A History of Sawai Jai Singh And His Times (1688-1743 AD)

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About a hundred and forty years ago, Lt.Col. James Tod wrote in his Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan that "as a statesman, legislator, and man of science, the character of Sowae Jey Sing is worthy of an ample delineation", and that for such a work the materials of the Amber Court were more abundant than those of any other Court of India. Tod was not the only scholar to be impressed by Jai Singh's versatile personality and his achievements in fields as diverse as diplomacy and astronomy and town-planning, successive generations of scholars have also admitted that the founder of Sawai Jaipur was one of the most remarkable men India has ever produced. But no attempt was somehow made to write a full account of his life and many-sided activities. Dr. G.H. Ojha wrote only a brief biographical paper on him, and expressed the hope that a fuller work, commensurate with Jai Singh's significant role in the history of the eighteenth century, might be attempted. In the great works of Tod, Suryamal Mishran and Kaviraja Shyamaldas, valuable, though insufficient, information is found about Jai Singh's life and activities. Later, W. Irvine, J.N. Sarkar, M.K. Raghubir Sinh, G.S. Sardesai, V.G. Dighe and Satish Chandra also examined Jai Singh's role in the Imperial politics and his relations with the Marathas, but in a manner and to the extent it suited their themes, and their scholarly works did not in any way render the need of a larger and a fuller work on Jai Singh superfluous. Moreover, most of these scholars, for various reasons, had not full access to the Rajput records. This book, besides having its own independent value, will prove a useful supplement to the works of the above mentioned scholars, especially because the archival records of the Rajput states, used in this work, are not only of much relevance to the history of the later Mughals, and of the Marathas during the most crucial phase of their development as a dominant power, but also because these records serve as a corrective to the accounts of the Persian authorities that often give an erroneous picture of the trends and movements antagonistic to the Imperial authority. The Rajput records, as a perusal of this work will show, give a more faithful picture of the relationship between the Mughal government and other powers, including the Marathas, and the role played by them in the history of the times.

Jai Singh, as is well known, played a key role in the history of the later Mughal period. His role in the history of Rajputana was so important that about him it can be truly said that his biography is more or less the history of this region from 1707 to 1743 A.D. From 1714 onwards he took an increasingly prominent part in the history of the country. For about thirty years (1714-43 A.D.) he was undoubtedly one of the most influencial figures in the country and played a decisive role in shaping the policies of the Mughal government, especially towards the Marathas. It is for this reason that this book often crosses the narrow confines of a biographical work.

There is another justification for writing this book. Jai Singh's policies towards the Mughals, the Marathas, and the states of Rajputana and Bundelkhand, towards the Nizam and other grandees have often been misunderstood, and his role as a great conciliator and peacemaker has not been fully realised. While his extraordinary abilities were readily recognised even by his contemporaries, his motives were often doubted. This work, it is hoped, will correct some of the erroneous notions about Jai Singh and his policies. Moreover, for yet another reason Jai Singh's life deserves a fuller treatment than has been hitherto given, for what places him apart from other eminent personages of this period, like the Nizam and Peshwa Baji Rao, were his remarkable intellectual attainments and his services to the Muses, described in Chapter XII. Though deeply involved in contemporary politics, he could yet make significant contribution in the fields of astronomy and town-planning, art and literature, and earn for himself the reputation of being "one of the brightest intellects of India."

Book's Contents and Sample Pages