Kavi Gambhir Rai's Rendition of Raja Jagat Singh's Rebellion

A possible portrait (dated 1730) of Raja Jagat Singh Pathania (from the Eva and Konrad Seitz collection)

History is a subject of speculation as much as it is about evidence. The more you read, the more you see gray areas everywhere. However, certain fields of history, like that of the Himalayan states for instance, is a rather problematic subject. Insufficient publicly available evidence, lack of local interest, and 'remoteness' from the larger picture has often rendered the subject to ignominy. However, it is a small but earnest attempt of this blog to keep exploring and writing on the subject in one way or the other. 

A few months ago, I had talked of the Brajraj Panchashika, and seen the trends of Braj bhasha kavita in the region serving as evidence to suggest certain historical trends. However, there was definitely a broader trend in the region of such Braj bhasha ballads. The ballad of Raja Jagat Singh by Kavi Gambhir Rai is another example of this, and the more you read, the more you understand that Pahadi Rajput kings were always looking for opportunities to free themselves from the yoke of Mughal rule as and when the opportunity arose. In that, the role of Raja Jagat Singh of Nurpur truly stands out, given the level of meticulous planning that took place to secure the situation. Of course, there were other issues that turned up, but many concessions were also secured in the process that seem to have brought a sense of relief in the region. 

The style of the poem in Braj is rather similar to the one of Brajraj Panchashika, though it predates it, and sets the region's tone with its sevaiyya and kavitt , something you see travel into other traditions as well. The ballad, a story of the rebellion of Raja Jagat Singh, mentions his fights against the Mughal force, even referring to the nature of fortifications he had made, which did cause quite a bit of discomfort against the Mughals. As the first kavitt states on the battle of Mau.

उमड्यो हे समुद्र ज्यों साह जहां दिल्ली पत।

कै लाख दल साज डेरा आन करयो हे॥

सुन्दर सुछवे इत जगत सुमेरु भूप।

मउ के मदान वीच खम्भ गाड लड्यो हे॥

आडें करे गांटी कोऊ दूर तेँ न छुहन पावे।

थांभी पातसाही सन्मुख सार झार्यो हे॥

मानतन आन सभ वांधि वासुदेव सुत।

जानो वंजारा एक टांडा लाड पर्यो हे॥१॥

Swelled like the sea Shah Jahan, lord of Dilli,

Arraying an army of many lakhs, he came and pitched his tent.

Beautiful, fair-faced, is here Jagat, king of Sumeru,

Who doubled down like a pillar in the plain of Mau and fought.

Making hedges and entrenchments, that no one might touch him from afar,

Restraining the Patshah’s forces, he swept with the steel.

The son of Basudev coming arraying all his honored ones,

Like a banjara, having loaded his tanda, has alighted.

भयो है मवास वासुदेव को जगत सिंह। 

भई देश देश वात जग में कहानी हे॥

चौकस है चहं ओर वेर रावो साह दल। 

भारत हे सांझ मोर यहे जीय जानी हे॥

चालत न वाट घाट रहे न उमराउ ठाठ।

खाने विन पानी विन फौजें विललानी हें॥

सुनके खबर पातसाह जीय संसा पर्यो हे।

मउ की मही मयारो मौत की नसानी हे ॥२॥

Jagat Singh, son of Basudev, was their protector ;

The story went from land to land, it is a tale in the world;

He is vigilant on all four sides to hem in the Sultan’s army,

He smites them morn and eve, this he knew in his mind,

One goes not by road or ghat, the princes remained not staunch,

Without food, without water, the armies melted away.

Hearing the news doubt fell on the Patsah’s mind.

In the midst of the plain of Mau there is slaughter unto death.

The rebellion of course was a significant enough incident to have come into detail in the Padshahnamah as well. A translated portion of the Padshahnamah, alongside the ballad in an old Asiatic Society put out by John Beames, highlights the circumstances of the emergence of the revolt.

Maharaja Sansar Chand Katoch attacking the Kangra fort, 1782 (from Cleveland Museum of Art) (used here for symbolic purpose)

In the 12th year of Shahjahan’s reign, when Shahjahan was at Lahor, he appointed Rajrup, eldest son of Raja Jagat Singh of Mau (referring to a place in Kangra in Himachal), Faujdar of the Daman-i-Koh-i-Kangrah (Kangra Fort) and collector of the peshkash due by the several petty hill states. In the following year, when the emperor was in Kashmir, Rajrup, who acted in concert with his father in Bangash, rebelled, and Jagat Singh, through friends he had at court, expressed a feigned dissatisfaction at the misconduct of his son, and requested the emperor to relieve him of his duties in Bangash and bestow upon him the office of his son. This would give him an opportunity of punishing Rajrup, and of collecting the peshkash, which he valued at four lacs of rupees. The emperor gladly accepted the offer ; but no sooner had Jagat Singh arrived in his district than he made preparations for rebellion, trusting to the height of his hill forts and the impenetrability of the jungles.

The same paper also refers to the battle of Mau, as described in the incomplete ballad of Gambihr Rai, in the following terms (again from Padshahnamah):

In continuation, there was a reference to a surprise attack near Mao on the Mughal forces: On the receipt of these orders, Sa’id Khan, on Tuesday, 15th Sha’ban [9th November, 1641], broke up, marched along the Nurpur Pass, and halted in the neighbourhood of the Mau Mountain on the road to Rupar. He then sent his sons Sa’dullah and ’Abdullah witha detachment of men of his own contingent, and Imperial Rifles under Zulfagar, from the right and the left, up the mountain to fix upon a site for the camp. On reaching the height, they sent a report to Sa’id that much jungle would have to be cut, if the whole army was tocome up. They waited for further orders, when they were suddenly attacked by 4 or 5000 matchlockmen and bowmen from a neighbouring hill. Sa’id sent at once reinforcements under his son Lutfullah, and afterwards more under Shaikh Farid and Sarandaz Khan. Before Lutfullah could join his brothers, he was attacked, and received a sword-wound in the right shoulder and a spear-wound in his left.

Of course, lack of sufficient support meant that the rebellion could not last longer than a year and half. However, what is interesting is the variance we see in the narrative. While there is talk of surrender in the Mughal sources, local contemporary sources said that the Mughal forces accepted a truce and peace deal because they were so stretched out in the siege on Taragarh. As Asoka Jeratha writes when writing about Taragarh and the significance of not trying to browbeat Raja Jagat Singh:

It is a fact that Taragarh was never seized or captured.....Shah Jahan knew that Jagat Singh could not be browbeaten and he could use his services elsewhere hence feelers were sent for compromise on some mutually agreeable terms.....

Consequently, he was even returned his ranks and stature and sent off with Dara Shikoh to the campaign on Qandahar. It was during this rebellion that Shah Jahan also destroyed the original Brijraj Swami temple of Nurpur, about which we have written earlier.