Thread by @TheReclaMission

Durgadas' Promise...

Art by IG: @arsalanactual.

The Marwari contingent led by Durgadas Rathore escorting Maharaja Jaswant Singh's queen and Prince Ajit Singh into Udaipur.

It's the Spring of 1680, the concluding day of the 18-day long celebrations that follow the festival of Holi, Mewar is roused and engrossed in festivities while the Maharana of Mewar, Rana Raj Singh takes a force of a thousand men and storms outside of his capital Udaipur...

"What's the Rani doing here?"

"First of all, you must know, the Rani is now a widow, Rana Jaswant Singh died suddenly in Kabul"

"In Kabul! Whatever was he doing up there?"

"Quelling a rebellion against the Emperor"

"What was the cause of his death?"

"The Rani suspects that he was poisoned at the banquet of victory by orders of the Emperor because, and so she says, Aurangzeb bore a grudge against him for helping his brother Dara and opposing him at Fatehabad."

"I can't believe it. Why would the Emperor murder one of his most capable generals?"

"Well that is what the Rani says because it seems the Emperor is trying to get a more direct control over Jodhpur. It appears when she was returning with her babe Ajit, he sent soldiers to fetch her to his court, saying that he wanted to 'educate' the young prince."

"Was the Rani up there with her lord? If she was brave enough to face the cold why was she not brave enough to face the funeral pyre?"

"Because she is braver than that. She wants to live to establish her son in his rights as Rana over his father's dominions"

"Yes brother, that is truly braver, but did she not say how she escaped from the Emperor's soldiers?"

"That's the most Exciting part of the story..."

A conversation between the Princes Jai Singh and Bhim Singh of Mewar, would foreshadow the beginning of a more than thirty years long struggle for the throne of Jodhpur that was threatened by the malevolence of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb "Alamgir".

Aurangzeb's ascension to the Mughal throne was followed by a wave of rebellions across what was to be his new dominion, inherited from his father and wrested from his brother.

To quell the unrest in Kabul (modern day Afghanistan-West Pakistan) he had sent Maharaja Jaswant Singh of Jodhpur of whose effectiveness even Kushal Khan, the celebrated Afghan Chieftain had written in his memoires, albeit and of course begrudgingly.

The deployment was however set up from the start, Jaswant Singh was assassinated in Jamrud in December 1678 leaving no male heir - a conspicuous similarity to the assassination of Mirza Raja Jai Singh of Amer.

The patriarchs of both the Rajput Kingdoms of Amer and Jodhpur gone, especially the latter dying heirless, gave Aurangzeb the opportunity, to set in motion his long-concealed designs, to finally strike into Marwar - the heart of Rajputana.

Back in Jamrud the funeral pyre of Jaswant Singh was lit, and his queens attained Sati, joining him in the afterlife. Queen Chandravati who stayed back in Jodhpur, ascended the pyre in Mandor with her lord’s Turban, in the ancestral resting place of the Rathore Royal Family.

All seemed to be lost, but as destiny would have it, one queen, Jadaman Kanwar, bearing the child that would be the last surviving heir of Jaswant Singh, and bearer of the yet uncertain destiny of Marwar, was prevented from immolating herself by Uda Kumpawat, a Rathore grandee.

On 19th of February 1679, she would give birth to Ajit Singh, the only surviving male heir of Maharaja Jaswant Singh.

Within days of Maharaja Jaswant Singh’s death, Aurangzeb’s grand-plan for Marwar was set in motion, he imposed Sharia upon the kingdom and even moved his base from Delhi to Ajmer to oversee its subjugation.

And when the news of the birth of the heir to Marwar’s throne reached him, he promptly declared the succession invalid. The tragedy had already befallen upon the rulers, and now it was to befall upon the subjects.

With their protectors gone, the Hindu race was orphaned, the bells of the temples were muted, the sacred conch didn’t sound at the sunrise, the Brahmins and the priests vitiated their doctrines and learned the creed of the Turks.

The Jizya (Capitulation Tax) was imposed and innumerable temples were turned into mosques. After overseeing the destruction and degradation of Marwar, Aurangzeb returned to Delhi in April 1679.

Desperate times bring desperate events, all seemed to be lost, but some believed all was still not done. The nobles of Jodhpur tried their fate one last time in trying to appeal with Emperor Aurangzeb to accept Ajit Singh’s succession.

Once the Queen had regained her health and was able to travel, the delegation of the foremost of the nobles of Marwar took her and Ajit Singh to Delhi in the hope that maybe time passed since the death of Maharaja Jaswant Singh may have softened his stance.

Among these nobles is where a celebrated name in not just Marwar but the whole of Rajputana is introduced - Durgadas Rathore, leading the contingent.

Born on 13th of August 1638, Durgadas Rathore was the son of Askaran Rathore, a high ranking noble in the courts of Maharaja Jaswant Singh of Marwar, he too was related to the Royal family, for he was the descendant of the Rao Ranmal, and a prominent noble himself.

He was there with Jaswant Singh in Jamrud, and as his lord grew weak from the poison he saw in his eyes the dread and perturbation he had for the continuation of his race, now that he anticipated the Turk’s next moves.

He was then promised by Durgadas that he will protect his family and his line, best described in the bardic couplet as…

Bewail not! My beloved Master
Shed aside thy pain
Abandon thy sorrows
For the blossoms of Maroo - None dare to outrage...
Her Modesty - None dare to violate...

Her Honor - In unblemished beauty shall forever bloom...
In grace abandon
Promise! Promise! Promise!
It is a solemn Promise
Firm and Final…

Durgadas and the Rajput contingent reached Delhi, the capital of Aurangzeb. That the Emperor was a zealot was known to each of them, but what dwarfed his zealotry was his cunning, and as far as his cunning was concerned, every assumed overestimation turned out an underestimation.

Aurangzeb not only refused their request but also commanded that the infant should be surrendered in his custody, he insulted them further by asking the Queen to be handed over as a captive and that Ajit Singh be brought up in the Muslim faith in Delhi.

He further offered to divide Marwar between them if they agreed to the terms, much to their infuriation. It was then that a voice pierced through the silence of Diwan-e-Aam…

“Our Country is with our sinews, and these can defend both it and our Lord”

With eyes red with rage they left the Diwan-e-Aam, and it was not long before that they realized they were surrounded with the Emperor’s men in his capital, and they had to rescue both the queen and prince Ajit, come what may.

Ajit Singh was smuggled away in a basket of sweetmeats as the Rajput contingent prepared to make a stand for their honor. They made oblations to the Gods, took double the portion of opium and mounted on their steeds.

“Let us swim, in the ocean of battle. Let us root up these demons and be carried by the angels to the mansions of the Sun.”

And then spoke Durgadas, “The teeth of the Turks are whetted, but by the lighting emitted from our swords, Delhi shall witness our deeds, and the flames of our anger shall consume the troops of the Shah”

As the Rajputs gathered and readied themselves for battle, women of Jaswant Singh’s household embraced martyrdom to prevent capture. 250 Rajputs made their stand on the Barahpula (The Bridge with 12 Arches) against the might of the Imperial forces adamant on capturing the prince.

The men now with their lances in hand faced the imperial forces descending on them. The bards equated their faces to that of Yama, the God of Death, an appropriate expression for those who come from Marwar, the name, often interpreted as the land of death.

Wave followed wave, blood was spilled on the streets, Delhi turned into a battlefield. Many Rajput warriors attained martyrdom, and their women who now took it upon themselves to complete the ritual of Jauhar, gathered in an apartment, filled it with gunpowder, and set it ablaze.

The determination of the Rajputs defeated the Mughal Imperial Forces and they were forced to retreat. This gave the required opening that they needed to escape the imperial capital before another organized pursuit was to ensue.

Ajit Singh was smuggled with the help of a Muslim sweet seller, who religiously executed his trust and handed Ajit over to Durgadas at the appointed spot.

The survivors who had cut their way through nigh impossible opposition, now marched to Mewar, for Ajit Singh’s mother was also Mewar’s Maharana Raj Singh’s sister.

They were certain that Aurangzeb would be pursuing them there, and he did, only to be defeated by the combined Marwari and Mewari armies, starved, humiliated and abandoned by his own family and forced to flee to Ajmer without any honor to save.

In a twist of fate, his grandchildren would be brought up in the Mewari royal household instead. The fall of the Mughal Empire had thus begun…

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