynasty over Marwar
, India, following the death of Maharaja Jaswant Singh
in the 17th century. In doing so he had to defy Aurangzeb
, a Mughal
emperor.
, belonging to the Karnot
branch of the Rathore clan. He was the son of Askaran Rathore, a Rajput minister of Maharaja Jaswant Singh
, the ruler of Mawar. His mother did not get along with her husband and his other wives and so she lived away from Jodhpur
, which meant that Durgadas grew up in the village of Lunawa
.
When Durgadas was young, a camelherder, rearing the herds of the Maharaja, ventured into Durgadas's fields. Durgadas asked the herder to remove the animals because they might damage the field. The herder paid no heed and so Durgadas killed him. Word of this reached Jaswant Singh, who summoned Durgadas and asked him why he killed the herder. Durgadas told him that the royal herd of camels was giving Jaswant Singh a bad name by destroying the crops of ordinary people. The Maharaja was very impressed with the forthrightness of Durgadas and gave him an appointment in the army.
Soon after Jaswant Singh's death two of his Ranis (queens) each gave birth to male children. One of these sons died soon after his birth, leaving the other – Ajit Singh – as sole heir. This news reached Aurangzeb by February of 1679 but he chose not to recognise the child as the legitimate heir. He imposed jizya
, a tax on non-Muslims, and soon after sold the kingdom to another chieftain, Indra Singh. Aurangzeb had moved his base from Delhi
to Ajmer
to oversee the subjugation but in April 1679 returned to his capital, leaving administrative and military support in Marwar for the unpopular new ruler.
Prominent grandees of Marwar, including Durgadas, went to Delhi to plead the recognition of Ajit Singh as heir. Aurangzeb refused their request, although he did offer to bestow a title and a grant when the child attained the age of majority. Aurangzeb required that the child be raised in the imperial harem
and that the Ranis live there also. According to one contemporary source, Aurangzeb also offered to give Ajit Singh the throne of Jodhpur in the future if it was agreed that the child was raised in the Muslim faith.
The attitude of Aurangzeb was not acceptable to the Rathore delegation, who resolved upon rescuing Ajit Singh and the Ranis from Delhi. They were aware that many of them were likely to die in the process and this proved to be the case: as they retreated from the city on 25 June 1679 they were pursued by Mughal guards and fought several desperate and deadly rearguard actions in order to protect Durgadas, who had the Ranis and child with him. The pursuit continued till the evening, when the Mughals finally tired. The infant Ajit Singh was taken to safety in Balunda
, where the wife of one of the delegation kept the child for almost a year. Later, he was moved to the safety of the Aravali hills near Abu Sirohi, a remote town on the southern fringes of Marwar. There Ajit Singh grew up in anonymity.
During the period that followed, when the Mughals controlled Marwar, Durgadas was among those who carried out a relentless struggle against the occupying forces. The capabilities of the Mughal forces were over-extended when Aurangzeb decided to attempt the over-running of Mewar
also, and this provided opportunities for Rajputs of various communities, including the Rathores and the Sisodia
s, to use guerilla tactics. The Rajput successes were, however, limited in Marwar: the campaign in Mewar was abandoned by the Mughals but Marwar remained in a state of war for nearly three decades.
The cause of the Mughal withdrawal from Mewar had been a rebellion by a son of Aurangzeb, Sultan Muhammad Akbar
. Akbar had proved to be incompetent when placed in charge of various forces in Mewar and Marwar; he eventually rebelled against his father and allied himself with the Rajputs. In June 1681 Durgadas assisted Akbar as the rebellion collapsed in disarray, aiding his flight to the court of the recently installed Maratha
king Sambhaji
. The rebellion diverted resources and Aurangzeb was forced to make peace in Mewar when on the cusp of winning his campaign.
Durgadas was absent from Marwar during the period 1681-1687, during which time he was in the Deccan. He returned to join with the young Ajit Singh, who now came out of hiding, in taking command of Rathore forces opposing Aurangzeb. There was a change from the earlier guerilla tactics to a more direct opposition but still they were unable to wrest control of Marwar from the Mughals, although they caused much disruption.
Akbar, who was to die in exile in 1704, had left his children in the custody of the Rathores following his failed rebellion. Aurangzeb had become anxious to have them with him and negotiated with Durgadas to this end. He gained custody of his grand-daughter in 1694 and of his grandson in 1698. Aurangzeb was particularly grateful to find that Durgadas had arranged for his grand-daughter to be schooled in the Muslim faith but he did not restore Marwar to Rathore rule; the agreement was limited to him pardoning and giving the lesser title of jagir
to Ajit Singh and appointing Durgadas as a commandant in charge of an imperial force of 3000 men in Gujarat.
Despite the outcome of the negotiations, the relationship between Aurangzeb on the one hand and Ajit Singh and Durgadas on the other remained tense. They viewed each other with mutual suspicion and, in 1702, Aurangzeb order the governor of Gujarat to neutralise Durgadas by either arrest or murder. Durgadas became aware of this and fled to Marwar, where he tried to raise a rebel group once more. Despite his reputation and the veneration in which he was held by his countrymen, he was not particularly successful in doing so: they were tired and poorly funded after so many years of war, and the now-adult Ajit Singh had become independent of mind and jealous of the reputation and influence possessed by Durgadas.
Durgadas took advantage of the disturbances following the death of Aurangzeb in 1707 to seize Jodhpur and eventually evict the occupying Mughal force. Ajit Singh was proclaimed Maharaja of Jodhpur. He rebuilt all the temples that had been desecrated by the occupying Muslims.
, Udaipur
, Rampura, Bhanpura for some time and then left to worship Mahakaal at Ujjain. On 22 November 1718, on the banks of the Shipra
at Ujjain
, Durgadas died at the age of 81 years, his canopy in red stone is still at the Chakratirtha, Ujjain, which is pilgrimage for all freedom fighters and Rajputs.
People in Rajasthan
today pray: Mayee ehra poot jan jehara DURGADAS, baandh mundaso rakhiyo bin thambe aakash. (Mother, give birth to a son just like Durgadas,who stopped the flooding dam of Moghuls (the Moghul Army) without any support (i.e. single handedly)).
Rathore
The Rathore is a Suryavanshi Rajput clan same caste as Lohana. Their Kuldevi is Nagnechiya Mata and "Karani Mata". Rathores are originally from Kannauj in Uttar Pradesh. Rathores are historically considered the samurais of India...
dynasty over Marwar
Marwar
Marwar is a region of southwestern Rajasthan state in western India. It lies partly in the Thar Desert. In Rajasthani dialect "wad" means a particular area. The word Marwar is derived from Sanskrit word 'Maruwat'. English translation of the word is 'The region of desert'., The Imperial Gazetteer...
, India, following the death of Maharaja Jaswant Singh
Maharaja Jaswant Singh
Maharaja Jaswant Singh was a ruler of Marwar in the present-day Indian state of Rajasthan. He was a Rajput belonging to the Rathore clan. His father was Maharaja Guj Singh.-History:...
in the 17th century. In doing so he had to defy Aurangzeb
Aurangzeb
Abul Muzaffar Muhy-ud-Din Muhammad Aurangzeb Alamgir , more commonly known as Aurangzeb or by his chosen imperial title Alamgir , was the sixth Mughal Emperor of India, whose reign lasted from 1658 until his death in 1707.Badshah Aurangzeb, having ruled most of the Indian subcontinent for nearly...
, a Mughal
Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire , or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...
emperor.
Early life
Durgadas was a Suryavanshi RajputRajput
A Rajput is a member of one of the patrilineal clans of western, central, northern India and in some parts of Pakistan. Rajputs are descendants of one of the major ruling warrior classes in the Indian subcontinent, particularly North India...
, belonging to the Karnot
Karnot
Karnot is a shakha of the Rathore clan which belongs in turn to the Suryavanshi lineage. The Karnot Shakha trace their lineage to Karan Singh Rathore, a brother of Rao Jodha, the founder of Jodhpur....
branch of the Rathore clan. He was the son of Askaran Rathore, a Rajput minister of Maharaja Jaswant Singh
Maharaja Jaswant Singh
Maharaja Jaswant Singh was a ruler of Marwar in the present-day Indian state of Rajasthan. He was a Rajput belonging to the Rathore clan. His father was Maharaja Guj Singh.-History:...
, the ruler of Mawar. His mother did not get along with her husband and his other wives and so she lived away from Jodhpur
Jodhpur
Jodhpur , is the second largest city in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is located west from the state capital, Jaipur and from the city of Ajmer. It was formerly the seat of a princely state of the same name, the capital of the kingdom known as Marwar...
, which meant that Durgadas grew up in the village of Lunawa
Lunawa, Rajasthan
Lunawa is a village located in the Bali tehsil of Pali district of Rajasthan state, amidst the Aravalli Range.-Demographics:The population of Lunawa is 4,998 according to the 2001 census...
.
When Durgadas was young, a camelherder, rearing the herds of the Maharaja, ventured into Durgadas's fields. Durgadas asked the herder to remove the animals because they might damage the field. The herder paid no heed and so Durgadas killed him. Word of this reached Jaswant Singh, who summoned Durgadas and asked him why he killed the herder. Durgadas told him that the royal herd of camels was giving Jaswant Singh a bad name by destroying the crops of ordinary people. The Maharaja was very impressed with the forthrightness of Durgadas and gave him an appointment in the army.
Support for Ajit Singh
Jaswant Singh had been the "foremost Hindu peer of the Mughal court" and had been appointed to various high positions despite and indeed perhaps because of his success in defying the Muslim Aurangzeb. Jaswant Singh was campaigning in Afghanistan when he died in December 1678, leaving no heir. Aurangzeb took the opportunity to intervene by imposing Muslim rule over Marwar. This formed a part of the Mughal strategy to destroy Hinduism and his flooding of the area with troops was successful in denying any opposition.Soon after Jaswant Singh's death two of his Ranis (queens) each gave birth to male children. One of these sons died soon after his birth, leaving the other – Ajit Singh – as sole heir. This news reached Aurangzeb by February of 1679 but he chose not to recognise the child as the legitimate heir. He imposed jizya
Jizya
Under Islamic law, jizya or jizyah is a per capita tax levied on a section of an Islamic state's non-Muslim citizens, who meet certain criteria...
, a tax on non-Muslims, and soon after sold the kingdom to another chieftain, Indra Singh. Aurangzeb had moved his base from Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
to Ajmer
Ajmer
Ajmer , formerly written as Ajmere, is a city in Ajmer District in Rajasthan state in India. Ajmer has a population of around 800,000 , and is located west of the Rajasthan state capital Jaipur, 200 km from Jodhpur, 274 km from Udaipur, 439 km from Jaisalmer, and 391 km from...
to oversee the subjugation but in April 1679 returned to his capital, leaving administrative and military support in Marwar for the unpopular new ruler.
Prominent grandees of Marwar, including Durgadas, went to Delhi to plead the recognition of Ajit Singh as heir. Aurangzeb refused their request, although he did offer to bestow a title and a grant when the child attained the age of majority. Aurangzeb required that the child be raised in the imperial harem
Harem
Harem refers to the sphere of women in what is usually a polygynous household and their enclosed quarters which are forbidden to men...
and that the Ranis live there also. According to one contemporary source, Aurangzeb also offered to give Ajit Singh the throne of Jodhpur in the future if it was agreed that the child was raised in the Muslim faith.
The attitude of Aurangzeb was not acceptable to the Rathore delegation, who resolved upon rescuing Ajit Singh and the Ranis from Delhi. They were aware that many of them were likely to die in the process and this proved to be the case: as they retreated from the city on 25 June 1679 they were pursued by Mughal guards and fought several desperate and deadly rearguard actions in order to protect Durgadas, who had the Ranis and child with him. The pursuit continued till the evening, when the Mughals finally tired. The infant Ajit Singh was taken to safety in Balunda
BaLunda
The Lunda originated in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo along the Kalanyi River and formed the Kingdom of Lunda in the 17th century under their ruler, Mwata Yamvo or Mwaant Yav, with their capital at Musumba...
, where the wife of one of the delegation kept the child for almost a year. Later, he was moved to the safety of the Aravali hills near Abu Sirohi, a remote town on the southern fringes of Marwar. There Ajit Singh grew up in anonymity.
Opposition to the Mughals
Aurangzeb reacted to these events by deposing the incompetent puppet ruler of Marwar, Indra Singh, and placing it under direct Mughal rule. His forces moved in to occupy the region and "anarchy and slaughter were let loose on the doomed state; all the great towns in the plain were pillaged; the temples were thrown down." He also substituted the son of a milkman for Ajit Singh, raised the child as if he was the rightful heir to Jaswant Singh and denounced the real heir as an imposter.During the period that followed, when the Mughals controlled Marwar, Durgadas was among those who carried out a relentless struggle against the occupying forces. The capabilities of the Mughal forces were over-extended when Aurangzeb decided to attempt the over-running of Mewar
Mewar
Mewar is a region of south-central Rajasthan state in western India. It includes the present-day districts of Pratapgarh, Bhilwara, Chittorgarh, Rajsamand, Udaipur, Dungarpur, Banswara and some of the part of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. The region was for centuries a Rajput kingdom that later...
also, and this provided opportunities for Rajputs of various communities, including the Rathores and the Sisodia
Sisodia
The Sisodia are Chattari Rajputs of the Suryavanshi lineage who ruled the kingdom of Mewar in Rajasthan. Prior to Rana Hamir the clan was known as Gehlot or Guhilot. In 1303 CE Alla-ud-din Khilji attacked Chittor...
s, to use guerilla tactics. The Rajput successes were, however, limited in Marwar: the campaign in Mewar was abandoned by the Mughals but Marwar remained in a state of war for nearly three decades.
The cause of the Mughal withdrawal from Mewar had been a rebellion by a son of Aurangzeb, Sultan Muhammad Akbar
Sultan Muhammad Akbar
Muhammad Akbar was the fourth son of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. He led a rebellion against his father and fled the Deccan after the failure of that venture. He later went into exile to Persia, where he died...
. Akbar had proved to be incompetent when placed in charge of various forces in Mewar and Marwar; he eventually rebelled against his father and allied himself with the Rajputs. In June 1681 Durgadas assisted Akbar as the rebellion collapsed in disarray, aiding his flight to the court of the recently installed Maratha
Maratha
The Maratha are an Indian caste, predominantly in the state of Maharashtra. The term Marāthā has three related usages: within the Marathi speaking region it describes the dominant Maratha caste; outside Maharashtra it can refer to the entire regional population of Marathi-speaking people;...
king Sambhaji
Sambhaji
Sambhaji Raje Bhosle was the eldest son and successor to Emporer Shivaji, the founder of the Maratha empire.- Early life :...
. The rebellion diverted resources and Aurangzeb was forced to make peace in Mewar when on the cusp of winning his campaign.
Durgadas was absent from Marwar during the period 1681-1687, during which time he was in the Deccan. He returned to join with the young Ajit Singh, who now came out of hiding, in taking command of Rathore forces opposing Aurangzeb. There was a change from the earlier guerilla tactics to a more direct opposition but still they were unable to wrest control of Marwar from the Mughals, although they caused much disruption.
Akbar, who was to die in exile in 1704, had left his children in the custody of the Rathores following his failed rebellion. Aurangzeb had become anxious to have them with him and negotiated with Durgadas to this end. He gained custody of his grand-daughter in 1694 and of his grandson in 1698. Aurangzeb was particularly grateful to find that Durgadas had arranged for his grand-daughter to be schooled in the Muslim faith but he did not restore Marwar to Rathore rule; the agreement was limited to him pardoning and giving the lesser title of jagir
Jagir
In historic India, a jagir was a small territory granted by the ruler to an army chieftain in fairly short terms usually of three years but not extending beyond his lifetime, in recognition of his military service...
to Ajit Singh and appointing Durgadas as a commandant in charge of an imperial force of 3000 men in Gujarat.
Despite the outcome of the negotiations, the relationship between Aurangzeb on the one hand and Ajit Singh and Durgadas on the other remained tense. They viewed each other with mutual suspicion and, in 1702, Aurangzeb order the governor of Gujarat to neutralise Durgadas by either arrest or murder. Durgadas became aware of this and fled to Marwar, where he tried to raise a rebel group once more. Despite his reputation and the veneration in which he was held by his countrymen, he was not particularly successful in doing so: they were tired and poorly funded after so many years of war, and the now-adult Ajit Singh had become independent of mind and jealous of the reputation and influence possessed by Durgadas.
Durgadas took advantage of the disturbances following the death of Aurangzeb in 1707 to seize Jodhpur and eventually evict the occupying Mughal force. Ajit Singh was proclaimed Maharaja of Jodhpur. He rebuilt all the temples that had been desecrated by the occupying Muslims.
Death
Durgadas after completing his duties successfully and fulfilled the promise which he given to Jaswant Singh, left Jodhpur and live in SadriSadri
Sadri is a city and a municipality in Pali district in the Indian state of Rajasthan. The city was called gate of Mewar to Marwar. Sadri is one of main worship place for Jain community. Sadri is landing place for Ranakpur Temple and Shri Parshuram Mahadev Mandir. Sadri Gram Panchayat converted...
, Udaipur
Udaipur
Udaipur , also known as the City of Lakes, is a city, a Municipal Council and the administrative headquarters of the Udaipur district in the state of Rajasthan in western India. It is located southwest of the state capital, Jaipur, west of Kota, and northeast from Ahmedabad...
, Rampura, Bhanpura for some time and then left to worship Mahakaal at Ujjain. On 22 November 1718, on the banks of the Shipra
Shipra River
The Shipra, also known as the Kshipra, is a river in Madhya Pradesh state of central India. The river rises in the kakri bardi hiils Vindhya Range north of Dhar, and flows south across the Malwa Plateau to join the Chambal River. It is one of the sacred rivers in Hinduism. The holy city of Ujjain...
at Ujjain
Ujjain
Ujjain , is an ancient city of Malwa region in central India, on the eastern bank of the Kshipra River , today part of the state of Madhya Pradesh. It is the administrative centre of Ujjain District and Ujjain Division.In ancient times the city was called Ujjayini...
, Durgadas died at the age of 81 years, his canopy in red stone is still at the Chakratirtha, Ujjain, which is pilgrimage for all freedom fighters and Rajputs.
Recognition
The Cambridge History of India says of Durgadas that hePeople in Rajasthan
Rajasthan
Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...
today pray: Mayee ehra poot jan jehara DURGADAS, baandh mundaso rakhiyo bin thambe aakash. (Mother, give birth to a son just like Durgadas,who stopped the flooding dam of Moghuls (the Moghul Army) without any support (i.e. single handedly)).
- The government of India released various coins in his honour on 25 August 2003
- Durgadas Rathore dak ticket (stamps) of Rs. 0.60 also released on 16 August 1988
- Paintings of Durgadas by British painter A. H. Mular (1893) at Mehran Garh Museum, Jodhpur and the Government Museum, Bikaner.